Changing a commit message

Rewriting the most recent commit message

You can change the most recent commit message using the git commit --amend command.

In Git, the text of the commit message is part of the commit. Changing the commit message will change the commit ID—i.e., the SHA1 checksum that names the commit. Effectively, you are creating a new commit that replaces the old one.

Commit has not been pushed online

If the commit only exists in your local repository and has not been pushed to your GitHub Enterprise Server instance, you can amend the commit message with the git commit --amend command.

1. On the command line, navigate to the repository that contains the commit you want to amend.
2. Type git commit --amend and press Enter.
3. In your text editor, edit the commit message, and save the commit.
   • You can add a co-author by adding a trailer to the commit. For more information, see "Creating a commit with multiple authors."

The new commit and message will appear on your GitHub Enterprise Server instance the next time you push.

Amending older or multiple commit messages

If you have already pushed the commit to your GitHub Enterprise Server instance, you will have to force push a commit with an amended message.

Changing the message of the most recently pushed commit

1. Follow the steps above to amend the commit message.

2. Use the push --force-with-lease command to force push over the old commit.

   git push --force-with-lease origin EXAMPLE-BRANCH
   

Changing the message of older or multiple commit messages

If you need to amend the message for multiple commits or an older commit, you can use interactive rebase, then force push to change the commit history.

1. On the command line, navigate to the repository that contains the commit you want to amend.

2. Use the git rebase -i HEAD~n command to display a list of the last n commits in your default text editor.

   # Displays a list of the last 3 commits on the current branch
   $ git rebase -i HEAD~3
   

   The list will look similar to the following:

   pick e499d89 Delete CNAME
   pick 0c39034 Better README
   pick f7fde4a Change the commit message but push the same commit.
   
   # Rebase 9fdb3bd..f7fde4a onto 9fdb3bd
   #
   # Commands:
   # p, pick = use commit
   # r, reword = use commit, but edit the commit message
   # e, edit = use commit, but stop for amending
   # s, squash = use commit, but meld into previous commit
   # f, fixup = like "squash", but discard this commit's log message
   # x, exec = run command (the rest of the line) using shell
   #
   # These lines can be re-ordered; they are executed from top to bottom.
   #
   # If you remove a line here THAT COMMIT WILL BE LOST.
   #
   # However, if you remove everything, the rebase will be aborted.
   #
   # Note that empty commits are commented out
   

3. Replace pick with reword before each commit message you want to change.

   pick e499d89 Delete CNAME
   reword 0c39034 Better README
   reword f7fde4a Change the commit message but push the same commit.
   

4. Save and close the commit list file.

5. In each resulting commit file, type the new commit message, save the file, and close it.

6. When you're ready to push your changes to GitHub, use the push --force command to force push over the old commit.

   git push --force origin EXAMPLE-BRANCH
   

For more information on interactive rebase, see Interactive mode in the Git manual.

Further reading

• "Signing commits"