Edit last commit message in Git

Are you someone who is new to version control, or just looking to improve your Git skills? One important aspect of version control is writing clear and descriptive commit message. These messages help you and your team understand the changes that have been made to the codebase, and they become an important part of the project’s history.

But what if you make a mistake in your commit message, or realize that you need to make a change after the fact? Fortunately, Git provides a way to edit last commit message.

Let’s learn how to do it.

How to Edit Last Commit Message

To edit last commit message in git, you will use the git commit --amend command. This command allows you to make changes to the previous commit, including the commit message.

Following is an example of how to use this command. Let’s say you just committed some changes with the message “Added new feature”. However, you realize that you left out some important details in the commit message. To add these details, you can run the following command:

git commit --amend -m "Add new feature: add the ability to search for users by name"

This command will update your old commit message with this new one.

Tips for Writing Good Commit Messages

Now that you know how to edit commit messages, let’s talk about how to write good ones in the first place.

Following are some general guidelines to follow:

• Keep it short: Aim for a commit message that is around 50 characters or less. This helps to keep the message concise and easy to read.
• Use the imperative tense: Your commit message should describe the changes that were made, not what you did. For example, use “Add search feature” instead of “I added a search feature”.
• Provide context: Make sure to include enough information in the commit message so that someone else reading it can understand the changes that were made.

Following are some examples of good and bad commit messages:

Good:

• “Fix login bug”
• “Add search feature: allows users to search for posts by keyword”

Bad:

• “I fixed the login bug”
• “Added some stuff”

Conclusion

In this post, we learned how to edit last commit message in Git using the git commit --amend command. We also covered some tips for writing good commit messages, which are an important part of any version control system.