Why git can't do hard/soft resets by path?

Question

$ git reset -- can reset by path.

However, $ git reset (--hard|--soft) will report an error like below:

Answer 1

You can accomplishment what you're trying to do using git checkout HEAD .

That said, the provided error message makes no sense to me (as git reset works just fine on subdirectories), and I see no reason why git reset --hard shouldn't do exactly what you're asking of it.