Git Tips for Newbies: Avoiding Common Mistakes and Simple Fixes

Getting started with Git can be a bit overwhelming, but don’t worry—everyone makes mistakes. Here are some common Git pitfalls and how to fix them quickly.

1. Forgot to Add a File in Your Latest Commit

What happened? You committed your changes but realized you missed a file.

Solution: Add the missing file to your last commit without creating a new one by running:

git add <file>
git commit --amend --no-edit

This updates the most recent commit to include the newly added file, while keeping your original commit message intact.

2. Remove an Unwanted File from Your Latest Commit

What happened? You accidentally included a file that shouldn’t have been part of the commit.

Solution: Remove the file from the commit but keep it in your working directory with:

git reset HEAD^ -- <file>
git commit --amend --no-edit

This effectively undoes the inclusion of the file in the commit without changing the commit message.

3. Discard Local Changes

What happened? You made changes but decide you don’t want to keep them.

Solution: To discard uncommitted changes for a specific file:

git checkout -- <file>

To discard all local changes and reset to the last committed state:

git reset --hard

Be careful with --hard as it will permanently remove all uncommitted changes.

4. Pulling Failed Due to In-Progress Work

What happened? You tried to pull updates from the remote repository, but Git blocked you because you have uncommitted changes.

Solution: You can handle this in two ways:

Stash Your Changes:

git stash
git pull

This saves your local changes temporarily, allowing you to pull the latest updates. After pulling, reapply your changes with:

git stash pop

Commit Your Work:

If your changes are ready to be committed, do so before pulling:

git add .
git commit -m "WIP: work in progress"
git pull

This commits your changes, enabling a smooth pull from the remote repository.

For more coding tips and tutorials, check out other articles on NC's Blog.