Go to particular revision

To go to a particular version/commit run following commands. HASH-CODE you can get from git log --oneline -n 10

git reset --hard HASH-CODE

Note - After reset to particular version/commit you can run git pull --rebase, if you want to bring back all the commits which are discarded.


You can get a graphical view of the project history with tools like gitk. Just run:

gitk --all

If you want to checkout a specific branch:

git checkout <branch name>

For a specific commit, use the SHA1 hash instead of the branch name. (See Treeishes in the Git Community Book, which is a good read, to see other options for navigating your tree.)

git log has a whole set of options to display detailed or summary history too.

I don't know of an easy way to move forward in a commit history. Projects with a linear history are probably not all that common. The idea of a "revision" like you'd have with SVN or CVS doesn't map all that well in Git.


Before executing this command keep in mind that it will leave you in detached head status

Use git checkout <sha1> to check out a particular commit.

Where <sha1> is the commit unique number that you can obtain with git log

Here are some options after you are in detached head status:

  • Copy the files or make the changes that you need to a folder outside your git folder, checkout the branch were you need them git checkout <existingBranch> and replace files
  • Create a new local branch git checkout -b <new_branch_name> <sha1>

Using a commit's SHA1 key, you could do the following:

  • First, find the commit you want for a specific file:

    git log -n <# commits> <file-name>

    This, based on your <# commits>, will generate a list of commits for a specific file.

    TIP: if you aren't sure what commit you are looking for, a good way to find out is using the following command: git diff <commit-SHA1>..HEAD <file-name>. This command will show the difference between the current version of a commit, and a previous version of a commit for a specific file.

    NOTE: a commit's SHA1 key is formatted in the git log -n's list as:

commit <SHA1 id>

  • Second, checkout the desired version:

    If you have found the desired commit/version you want, simply use the command: git checkout <desired-SHA1> <file-name>

    This will place the version of the file you specified in the staging area. To take it out of the staging area simply use the command: reset HEAD <file-name>

To revert back to where the remote repository is pointed to, simply use the command: git checkout HEAD <file-name>