Git Squash Guide: Combining Multiple Commits

This guide demonstrates how to combine multiple commits into a single commit using Git's interactive rebase feature.

📋 Overview

Squashing commits is useful when you want to:

Clean up your commit history before merging
Group related changes into a single logical commit
Simplify your project's history for better readability

🔄 Step-by-Step Process

Step 1: Determine the Number of Commits to Squash

First, check your commit history to identify how many commits you want to combine:

git log --oneline -n 10

This will show your 10 most recent commits, allowing you to count how many you want to squash.

Step 2: Start Interactive Rebase

Use the interactive rebase command, specifying how many commits to go back:

git rebase -i HEAD~N

Note: Replace N with the number of commits you want to include in the rebase.

Step 3: Edit the Rebase Plan

Your text editor will open showing something like this:

pick abc1234 Most recent commit message
pick def5678 Second most recent commit
pick ghi9012 Third most recent commit
# ... and so on

Change all instances of pick to squash (or just s) except for the first commit:

pick abc1234 Most recent commit message
s def5678 Second most recent commit
s ghi9012 Third most recent commit
# ... and so on

💡 Tip: Using pick for the first commit and squash for the rest tells Git to combine all commits into the first one.

Step 4: Create a New Commit Message

After saving and closing the rebase plan, another editor window will open allowing you to create a new commit message for the combined commit:

# This is a combination of N commits.
# The first commit's message is:
Most recent commit message

# This is the 2nd commit message:
Second most recent commit

# ...

Edit this to create your final commit message, then save and close.

Step 5: Push Changes to Remote Repository

Once the rebase is complete, push your changes with the force flag:

git push --force origin main

⚠️ Note: Replace main with your branch name if different. Force pushing is necessary because the commit history has been rewritten.

⚠️ Warning: Force pushing rewrites history on the remote repository. Use with caution, especially on shared branches.

⚠️ Important Considerations

Only squash commits that haven't been shared with other developers
Communicate with your team before force pushing to shared branches
Consider using --force-with-lease for a safer force push:

git push --force-with-lease origin main

Back up your repository before performing complex Git operations

🔄 Alternative: Using Merge Squash

If your changes are in a feature branch, you can also squash when merging:

git checkout main
git merge --squash feature-branch
git commit -m "Combined commit message"

Happy coding! 🚀

PickleBoxer/GitSquashGuide.md