How Do I Force “Git Pull” to Overwrite Local Files?

Better Stack Team
Updated on June 21, 2024

To force git pull to overwrite local files, you can use the git reset command along with the --hard option after pulling changes. Here's how you can do it:

Step 1: Pull Changes from Remote

First, pull the changes from the remote repository:

 
git pull

This will fetch the changes from the remote repository and merge them into your local branch.

Step 2: Overwrite Local Files

After pulling changes, if you want to overwrite any local modifications with the changes from the remote repository, you can use git reset --hard HEAD:

 
git reset --hard HEAD

This command will reset your working directory to match the state of the commit referenced by HEAD, discarding any changes you've made since the last commit.

Warning:

Be cautious when using git reset --hard, as it will discard any local changes that have not been committed. Make sure you don't have any important changes that you want to keep before running this command.

Note:

  • It's generally recommended to commit or stash your local changes before using git pull with git reset --hard to avoid losing any important modifications.
  • If you want to force overwrite without affecting your local changes, you can use git stash to temporarily stash your changes, perform git pull, and then apply the changes back using git stash pop or git stash apply.

Make your mark

Join the writer's program

Are you a developer and love writing and sharing your knowledge with the world? Join our guest writing program and get paid for writing amazing technical guides. We'll get them to the right readers that will appreciate them.

Write for us
Writer of the month
Marin Bezhanov
Marin is a software engineer and architect with a broad range of experience working...
Build on top of Better Stack

Write a script, app or project on top of Better Stack and share it with the world. Make a public repository and share it with us at our email.

community@betterstack.com

or submit a pull request and help us build better products for everyone.

See the full list of amazing projects on github