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Rebase

git rebase is a powerful command that allows you to integrate changes from one branch into another by moving or combining a sequence of commits.

A---B---C---E (master) <- other's change
         \
          D (new-feature) <- your change

For example, if you have a branch new-feature that you want to rebase onto the master branch, you can do so with the following command:

$ git branch
  main
* new-feature

$ git rebase master

After running the rebase command, Git will take the commits from new-feature

A---B---C---E---D'

Resolve Conflicts

There may be conflicts during the rebase process. If this happens, Git will pause. You can resolve the conflicts by editing the files, then rebase again:

  1. Find the files with conflicts.

    $ git status
Unmerged paths:
  (use "git add <file>..." to mark resolution)

        both modified:   <conflicted file>

  2. Edit the files to resolve the conflicts. The conflicts will be marked in the files.

    conflicted file
    <<<<<<< HEAD
Your changes
=======
Changes from the branch you are rebasing onto
>>>>>>> master

  3. Add the resolved files and rebase again.

    $ git add <conflicted file>
$ git rebase --continue

Change Multiple Commits

If you want to change multiple commits, you can use the -i (interactive) flag with the rebase command:

$ git rebase -i HEAD~3        # Rebase the last 3 commits
$ git rebase -i <commit-hash> # Rebase from a specific commit
Examples

For example, if you have the following commit history:

22186ea --- 2cae922 --- 4de22bd --- b76d5f7 --- f167f21

If you want to change the last three commits, you can run: 

$ git rebase -i 2cae922
# or
$ git rebase -i HEAD~3

It will open an editor with the last three commits listed. You can choose whether to pick or drop the commits:

pick 4de22bd <message>
drop b76d5f7 <message>
pick f167f21 <message>
Action Description
pick Keep the commit as is.
drop Remove the commit from the history.

The commit b76d5f7 will be dropped. The commit f167f21 will be kept and be rehashed onto the previous commit. The final history will look like this:

22186ea --- 2cae922 --- 4de22bd --- 1f7bf84(f167f21)

Show Log

You can view the commit history of your repository using the git log command. 

$ git log --all --graph --decorate --oneline

Flags
  • --all: Show all branches.
  • --graph: Show a text-based graph of the commit history.
  • --decorate: Show branch names and tags.
  • --oneline: Show each commit on a single line.