Tutorial: How to Reorder and Squash Commits with Git

• Step 1: Identify Relevant Commits
• Step 2: Rebase Interactively
• Step 3: Reorder Commits (If Necessary)
  • How to Move Commits in Vim
• Step 4: Squash Commits
• Step 5: Write the New Commit Message
• Final Thoughts
  • Pro Tip: When Things Go Wrong

When working with multiple WIP commits or other related commits, you may want to combine them to keep your Git history clean and organized.

In this tutorial, I will walk you through the steps to reorder your commits (if necessary) and then squash them into a single commit.

Step 1: Identify Relevant Commits

First, check your Git commit history to determine how many commits back you need to go in the next step:

git log --oneline

This will output something like:

pick abc123 [WIP] Initial work on a cool feature
pick def456 Fixed unrelated bug
pick ghi789 [WIP] Fixed a bug in cool feature
pick jkl012 [WIP] Improved UI for cool feature

In this case, we want to combine the three WIP commits into one while leaving the unrelated bug fix (def456) untouched. Since four commits are involved, we need to go four commits back in the next step.

Step 2: Rebase Interactively

Run the following command to rebase the last four commits:

git rebase -i HEAD~4

This will open an interactive editor where you can reorder and squash commits.

Step 3: Reorder Commits (If Necessary)

If your related commits are already consecutive, you can skip this step.

However, in our example, the unrelated commit (def456) is in between, so we need to move it below the WIP commits.

How to Move Commits in Vim

• Navigate to the commit you want to move.
• Press dd to cut it.
• Move your cursor to the line above which you want to paste the commit.
• Press Shift + p to paste it.

Before Reordering:

pick abc123 [WIP] Initial work on a cool feature
pick def456 Fixed unrelated bug
pick ghi789 [WIP] Fixed a bug in cool feature
pick jkl012 [WIP] Improved UI for cool feature

After Reordering:

pick abc123 [WIP] Initial work on a cool feature
pick ghi789 [WIP] Fixed a bug in cool feature
pick jkl012 [WIP] Improved UI for cool feature
pick def456 Fixed unrelated bug

Now, all the WIP commits are together, making them easier to squash.

Step 4: Squash Commits

Next, change the pick keyword to squash for the second and third WIP commits while leaving the first one as pick:

Before Squashing:

pick abc123 [WIP] Initial work on a cool feature
pick ghi789 [WIP] Fixed a bug in cool feature
pick jkl012 [WIP] Improved UI for cool feature
pick def456 Fixed unrelated bug

After Squashing:

pick abc123 [WIP] Initial work on a cool feature
squash ghi789 [WIP] Fixed a bug in cool feature
squash jkl012 [WIP] Improved UI for cool feature
pick def456 Fixed unrelated bug

Press Esc and then type :wq to save and exit

Step 5: Write the New Commit Message

Git will now ask you to provide a new commit message. By default, it will list all commit messages from the squashed commits. Edit this message to keep only the final meaningful message, then save and exit with :wq.

Final Thoughts

Now, your Git history is cleaner, with a single commit for your feature instead of multiple WIP commits.

If you run:

git log --oneline

You should see:

xyz999 feat: Implement cool feature
def456 Fixed unrelated bug

Pro Tip: When Things Go Wrong

If you run into issues during rebasing, you can abort and start over with:

git rebase --abort

Hope this helps.