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

Explanation

The git reset manual lists 3 ways of invocation:

• 2 are file-wise: These do not affect the working tree, but operate only on the files in the index specified by :

  • git reset [-q] [] [--] ..
  • git reset (--patch | -p) [] [--] [...]

• 1 is commit-wise: Operates on all files in the referenced , and may affect the working tree:

  • git reset [] []

There's no mode of invocation that operates only on specified files and affects the working tree.

Workaround

If you want to both:

• Reset the index/cache version of a file(s)
• Checkout the file(s) (ie, make the working tree match the index and commit version)

You can use this alias in your git config file:

[alias]
  reco   = !"cd \"${GIT_PREFIX:-.}\" && git reset \"$@\" && git checkout \"$@\" && git status --short #"  # Avoid: "fatal: Cannot do hard reset with paths."

You can then do one of:

$ git reco 

$ git reco  

$ git reco -- 

(Mnenonic for reco: reset && checkout)