Squash Multiple Commits into One: Git Merging Made Easy

If you're working with Git, you may sometimes find yourself in a situation where you have multiple commits that you'd like to squash into a single commit. This can be useful for keeping your commit history clean and organized, or for simplifying your work for other team members to review. Fortunately, Git makes it easy to squash multiple commits into one.

Step 1: Identify the Commits to Squash

The first step is to identify the commits that you want to squash. You can use the Git log command to see a list of your recent commits, along with their commit messages and IDs. Once you've identified the commits you want to squash, note down their IDs.

git log

Step 2: Start an Interactive Rebase

The next step is to start an interactive rebase. This will allow you to edit the commit history, including squashing multiple commits into one. To start an interactive rebase, use the following command:

git rebase -i HEAD~n

Replace "n" with the number of commits you want to rebase. For example, if you want to rebase the last four commits, use "HEAD~4".

Step 3: Squash the Commits

Once you've started the interactive rebase, you'll see a list of your recent commits in your text editor. Each commit will be prefixed with the word "pick". To squash a commit, simply change the word "pick" to "squash" or "s".

pick 1234567 commit message
squash abcdefg commit message
squash hijklmn commit message

Save and close the file. Git will then combine the commit messages and changes from the squashed commits into a single commit.

Step 4: Push the Changes

Once you've squashed your commits, you'll need to force push your changes to update the remote branch. Be careful when using force push, as it can overwrite other team members' changes. Use force push only when you're sure it's safe to do so.

git push origin branch-name --force

Replace "branch-name" with the name of the remote branch you're pushing to.

Conclusion

Squashing multiple commits into one is a useful Git workflow for keeping your commit history clean and organized. With Git's interactive rebase feature, squashing commits is easy and straightforward. Just remember to use force push with caution, and only when it's safe to do so.