Mastering Time Travel in Git: Returning to a Previous Commit with Finesse

Master the art of revisiting past commits with our three essential tips. Learn how to locate the desired commit, navigate your local environment, and efficiently manage branches. Harness the power of Git to streamline your development workflow and maintain control over your project’s history.

Tips for Going Back to a Previous Commit in Git:

1. Find the desired commit either by using the command git log --oneline in your terminal or by reviewing the commit history on the GitHub website.
2. Return to the selected commit on your local environment using the command git checkout <commit-id> ..
3. Keep in mind that after going back to a previous commit, you will be in a “detached HEAD” state. Create a new branch using git checkout -b <new-branch-name> to continue working from there.
4. If you want to abandon the changes and return to the latest commit, use git checkout <branch-name> to switch back to the desired branch.
5. Remember that going back to a previous commit discards any changes made after that commit, so exercise caution and have backups if needed.

More Info (After you switch to commit-id):

You are in ‘detached HEAD‘ state. You can look around, make experimental
changes and commit them, and you can discard any commits you make in this
state without impacting any branches by switching back to a branch.

If you want to create a new branch to retain commits you create, you may
do so (now or later) by using -c with the switch command. Example:

git switch -c <new-branch-name>

Or undo this operation with:

git switch -