Undo a Git Merge That Hasn’t Been Pushed Yet?

To undo a Git merge that hasn't been pushed yet, you can use the git reset command to move the branch pointer back to its state before the merge occurred. Here's how you can do it:

Step 1: Identify the Commit Before the Merge

First, you need to identify the commit before the merge. You can use git log to view the commit history and find the commit before the merge commit:

git log

Look for the commit hash or commit message before the merge commit.

Step 2: Reset the Branch

Once you've identified the commit before the merge, use git reset to move the branch pointer back to that commit:

git reset --hard <commit-before-merge>

Replace <commit-before-merge> with the commit hash or branch name before the merge.

Step 3: Clean up Unstaged Changes (Optional)

After resetting the branch, you may have unstaged changes in your working directory. If you don't want to keep these changes, you can use git reset --hard HEAD to discard them:

git reset --hard HEAD

Note:

• Be cautious when using git reset --hard, as it will discard any changes in your working directory and staging area.
• This method works if the merge hasn't been pushed yet. If the merge has already been pushed, you may need to use additional commands to revert the changes and push them back to the remote repository.

Got an article suggestion? Let us know

Explore more

Git

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

Move the Most Recent Commit(s) to a New Branch with Git

How Do I Add an Empty Directory to a Git Repository?

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