How to Tag an Older Commit in Git?

Tagging an older commit in Git is a common task when you want to mark a specific point in your project's history. You can do this by using the git tag command and specifying the commit hash of the older commit you want to tag. Here’s how you can do it:

Steps to Tag an Older Commit

1. Find the Commit Hash

First, you need to identify the commit hash of the older commit you want to tag. You can do this using git log.

git log --oneline

This command will list the commit history with abbreviated commit hashes and commit messages. Locate the commit you want to tag and note its hash.

2. Create the Tag

Once you have the commit hash, you can create a tag for that specific commit. Use the git tag command followed by the tag name and the commit hash.

git tag <tag-name> <commit-hash>

• <tag-name>: The name you want to give to your tag.
• <commit-hash>: The hash of the commit you want to tag.

Example:

git tag v1.0.0 a1b2c3d4

This creates a tag named v1.0.0 at commit a1b2c3d4.

3. Push the Tag to Remote (if needed)

If you want to share this tag with others or have it available in a remote repository, you need to push the tag to the remote repository.

git push origin <tag-name>

Example:

git push origin v1.0.0

To push all tags at once, you can use:

git push origin --tags

Verifying the Tag

After tagging the commit, you can verify that the tag was created successfully:

• List Tags:

   

  Copied!

  git tag
  

• Show Tag Details:

   

  Copied!

  git show <tag-name>
  

  This will display details about the tag and the commit it points to.

Example:

git show v1.0.0

Summary

To tag an older commit in Git:

1. Find the Commit Hash: Use git log --oneline to locate the commit.
2. Create the Tag: Use git tag <tag-name> <commit-hash>.
3. Push the Tag to Remote: Use git push origin <tag-name> to share the tag.

Tagging older commits is useful for marking significant points in your project's history, such as releases or milestones.

Got an article suggestion? Let us know

Explore more

Git

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.