# Newbie: Restore messed up code from local or remote repository

6 messages from 2010-11-12 to 2010-11-12. Participants: gzoller, Ramkumar Ramachandra, Jan Hudec, Santi Béjar, Matthieu Moy.
Thread: https://gitlist.dev/t/25721

## gzoller, 2010-11-12 08:22

Subject: Newbie: Restore messed up code from local or remote repository
Message-ID: <1289550163511-5731540.post@n2.nabble.com>
URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/1289550163511-5731540.post%40n2.nabble.com

```

Hello -- Extreme Git Newbie

I have a project that is checked into a local git repository as well as
pushed to a remote repository.

Through misadventure I've managed to screw up my working code and want to
restore what I had from my last commit on either the local or remote
repositories.

So I blew away my messed up working files and tried:

git checkout
git pull -f /path/to/remote/repos
git fetch -f /path/to/remote/repos

None of the above did the trick.  The two remote commands reported that
everything was Already up-to-date! (even though I'd deleted a lot of local
working files)

What am I missing?  How can I restore my previous state from last commit?

Thanks!
Greg
-- 
View this message in context: http://git.661346.n2.nabble.com/Newbie-Restore-messed-up-code-from-local-or-remote-repository-tp5731540p5731540.html
Sent from the git mailing list archive at Nabble.com.

```

## Ramkumar Ramachandra, 2010-11-12 10:38

Subject: Re: Newbie: Restore messed up code from local or remote repository
Message-ID: <20101112103836.GB20053@kytes>
URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/20101112103836.GB20053%40kytes
In-Reply-To: <1289550163511-5731540.post@n2.nabble.com>

```
Hi Greg,

gzoller writes:
> git checkout
> git pull -f /path/to/remote/repos
> git fetch -f /path/to/remote/repos
> 
> None of the above did the trick.  The two remote commands reported that
> everything was Already up-to-date! (even though I'd deleted a lot of local
> working files)

Yes, there's really nothing to download. Everything that needs to be
fetched has already been fetched :)

> What am I missing?  How can I restore my previous state from last commit?

See `--hard` switch of `git reset`. Use with extreme caution.

To throw *everything* all your local work away and go back to the
state of the remote repository, switch to `master` branch and do `git
reset --hard origin/master` where `origin` is the name of your remote
and `master` is the name of your remote branch.

To reset to the last commit without looking at the remote, run `git
reset --hard`.

Note: Again, please understand what it's doing first; don't run it
blindly.

-- Ram

```

## Jan Hudec, 2010-11-12 12:46

Subject: Re: Newbie: Restore messed up code from local or remote repository
Message-ID: <20101112124621.GF30870@efreet.light.src>
URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/20101112124621.GF30870%40efreet.light.src
In-Reply-To: <1289550163511-5731540.post@n2.nabble.com>

```
On Fri, Nov 12, 2010 at 00:22:43 -0800, gzoller wrote:
> 
> Hello -- Extreme Git Newbie
> 
> I have a project that is checked into a local git repository as well as
> pushed to a remote repository.
> 
> Through misadventure I've managed to screw up my working code and want to
> restore what I had from my last commit on either the local or remote
> repositories.

If you screwed up content of the index, you will need the 'reset' command.

> So I blew away my messed up working files and tried:
> 
> git checkout

I don't think it does anything without argument. With argument '.' this
restores working tree to the state in index (stage). So if you have that
screwed up too, it won't be enough.

> git pull -f /path/to/remote/repos

This is just
    git fetch -f /path/to/remote/repos
followed by
    git merge FETCH_HEAD
(or appropriate tracking branch if you have the remote and tracking branch
set up)

The former ensured the latest revision of remote repo is available. It will
not itself

> git fetch -f /path/to/remote/repos

See above.

> None of the above did the trick.  The two remote commands reported that
> everything was Already up-to-date! (even though I'd deleted a lot of local
> working files)
> 
> What am I missing?  How can I restore my previous state from last commit?

Yes, using combination of reset and checkout. First make sure the branch you
want to use is checked out (git status will tell you if you don't have the
git aware shell prompt installed).

Than run

   git reset --hard <the-commit-you-want-to-be-at>

That will unconditionally make the current branch point to the specified
commit and make both the index and the working tree match the content of the
commit.

If you don't want it to touch the working tree (so you can compare what you
had in the working tree with that commit), you'd use --mixed instead of
--hard. You can than use checkout to revert those changes -- see above.

-- 
						 Jan 'Bulb' Hudec <bulb@ucw.cz>

```

## Santi Béjar, 2010-11-12 14:02

Subject: Re: Newbie: Restore messed up code from local or remote repository
Message-ID: <AANLkTinyhGKbLDJSsu19+capPUgCx0m_5feaOoSuXCm8@mail.gmail.com>
URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/AANLkTinyhGKbLDJSsu19%2BcapPUgCx0m_5feaOoSuXCm8%40mail.gmail.com
In-Reply-To: <20101112124621.GF30870@efreet.light.src>

```
On Fri, Nov 12, 2010 at 1:46 PM, Jan Hudec <bulb@ucw.cz> wrote:
> On Fri, Nov 12, 2010 at 00:22:43 -0800, gzoller wrote:
>>
>> Hello -- Extreme Git Newbie
>>
>> I have a project that is checked into a local git repository as well as
>> pushed to a remote repository.
>>
>> Through misadventure I've managed to screw up my working code and want to
>> restore what I had from my last commit on either the local or remote
>> repositories.
>
> If you screwed up content of the index, you will need the 'reset' command.
>

If the problem is that you messed with the index (stage) or the
working directory and you want to discard local changes to them, you
could also execute "git status" and follow the instruccions there. If
that is not enough, report it here.

HTH,
Santi

```

## gzoller, 2010-11-12 16:50

Subject: Re: Newbie: Restore messed up code from local or remote repository
Message-ID: <1289580622725-5733041.post@n2.nabble.com>
URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/1289580622725-5733041.post%40n2.nabble.com
In-Reply-To: <AANLkTinyhGKbLDJSsu19+capPUgCx0m_5feaOoSuXCm8@mail.gmail.com>

```

That's cool!  Did the trick, thanks!

While I may get into the fancy stuff of branching (need to read a book on
git) usually I use it to protect myself from self-inflicted harm, and want
to go back to a happy place in such cases.
-- 
View this message in context: http://git.661346.n2.nabble.com/Newbie-Restore-messed-up-code-from-local-or-remote-repository-tp5731540p5733041.html
Sent from the git mailing list archive at Nabble.com.

```

## Matthieu Moy, 2010-11-12 16:57

Subject: Re: Newbie: Restore messed up code from local or remote repository
Message-ID: <vpqzkte1nve.fsf@bauges.imag.fr>
URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/vpqzkte1nve.fsf%40bauges.imag.fr
In-Reply-To: <20101112124621.GF30870@efreet.light.src>

```
Jan Hudec <bulb@ucw.cz> writes:

>> git checkout
>
> I don't think it does anything without argument. With argument '.' this
> restores working tree to the state in index (stage). So if you have that
> screwed up too, it won't be enough.

Actually, the output of "git status" will give you the right command
here.

-- 
Matthieu Moy
http://www-verimag.imag.fr/~moy/

```
