Recovery

What Git can recover

What you can recover with Git depends on the file’s recorded state. You can retrieve committed file versions from history. Save any uncommitted edits you may need before discarding them.

A newly saved file may still be untracked by Git, and staging does not create a commit in history. Before a large edit or folder cleanup, run git status and commit the work you need to preserve or keep a separate copy.

Discard working file edits

Before discarding anything, inspect the named file’s status, unstaged diff, and staged diff:

git status --short -- path/to/file.tex
git diff -- path/to/file.tex
git diff --cached -- path/to/file.tex

For a previously committed file, git restore -- path/to/file.tex discards unstaged edits in the working file and restores its current staged content. If you have already staged changes, that content may differ from the last commit.

git restore -- path/to/file.tex

To discard both staged and unstaged edits in this committed file and return it to the last commit, review those differences first, then run:

git restore --staged --worktree -- path/to/file.tex

This discards the current edits in the named file. Save anything you may need in a separate copy or commit first.

Unstage files

If you used git add too early, remove the named file from the next commit’s staged list while keeping its working file:

git restore --staged -- path/to/file.tex

An existing tracked file appears as an unstaged change; a newly added file may appear as untracked. Check the result with git status.

Recover deleted files

If you deleted a committed file, run git status to see whether the deletion is staged. Restore an unstaged deletion with:

git restore -- path/to/file.tex

For a staged deletion, use this command to recover the last committed version:

git restore --staged --worktree -- path/to/file.tex

These commands cannot recover an untracked file that was never committed.

Restore from an older commit

If you need an older version of a file, find its commit in Git Graph or with:

git log --oneline -- path/to/file.tex

Replace COMMIT_HASH below with the hash you found. Read that version with git show and preserve any current edits you need:

git show COMMIT_HASH:path/to/file.tex

Check git status for staged changes to the named file before you run the next command. Then replace only that file’s working copy with the selected version:

git restore --source=COMMIT_HASH --worktree -- path/to/file.tex

This command leaves any staged content unchanged. Review the restored file with git diff -- path/to/file.tex. If you want to record this version as a new commit, stage the file and commit it.

git diff -- path/to/file.tex

If the restored file is part of a build, save it and check the build result as well.