---
title: Combining git navigation commands
date: 2018-09-01
tags: [code]
description: Here's a quick git tip
---

Here's a quick git tip:

Everyone who uses git probably knows the commands `git checkout` and `git
reset`. But for a long time, I did not really know what *exactly* they do.

The key is understanding that there are three different aspects of your git
repo that can change: If you do a `git checkout <branch>`, the branch will
change, but the head and working tree will change along with it. On the other
hand, if you do a `git reset <branch>`, only the head will change. And then
there is the option to do `git reset --hard <branch>`, which is just like the
regular reset, except that it also changes the working tree.

By combining these basic commands, you can achieve any state you want. Here is
a full table:

                                                                     branch head working tree
-------------------------------------------------------------------- ------ ---- ------------
-                                                                    A      A    A
`git reset --hard $B && git reset HEAD@{1}`                          A      A    B
`git reset $B`                                                       A      B    A
`git reset --hard $B`                                                A      B    B
`git checkout $B && git reset --hard HEAD@{1}`                       B      A    A
`git checkout $B && git reset HEAD@{1}`                              B      A    B
`git checkout $B && git reset --hard HEAD@{1} && git reset HEAD@{1}` B      B    A
`git checkout $B`                                                    B      B    B