Git Restore

This command was added to Git in 2019 (2.23), after user feedback that checkout was destructive in some cases.

Important

These are destructive commands.

These commands should be used with -- otherwise Git doesn’t know if you want a branch, directory, or file.

-- means file.

Restore from Index

• Copy a file to the working tree from the Index.

A file is staged.

git add hello.c

Work happens (in the working tree) now this file is broken.

git restore -- hello.c

Restore the Index

• Copy a file to the Index from the current commit..

This “unstages” a file, the version in HEAD is restored to Index.

Equivalent to undoing git add

git restore --staged -- hello.c

Restore a file to working tree from origin

git restore --source origin/main -- hello.c

References

Git - git-restore Documentation

What is git restore and how is it different from git reset? - Stack Overflow