How do I stop a Git commit when VI is on the screen waiting for a commit message?

Question

I have asked Git to perform a commit from within git bash, It has brought up VI as it always does.

I now wish to cancel the commit, how do I prevent proceeding with the

Answer 1

To sum up:

• When creating a new commit (i.e git commit) quit using :q!.
• When amending (i.e. git commit --amend) remove the commit message (only the first few rows not beginning with a #) for example by holding v and using arrow keys to select it and then pressing Delete. Quit with :wq to apply changes! If you use :q! the changes will be lost and the previous commit message will be used.

When using VIM it's ok in both cases to quit with :cq - VIM will quit with an error code and the commit will be aborted.