Forgettable Git

There are many git commands that I use regularly, but not so often that I can actually remember them so I’ve listed them here. I suspect that this list will probably grow over time.

Change an older commit message

Run the following to show the last n commits in your editor.

$ git rebase -i HEAD~n

Find the commits whose messages you want to change, and replace the command pick with reword.
Save and exit.

The editor will now open for each commit in turn.

Change the message, then save and exit.

If you need to push it, use the --force flag.

Credit: https://docs.github.com/en/pull-requests/committing-changes-to-your-project/creating-and-editing-commits/changing-a-commit-message

Create an empty branch with no history

This is particularly useful when you need to create gh-pages

$ git switch --orphan <branch_name>

Credit: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/34100048/create-empty-branch-on-github

Delete a remote branch

$ git push -d <remote_name> <branch_name>

Credit: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2003505/how-do-i-delete-a-git-branch-locally-and-remotely