Git reflog

Git Reflog: Recover Lost Commits & Undo Mistakes

git reflog (Reference Log) is a lifesaver when you need to recover lost commits, undo mistakes, or track branch movements.

Unlike git log, which shows commit history, git reflog tracks all changes to HEAD, even if commits are lost or branches are deleted.

1. Viewing the Reflog

Run:

git reflog

Example output:

a1b2c3d HEAD@{0}: commit: Added new feature
d4e5f6g HEAD@{1}: commit: Fixed a bug
h7i8j9k HEAD@{2}: reset: moving to HEAD~1
l0m1n2o HEAD@{3}: rebase (finish): returning to main

🔹 HEAD@{0} is the most recent state.
🔹 Each entry shows what happened, such as commits, resets, or rebases.

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2. Recovering Lost Commits

If you accidentally reset or deleted commits, find the commit hash using:

git reflog

Then, reset your branch back to that commit:

git reset --hard <commit-hash>

3. Undoing a Reset or Checkout

3.1 Undo a Hard Reset

If you ran:

git reset --hard HEAD~2

and lost commits, restore them with:

git reset --hard HEAD@{1}

3.2 Undo a Checkout

If you mistakenly switched branches:

git reflog
git checkout HEAD@{1}

4. Using git reflog with Branches

4.1 Recover a Deleted Branch

If you deleted a branch but need to restore it:

git reflog
git checkout -b deleted-branch <commit-hash>

5. Clean Up Reflog

Old entries are automatically deleted, but you can clean them manually:

git reflog expire --expire=30.days.ago --all
git gc --prune=30.days.ago

Conclusion

Action	Command
View reflog	git reflog
Recover a lost commit	git reset --hard <commit-hash>
Undo a reset	git reset --hard HEAD@{1}
Recover a deleted branch	git checkout -b branch-name <commit-hash>
Clean old reflog entries	git reflog expire --expire=30.days.ago --all

🔹 git reflog is your safety net in Git! Need more details? 🚀