Complete Git Restore Command Reference

git restore file.txt Safe

Revert file to last committed state. Discards unstaged changes in the working directory.

            
              $ git status
              modified: file.txt
              $ git restore file.txt
              $ git status
              nothing to commit, working tree clean
            
          

git restore . Caution

Revert all files in current directory to last committed state. Discards all unstaged changes.

            
              $ git status
              modified: file1.txt, file2.txt, subdir/file3.txt
              $ git restore .
              $ git status
              nothing to commit, working tree clean
            
          

git restore --staged file.txt Safe

Remove file from staging area while keeping changes in working directory. Effectively "unstages" the file.

            
              $ git add file.txt
              Changes to be committed: file.txt
              $ git restore --staged file.txt
              $ git status
              Changes not staged for commit: file.txt
            
          

git restore --staged . Safe

Unstage all files while keeping changes in working directory. Useful when you've added too many files.

            
              $ git add .
              Changes to be committed: file1.txt, file2.txt
              $ git restore --staged .
              $ git status
              Changes not staged for commit: file1.txt, file2.txt
            
          

Advanced Restore Commands

git restore --source=HEAD~2 file.txt Caution

Get version from 2 commits ago. Restores the file to how it was two commits back.

            
              $ git log --oneline
              abc1234 Current commit
              def5678 Previous commit
              ghi9012 Two commits ago
              $ git restore --source=HEAD~2 file.txt
              # file.txt now matches how it was at ghi9012
            
          

git restore --source=abc123 deleted_file.txt Safe

Restore a deleted file from a specific commit. The file will be added back to your working directory.

            
              $ git log --oneline -- deleted_file.txt
              abc1234 Last commit where file existed
              $ git restore --source=abc123 deleted_file.txt
              # deleted_file.txt is now restored

git restore -p file.txt Safe

Interactive patch restoration. Allows you to selectively discard changes in a file.

            
              $ git restore -p file.txt
              Discard this hunk from worktree [y,n,q,a,d,e,?]?
              # y - yes, discard this hunk
              # n - no, don't discard this hunk
              # q - quit
              # a - discard all remaining hunks
              # d - don't discard any remaining hunks
              # e - manually edit the hunk
            
          

git restore --source=feature-branch file.txt Caution

Restore file to match its state in another branch. Useful for bringing changes from feature branches.

            
              $ git branch
              * main
                feature-branch
              $ git restore --source=feature-branch file.txt
              # file.txt now matches the version in feature-branch
            
          

git restore --worktree --staged file.txt Dangerous

Reset both staging and working copy. Completely reverts the file to HEAD state.

            
              $ git status
              Changes to be committed: file.txt (modified)
              Changes not staged for commit: file.txt (modified)
              $ git restore --worktree --staged file.txt
              $ git status
              nothing to commit, working tree clean
            
          

git restore --ignore-unmerged file.txt Safe

Restore file while ignoring unmerged entries. Useful when dealing with merge conflicts.

            
              $ git status
              Both modified: file.txt
              $ git restore --ignore-unmerged file.txt
              # Restores file.txt while ignoring unmerged paths

Pro Tip

Remember that git restore is a relatively new command (introduced in Git 2.23) that provides a more intuitive way to restore files compared to the older git checkout and git reset commands for file operations.

Basic Restore Commands

Advanced Restore Commands