Fix a Git detached head?

Question

I was doing some work in my repository and noticed a file had local changes. I didn\'t want them anymore so I deleted the file, thinking I can just checkout a fresh copy. I

Answer 1

HEAD is a pointer, and it points — directly or indirectly — to a particular commit:

Attached  HEAD means that it is attached to some branch (i.e. it points to a branch).
Detached HEAD means that it is not attached to any branch, i.e. it points directly to some commit.

In other words:

• If it points to a commit directly, the HEAD is detached.
• If it points to a commit indirectly, (i.e. it points to a branch, which in turn points to a commit), the HEAD is attached.

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To better understand situations with attached / detached HEAD, let's show the steps leading to the quadruplet of pictures above.

We begin with the same state of the repository (pictures in all quadrants are the same):

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Now we want to perform git checkout — with different targets in the individual pictures (commands on top of them are dimmed to emphasize that we are only going to apply those commands):

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This is the situation after performing those commands:

As you can see, the HEAD points to the target of the git checkout command — to a branch (first 3 images of the quadruplet), or (directly) to a commit (the last image of the quadruplet).

The content of the working directory is changed, too, to be in accordance with the appropriate commit (snapshot), i.e. with the commit pointed (directly or indirectly) by the HEAD.

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So now we are in the same situation as in the start of this answer:

Answer 2

I wanted to keep my changes so, I just fix this doing...

git add .
git commit -m "Title" -m "Description"
(so i have a commit now example: 123abc)
git checkout YOURCURRENTBRANCH
git merge 123abc
git push TOYOURCURRENTBRANCH

that work for me

Answer 3

Addendum

If the branch to which you wish to return was the last checkout that you had made, you can simply use checkout @{-1}. This will take you back to your previous checkout.

Further, you can alias this command with, for example, git global --config alias.prev so that you just need to type git prev to toggle back to the previous checkout.

Answer 4

Detached head means you are no longer on a branch, you have checked out a single commit in the history (in this case the commit previous to HEAD, i.e. HEAD^).

If you want to delete your changes associated with the detached HEAD

You only need to checkout the branch you were on, e.g.

git checkout master

Next time you have changed a file and want to restore it to the state it is in the index, don't delete the file first, just do

git checkout -- path/to/foo

This will restore the file foo to the state it is in the index.

If you want to keep your changes associated with the detached HEAD

1. Run git branch tmp - this will save your changes in a new branch called tmp.
2. Run git checkout master
3. If you would like to incorporate the changes you made into master, run git merge tmp from the master branch. You should be on the master branch after running git checkout master.

Answer 5

If you have changed files you don't want to lose, you can push them. I have committed them in the detached mode and after that you can move to a temporary branch to integrate later in master.

git commit -m "....."
git branch my-temporary-work
git checkout master
git merge my-temporary-work

Extracted from:

What to do with commit made in a detached head