Temporarily switch working copy to a specific Git commit
If you are at a certain branch mybranch
, just go ahead and git checkout commit_hash
. Then you can return to your branch by git checkout mybranch
. I had the same game bisecting a bug today :) Also, you should know about git bisect.
In addition to the other answers here showing you how to git checkout <the-hash-you-want>
it's worth knowing you can switch back to where you were using:
git checkout @{-1}
This is often more convenient than:
git checkout what-was-that-original-branch-called-again-question-mark
As you might anticipate, git checkout @{-2}
will take you back to the branch you were at two git checkout
s ago, and similarly for other numbers. If you can remember where you were for bigger numbers, you should get some kind of medal for that.
Sadly for productivity, git checkout @{1}
does not take you to the branch you will be on in future, which is a shame.
First, use git log
to see the log, pick the commit you want, note down the sha1 hash that is used to identify the commit. Next, run git checkout hash
. After you are done, git checkout original_branch
. This has the advantage of not moving the HEAD, it simply switches the working copy to a specific commit.