Why are there two ways to unstage a file in Git?

Question

Sometimes git suggests git rm --cached to unstage a file, sometimes git reset HEAD file. When should I use which?

EDIT:

D:\         


        

Answer 1

1.

D:\code\gt2>git status
# On branch master
#
# Initial commit
#
# Changes to be committed:
#   (use "git rm --cached ..." to unstage)
#
#       new file:   a

(use "git rm --cached ..." to unstage)

• git is a system of pointers

• you do not have a commit yet to change your pointer to

• the only way to 'take files out of the bucket being pointed to' is to remove files you told git to watch for changes

2.

D:\code\gt2>git commit -m a
[master (root-commit) c271e05] a
0 files changed, 0 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-) create mode 100644 a

git commit -m a

• you commited, 'saved'

3.

D:\code\gt2>git status
# On branch master
# Changes to be committed:
#   (use "git reset HEAD ..." to unstage)
#
#       new file:   b
#

(use "git reset HEAD ..." to unstage)

• you made a commit in your code at this time
• now you can reset your pointer to your commit 'revert back to last save'