Understanding Why Your Git Branch Overrode Your Main Branch: A Guide to Restore Your Code

Discover how to fix your git issues when a side branch seems to overwrite your main branch and learn the importance of committing changes.
---
This video is based on the question https://stackoverflow.com/q/72623508/ asked by the user 'Rui Nian' ( https://stackoverflow.com/u/9191460/ ) and on the answer https://stackoverflow.com/a/72623882/ provided by the user 'larsks' ( https://stackoverflow.com/u/147356/ ) at 'Stack Overflow' website. Thanks to these great users and Stackexchange community for their contributions.

Visit these links for original content and any more details, such as alternate solutions, latest updates/developments on topic, comments, revision history etc. For example, the original title of the Question was: Git side branch overrode main branch?

Also, Content (except music) licensed under CC BY-SA https://meta.stackexchange.com/help/licensing
The original Question post is licensed under the 'CC BY-SA 4.0' ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ ) license, and the original Answer post is licensed under the 'CC BY-SA 4.0' ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ ) license.

If anything seems off to you, please feel free to write me at vlogize [AT] gmail [DOT] com.
---
Understanding Why Your Git Branch Overrode Your Main Branch: A Guide to Restore Your Code

If you're working with Git for version control, you may have encountered a situation where your side branch appears to have overridden your main branch. This can be a frustrating experience, especially if you're unsure of what went wrong. In this guide, we'll break down what likely happened in your case, detailing the steps to resolve the issue and restore your main branch.

The Scenario: What Went Wrong?

When you created a side branch (let's call it new-feature) and modified some files, it seems like something went awry when you tried to return to your main branch. Here are the steps you took:

You created a new branch using the command:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

You switched to that new branch:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

After modifying some files, you realized that your new feature wasn't as good as you hoped.

Then, you tried to return to the main branch:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Upon switching, you noticed that your main branch still showed modifications, marked with an M.

Understanding the Problem

You correctly followed the steps to create and work on a new branch. However, the crucial detail here is that you did not commit the changes you made in your new-feature branch. Here’s how this affects your situation:

Uncommitted Changes: When you modify files in Git, those changes exist in your working directory. If you haven’t committed them, they don’t belong to any specific branch.

Switching Branches: When you switched back to the main branch, Git kept those uncommitted changes in your working directory. This is why you’re seeing the modified status (M) next to the files.

Steps to Restore Your Main Branch

Now that we understand what happened, let's look at how to restore your main branch and get rid of those unwanted changes.

Options to Restore Your Main Branch

You have a couple of options depending on what you want to do with your changes:

To Discard Changes:
If you want to revert back to the original version of the files and discard the modifications completely, use the following command:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

This command fetches the current version of the files from the main branch, effectively discarding your changes.

To Keep Changes but Move Back to Main:
If you think the changes you made in the new-feature branch have potential, consider committing them to that branch before switching:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

After committing, you can safely switch back to the main branch without losing any work.

Conclusion

Now that we have addressed why your code didn’t update when switching back to the main branch, you should feel more confident in managing your branches and understanding how Git handles uncommitted changes.

Always remember to commit your changes to ensure they are associated with the correct branch. By doing so, you avoid the risk of losing any work and keep your Git workflow efficient.

If you have any questions or if you encounter other Git-related issues, feel free to reach out or leave a comment below!

Видео Understanding Why Your Git Branch Overrode Your Main Branch: A Guide to Restore Your Code канала vlogize