# How To Reset A Branch And Undo All Changes in Git

## The Problem

This is a quick one because I have recently been playing around with the structure of my repository and created files and folders I finally decided I did not want to keep. Plus, I deleted a bunch of files I actually want back.

Ever been in the same boat? 

All you want to do is just to reset back all the changes to a previous commit or branch state.

You'd expect that just by doing `git checkout .` everything would go back to normal... except that it doesn't. So maybe you need to `git pull`? Nope, that won't work either.

So what can you do to revert back ALL the edits, get deleted files back and undo folder structure changes?

## The Solution

You can **hard reset** the local project to what's at remote or a previous commit with:

```bash
git reset --hard <COMMIT/BRANCHNAME>
```

For example:
```bash
git reset --hard origin/main
```

### Warning!

Bear in mind careful while doing **hard reset**. It will reset everything including your configurations. 

If you have any build files and config files, you might have to re-build them or check for consistency, or you might face unexpected errors due to caching issues.

Unlike the `git [cherry-pick](https://git-scm.com/docs/git-cherry-pick)` and the `git [revert](https://git-scm.com/docs/git-revert)` commands, the `git [reset](https://git-scm.com/docs/git-reset) --hard` command does not create a new commit. It actually rolls the HEAD reference right back to the ID of the local commit we used in the command.  This isn't a matter of updating the working tree and checking out a certain version of the content of tracked files. The `git reset` hard command actually points the HEAD right back to the old commit and **any changes** to tracked files in the working tree since then **are discarded**.

There are other options to explore with the git reset command, including `--soft` and `--merge`. But when you've messed up and just want to **undo everything**, the `git reset --hard` command is the right one to get familiar with.

Make it a best friends if you are a developer, as you can use it as an easy way to roll back your project, which is one of the primary reasons why you probably use version control in the first place.