How to modify existing, unpushed commit messages?

Answer 1

If you are using the Git GUI, you can amend the last commit which hasn't been pushed with:

Commit/Amend Last Commit

Answer 2

You can use git-rebase-reword

It is designed to edit any commit (not just last) same way as commit --amend

$ git rebase-reword <commit-or-refname>

It is named after the action on rebase interactive to amend a commit: "reword". See this post and man -section interactive mode-

Examples:

$ git rebase-reword b68f560
$ git rebase-reword HEAD^

Answer 3

You also can use git filter-branch for that.

git filter-branch -f --msg-filter "sed 's/errror/error/'" $flawed_commit..HEAD

It's not as easy as a trivial git commit --amend, but it's especially useful, if you already have some merges after your erroneous commit message.

Note that this will try to rewrite every commit between HEAD and the flawed commit, so you should choose your msg-filter command very wisely ;-)

Answer 4

If it's your last commit, just amend the commit:

git commit --amend -o -m "New commit message"

(Using the -o (--only) flag to make sure you change only the commit message)

If it's a buried commit, use the awesome interactive rebase:

git rebase -i @~9   # Show the last 9 commits in a text editor

Find the commit you want, change pick to r (reword), and save and close the file. Done!

---

Miniature Vim tutorial (or, how to rebase with only 8 keystrokes 3jcwrEscZZ):

• Run vimtutor if you have time
• hjkl correspond to movement keys ←↓↑→
• All commands can be prefixed with a "range", e.g. 3j moves down three lines
• i to enter insert mode — text you type will appear in the file
• Esc or Ctrlc to exit insert mode and return to "normal" mode
• u to undo
• Ctrlr to redo
• dd, dw, dl to delete a line, word, or letter, respectively
• cc, cw, cl to change a line, word, or letter, respectively (same as ddi)
• yy, yw, yl to copy ("yank") a line, word, or letter, respectively
• p or P to paste after, or before current position, respectively
• :wEnter to save (write) a file
• :q!Enter to quit without saving
• :wqEnter or ZZ to save and quit

If you edit text a lot, then switch to the Dvorak keyboard layout, learn to touch-type, and learn Vim. Is it worth the effort? Yes.

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ProTip™: Don't be afraid to experiment with "dangerous" commands that rewrite history* — Git doesn't delete your commits for 90 days by default; you can find them in the reflog:

$ git reset @~3   # Go back three commits
$ git reflog
c4f708b HEAD@{0}: reset: moving to @~3
2c52489 HEAD@{1}: commit: more changes
4a5246d HEAD@{2}: commit: make important changes
e8571e4 HEAD@{3}: commit: make some changes
... earlier commits ...
$ git reset 2c52489
... and you're back where you started

* Watch out for options like --hard and --force though — they can discard data. * Also, don't rewrite history on any branches you're collaborating on.

Answer 5

You can use Git rebasing. For example, if you want to modify back to commit bbc643cd, run

$ git rebase bbc643cd^ --interactive

In the default editor, modify 'pick' to 'edit' in the line whose commit you want to modify. Make your changes and then stage them with

$ git add <filepattern>

Now you can use

$ git commit --amend

to modify the commit, and after that

$ git rebase --continue

to return back to the previous head commit.

Answer 6

If you just want to edit the latest commit, use:

git commit --amend

or

git commit --amend -m 'one line message'

But if you want to edit several commits in a row, you should use rebasing instead:

git rebase -i <hash of one commit before the wrong commit>

In a file, like the one above, write edit/e or one of the other options, and hit save and exit.

Now you'll be at the first wrong commit. Make changes in the files, and they'll be automatically staged for you. Type

git commit --amend

Save and exit that and type

git rebase --continue

to move to next selection until finished with all your selections.

Note that these things change all your SHA hashes after that particular commit.