Revert changes to a file in a commit

Question

I want to revert changes made by a particular commit to a given file only.

Can I use git revert command for that?

Any other simple way to do it?

Answer 1

git revert is for all file contents within a commits.

For a single file, you can script it:

#!/bin/bash

function output_help {
    echo "usage: git-revert-single-file  "
}

sha1=$1
file=$2

if [[ $sha1 ]]; then
git diff $sha1..$sha1^ -- $file | patch -p1
else
output_help
fi

(From the git-shell-scripts utilities from smtlaissezfaire)

---

Note:

another way is described here if you have yet to commit your current modification.

git checkout -- filename

git checkout has some options for a file, modifying the file from HEAD, overwriting your change.

---

Dropped.on.Caprica mentions in the comments:

You can add an alias to git so you can do git revert-file and have that specific file be reverted.
See this gist.

[alias]
  revert-file = !sh /home/some-user/git-file-revert.sh