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Sometimes when using Git, we realize that a commit was wrong and needs to be removed. The reason may be that the customer does not want to use this feature in the product.

Either we introduced a bug, or we need to work on it again because we already committed a bad implementation.

This article will discuss how we can delete local and remote repositories and clean up all of them using Git commands.

In Git, we can remove commits through two different processes. These processes depend on the changes, whether they have been pushed to a remote branch or not.

Deleting commits from a local repository in Git

If our changes have not yet been pushed to the remote repository, we can delete the most recent commit locally with the following command:

git reset --hard HEAD~1

The above mentioned command will discard all changes made in the folder (working tree) and HEADmove to HEADthe latest commit before .

If we want to remove the commits before a specific commit, we will run git logto search for the specific commit id. After that, we will remove those commits using the below mentioned commands:

git reset --hard <sha1-commit-id>

This command mentioned earlier will discard all changes made in the working tree and HEADmove to the commit of our choice.

Deleting commits from a remote repository in Git

If we want to remove a commit from the remote repository, we'll make a 强制推送new HEADcommit. Or, if we've already pushed changes to the remote repository, we'll run the following command:

git push origin HEAD --force

If someone else pulls this branch, then it's best to start a new branch; otherwise, it will merge it into their work, in which case we need to push back to the same branch again.

This will remove that commit from both the local and remote repositories. If we need to remove it only from the remote and not from the local, then we will execute the below mentioned command:

git push origin +HEAD^:branch_name

Before executing these commands, we should take another look at it, as it will delete all of our working directory changes.

After deleting it, if we want to search for that commit again, it will preferably appear in <git reflog>, unless our repository has been garbage collected.