[verse]
'git-commit' [-a | --interactive] [-s] [-v] [-u]
[(-c | -C) <commit> | -F <file> | -m <msg> | --amend]
- [--no-verify] [-e] [--author <author>]
+ [--
allow-empty] [--no-verify] [-e] [--author <author>]
[--] [[-i | -o ]<file>...]
DESCRIPTION
-----------
-Use 'git commit' when you want to record your changes into the repository
-along with a log message describing what the commit is about. All changes
-to be committed must be explicitly identified using one of the following
-methods:
+Use 'git commit' to store the current contents of the index in a new
+commit along with a log message describing the changes you have made.
+
+The content to be added can be specified in several ways:
1. by using gitlink:git-add[1] to incrementally "add" changes to the
- next commit before using the 'commit' command (Note: even modified
+ index before using the 'commit' command (Note: even modified
files must be "added");
-2. by using gitlink:git-rm[1] to identify content removal for the next
- commit, again before using the 'commit' command;
+2. by using gitlink:git-rm[1] to remove files from the working tree
+ and the index, again before using the 'commit' command;
-3. by directly listing files containing changes to be committed as arguments
- to the 'commit' command, in which cases only those files alone will be
- considered for the commit;
+3. by listing files as arguments to the 'commit' command, in which
+ case the commit will ignore changes staged in the index, and instead
+ record the current content of the listed files;
-4. by using the -a switch with the 'commit' command to automatically "add"
- changes from all known files i.e. files that have already been committed
- before, and to automatically "rm" files that have been
- removed from the working tree, and perform the actual commit.
+4. by using the -a switch with the 'commit' command to automatically
+ "add" changes from all known files (i.e. all files that are already
+ listed in the index) and to automatically "rm" files in the index
+ that have been removed from the working tree, and then perform the
+ actual commit;
5. by using the --interactive switch with the 'commit' command to decide one
by one which files should be part of the commit, before finalizing the
This option bypasses the pre-commit hook.
See also link:hooks.html[hooks].
+--allow-empty::
+ Usually recording a commit that has the exact same tree as its
+ sole parent commit is a mistake, and the command prevents you
+ from making such a commit. This option bypasses the safety, and
+ is primarily for use by foreign scm interface scripts.
+
-e|--edit::
The message taken from file with `-F`, command line with
`-m`, and from file with `-C` are usually used as the
--------
When recording your own work, the contents of modified files in
your working tree are temporarily stored to a staging area
-called the "index" with gitlink:git-add[1]. Removal
-of a file is staged with gitlink:git-rm[1]. After building the
-state to be committed incrementally with these commands, `git
-commit` (without any pathname parameter) is used to record what
+called the "index" with gitlink:git-add[1]. A file can be
+reverted back, only in the index but not in the working tree,
+to that of the last commit with `git-reset HEAD -- <file>`,
+which effectively reverts `git-add` and prevents the changes to
+this file from participating in the next commit. After building
+the state to be committed incrementally with these commands,
+`git commit` (without any pathname parameter) is used to record what
has been staged so far. This is the most basic form of the
command. An example:
projects / git.git / blobdiff