If I have made multiple sets of changes to a large file, is it possible to split those into separate commits using git?
4 Answers
You want git add --patch (documentation), which will allow you to select which changes to stage.
5 Comments
William Pursell
Why the downvote? git add -i is overkill if all you want is to select hunks, since the first option you'll pick from the -i menu is 'p' (or 5), so you might as well have jumped straight to it with --patch.
William Pursell
Really, another downvote with no explanation? If you believe there is something wrong with
git add --patch, please have the courtesy to provide an explanation as to why.
mikemaccana
I think the downvotes (not from me!) are from folk who have already committed, where this answer won't work. The question doesn't say whether the changes are committed or not.
Venkat Ch
Short form to this is
git add -p which allows us to select which hunk to stage
stephanmg
@mikemaccana the question does not say that the files are commited. I updated this answer.
Yes, you can -- use git add -i to select which hunks you want to stage for each commit. You can get documentation by running git help add and scrolling to "Interactive Mode".
Comments
One more option which I constantly use is just because i forget about the patch option :):
Say you have updated files: aaa.txt, bbb.txt, ccc.txt and you want to push the aaa.txt file in the first commit and then bbb.txt and ccc.txt in the second commit:
step 1:
--------------------
git add aaa.txt
git commit -m "Added first file"
git stash
git push
step 2:
--------------------
git stash pop
git add -A
git commit -m "Added the rest of the modified data"
git push
Might be a little more verbose, but in my opinion I it gives a bit more control.
Cheers!
Comments
Williams answer is perfectly valid. But sometimes it is easier to do things by hand. For example if you accidentally updated some third-party library with a lot of files before committing the changes you previously made. With git add -p (same as --patch) you would need to walk through all of this files. So in this case it is much more convenient to just stage the file you want to commit and do a second commit with all of the other changes:
> git add /path/to/your/file.txt
> git commit -m "my commit message"
[master a0c5ea6] my commit message
1 file changed, 2 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
> git add --all
> git commit -m "updated library xyz"
1 Comment
William Pursell
Actually,
git add -p allows you to select the particular file at the command line, and within the interactive session you can jump to a particular hunk using g, or search for a hunk matching a regex using /. The point of add -p is to select hunks from a file, but this proposed solution requires adding the entire file, which is not what the OP wants.
rebase --interactiveis the way to go. If not,git add --patchis one of the options you should consider.