Question 1

What's the difference between git reset and git revert?

Accepted Answer

git reset rewinds your branch pointer to an earlier commit, rewriting history — it is appropriate only for commits that have not been pushed. git revert creates a new commit that inverts the changes of an existing commit, leaving history intact, and is safe to use on shared branches. Rule of thumb: reset for private cleanup, revert for public undo.

Question 2

How do I undo a git commit that I already pushed?

Accepted Answer

Use git revert HEAD followed by git push. That creates a new commit which reverses the changes from the pushed commit while preserving history, so teammates' clones stay consistent. Avoid git reset after a push unless you own the branch and are prepared to force-push with --force-with-lease and coordinate with collaborators.

Question 3

How do I recover a deleted branch?

Accepted Answer

Run git reflog to find the last commit the deleted branch pointed at, then recreate the branch with git checkout -b . The reflog keeps entries for about 90 days by default, so recovery is almost always possible if you act within that window. The same approach recovers commits lost to a hard reset.

Question 4

What does git rebase -i do?

Accepted Answer

git rebase -i HEAD~N opens an interactive editor listing the last N commits, letting you reorder, reword, squash, fixup, edit, or drop them before they are replayed onto the base. It is the main tool for cleaning up a branch's history before merging — combining messy 'fix typo' commits into logical units. Because it rewrites history, force-push with --force-with-lease if the commits were already pushed.

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