Advanced Git Rebase

Interactive rebase allows you to edit, reorder, squash, or drop commits before pushing to a remote repository. This is essential for maintaining a clean commit history.

Use Case

Use this when you have multiple WIP commits that you want to clean up before creating a pull request. It helps maintain a professional and readable git history.

Code

 1# Start interactive rebase for last N commits
 2git rebase -i HEAD~N
 3
 4# Or rebase from a specific commit
 5git rebase -i <commit-hash>
 6
 7# Common commands in interactive rebase:
 8# pick = use commit
 9# reword = use commit, but edit commit message
10# edit = use commit, but stop for amending
11# squash = use commit, but meld into previous commit
12# fixup = like squash, but discard commit message
13# drop = remove commit

Explanation

Interactive rebase opens your editor with a list of commits. Each line starts with a command (default is pick). You can change these commands to manipulate your commit history.

The commits are listed from oldest to newest (opposite of git log). Changes are applied from top to bottom.

Parameters/Options

• HEAD~N: Rebase the last N commits
• <commit-hash>: Rebase from a specific commit (not including that commit)
• -i, --interactive: Start interactive rebase
• --autosquash: Automatically squash commits marked with fixup! or squash!
• --continue: Continue after resolving conflicts
• --abort: Cancel the rebase and return to original state

Examples

Example 1: Squash last 3 commits

 1# Start interactive rebase
 2git rebase -i HEAD~3
 3
 4# In the editor, change:
 5# pick abc123 First commit
 6# pick def456 Second commit  
 7# pick ghi789 Third commit
 8#
 9# To:
10# pick abc123 First commit
11# squash def456 Second commit
12# squash ghi789 Third commit
13
14# Save and close editor
15# Edit the combined commit message
16# Save and close

Output:

1Successfully rebased and updated refs/heads/main.

Example 2: Reorder commits

 1git rebase -i HEAD~4
 2
 3# Simply reorder the lines in the editor:
 4# pick abc123 Feature A
 5# pick def456 Feature B
 6# pick ghi789 Fix for Feature A
 7# pick jkl012 Feature C
 8#
 9# Becomes:
10# pick abc123 Feature A
11# pick ghi789 Fix for Feature A
12# pick def456 Feature B
13# pick jkl012 Feature C

Example 3: Edit a commit message

1git rebase -i HEAD~2
2
3# Change 'pick' to 'reword':
4# reword abc123 Old message
5# pick def456 Another commit
6
7# Editor will open for you to change the message

Notes

Always create a backup branch before rebasing:

1git branch backup-branch

Interactive rebase rewrites history, so only use it on commits that haven't been pushed to a shared remote, or be prepared to force push.

Gotchas/Warnings

• ⚠️ Never rebase commits that have been pushed to a public/shared repository unless you coordinate with your team
• ⚠️ Force push required after rebase: Use git push --force-with-lease (safer than --force)
• ⚠️ Conflicts may occur: Be prepared to resolve them with git rebase --continue or abort with git rebase --abort
• ⚠️ Lost commits: If something goes wrong, use git reflog to find and recover lost commits