command git checkout deleted a few commits

Question

I used the command git checkout 1234567 to view an old commit. Directly afterwards I checked another commit git checkout 1234568 then I checked to master again git checkout master. But now my website is on a old version.

After I executed git log --oneline I realised that my two latest commits are lost! Why did this happen and is it possible to restore them?

Is it because I have to checkout to master again everytime before I checkout to another commit?

Did you make those two commits on `master` or while you had checked out one of the other commits? — Enrico Campidoglio, Mar 08 '16 at 08:10
what happens if you try to checkout them again ? did you lose their hash ? — maazza, Mar 08 '16 at 08:19
Check git reflog to see what commits you have actually checked out — Martin G, Mar 08 '16 at 08:21
@EnricoCampidoglio yes i made these two commits on `master`. I did not made any commits while checking out the older commits — Black, Mar 08 '16 at 08:38

Enrico Campidoglio · Accepted Answer · 2016-03-08T11:22:08.900

4

In Git, nothing is lost as long as you've committed it¹.

You can use the reflog to get a journal of the commits that master has been pointing to through time by saying:

git reflog master

Once you've located the latest one of your lost commits in the reflog, you can make master point to it again by using git reset.

For example, let's say that the latest lost commit is on the 4th entry in the reflog. In order to restore it on master you would say:

git checkout master
git reset --hard master@{4}

where master@{4} refers to the commit that master was pointing to 4 entries ago from where it is now.

Note that before you reset master, you should make sure that your working directory is clean, that is you don't have any uncommitted changes.

_{1. Well, almost nothing. Unreachable commits are going to eventually be deleted if enough time passes. By default, they will be kept around for 30 days but you can change that limit through the gc.reflogExpireUnreachable option.}

edited Mar 08 '16 at 11:22

answered Mar 08 '16 at 08:21

Enrico Campidoglio

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I just executed `git checkout master` but my two latest commits are not appearing, it seems like they are really lost. – Black Mar 08 '16 at 08:27
Did you look in the reflog? – Enrico Campidoglio Mar 08 '16 at 08:28
If i execute `git reflog` then i see my latest commits and their SHA ID again, but im not sure how i can restore the latest commit again. – Black Mar 08 '16 at 08:32
1

If you working directory is _clean_, use `git reset --hard `. Please see my answer. – Enrico Campidoglio Mar 08 '16 at 08:33
@EdwardBlack Great. If my answer solved your problem, you can tick the check mark on its right to mark it as accepted. – Enrico Campidoglio Mar 08 '16 at 08:38
I know, and i will definitely do that because your answer is the most detailed. – Black Mar 08 '16 at 08:42

command git checkout deleted a few commits

1 Answers1