edit drop

Learn the edit and drop commands.

edit and drop

During an interactive rebase, edit pauses the operation after replaying a commit. This allows you to modify files or amend the commit. drop removes the selected commit from the rewritten history.

pick a12bc34 Add reports page
edit b23cd45 Add report filters
drop c34de56 Add temporary debug output

These operations rewrite history, so they should be used carefully, especially on shared branches.

Splitting a commit

If a commit contains multiple independent changes, you can pause with edit and split it into smaller commits. When rebase pauses, git reset HEAD^ removes the last commit while leaving its changes in the working area. You can then stage files separately, create new commits, and continue with git rebase --continue.

git reset HEAD^
git add page.html
git commit -m "Add page markup"
git add page.css
git commit -m "Add page styles"
git rebase --continue

Exercise Split a commit into two parts

Assume the rebase has paused because of edit. Undo the last commit, save report.html as a separate commit, then save report.css as a second commit. Finally, continue the rebase.

Show example solution

git reset HEAD^
git add report.html
git commit -m "Add report markup"
git add report.css
git commit -m "Add report styles"
git rebase --continue

Test yourself

You want to pause after replaying a commit so you can modify its files or amend it. Which todo command is appropriate?
- squash
- edit
- pick
- drop
Show answer

edit — edit pauses the rebase after replaying the commit and allows you to make changes.
Continue the rebase
```
git rebase ____
```
Show answer
```
git rebase --continue
```
Commit editing options

edit

Modify a commit
drop

Remove a commit from history
git reset HEAD^

Undo last commit but keep changes
git rebase --continue

Continue the rebase operation

Next lesson: Summary - Interactive rebase

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