Git Reflog

git reflog records updates to the tip of branches and HEAD. It lets you see where your branch and HEAD have been, even changes you made by mistake. This is useful for recovering lost commits or undoing a reset.

Use git reflog when you need to:

See the history of your branch and HEAD

To see the history of where HEAD and branches have pointed, use:

Example git reflog e56ba1f (HEAD -> master) HEAD@{0}: commit: Revert "Just a regular update, definitely no accidents here..."

This lists recent positions of HEAD, so you can see actions like commits, resets, merges, and checkouts.

If you accidentally reset or deleted commits, you can use the reflog to find the commit and restore it. Each entry in the reflog has a reference like

Example: Undo a Hard Reset git reflog e56ba1f (HEAD -> master) HEAD@{0}: commit: Revert "Just a regular update, definitely no accidents here..."

HEAD is now at 9a9add8 Added .gitignore This puts your branch back to the state it was in at that point.

The reflog is automatically cleaned by Git, but you can manually expire old entries if needed:

Example git reflog expire --expire=30.days refs/heads/main git gc --prune=now Counting objects: 15, done.

This removes reflog entries older than 30 days for the main branch and runs garbage collection. Tips & Best Practices Use git reflog regularly to keep track of your changes Use git reflog to recover lost commits or changes Use git reflog expire to clean up old entries

If you encounter issues with git reflog, try:

Seeking help from a Git expert or community

Be careful when using git reflog to recover lost commits or changes, as it can overwrite existing changes.