Squashing Commits in Git

Git is a powerful version control system that allows developers to manage changes to their codebase. One common task when working with Git is squashing commits, which involves combining multiple commits into a single commit. This can be useful for cleaning up the commit history and making it easier to understand.

Understanding Git Rebase

To squash commits in Git, you need to use the git rebase command with the -i option. This will open an interactive shell where you can specify which commits to squash. The basic syntax of the command is:

git rebase -i HEAD~n

Where n is the number of commits you want to squash.

Squashing Commits

To squash the last 4 commits, for example, you would use the following command:

git rebase -i HEAD~4

This will open an interactive shell with a list of the last 4 commits. You can then specify which commits to squash by replacing pick with squash or fixup. The difference between squash and fixup is that squash will allow you to edit the commit message, while fixup will automatically use the commit message of the previous commit.

For example:

pick 1234567 Commit 1
squash 2345678 Commit 2
squash 3456789 Commit 3
squash 4567890 Commit 4

Once you have specified which commits to squash, save and close the file. Git will then apply the squashes and open a new editor with the commit messages.

Pushing the Changes

After squashing the commits, you need to push the changes to the remote repository. To do this, use the following command:

git push origin +branch-name --force

The + symbol before the branch name tells Git to force-push the changes, even if they don’t match the current state of the remote repository.

Best Practices

When squashing commits, it’s a good idea to follow these best practices:

• Always create a new branch to work on, rather than working directly on the master branch.
• Use git rebase -i instead of git merge to squash commits.
• Be careful when force-pushing changes, as this can overwrite other people’s work.

Example Workflow

Here is an example workflow for squashing commits:

# Create a new branch to work on
git checkout -b my-branch

# Make some changes and commit them
git add .
git commit -m "Commit 1"
git add .
git commit -m "Commit 2"
git add .
git commit -m "Commit 3"

# Squash the commits
git rebase -i HEAD~3

# Push the changes to the remote repository
git push origin +my-branch --force

By following these steps and best practices, you can easily squash commits in Git and keep your commit history clean and organized.