Commit Hashes explained

In Git, a commit hash is a unique identifier for a commit. It is a fixed-length code that is generated based on the content of the commit, as well as the commit message and metadata.

A commit hash typically consists of a sequence of letters and numbers, and it is used to identify a specific commit in the repository. For example, a commit hash might look like this:

a1b2c3d4e5f6g7h8i9j0

Commit hashes are important because they provide a way to uniquely identify a commit and track changes over time. They are used in a variety of contexts, such as when displaying commit history, identifying a specific commit in a pull request, or referencing a commit in a Git command.

Here are some examples of how commit hashes are used in Git:

  • To view the commit history of a repository, you can use the git log command, which will display a list of commits, along with the commit hash, author, date, and commit message.
  • To revert to a specific commit, you can use the git revert command, followed by the commit hash. For example:
git revert a1b2c3d4e5f6g7h8i9j0
  • To reference a commit in a pull request or commit message, you can use the commit hash preceded by a # symbol. For example:
This pull request includes changes from commit #a1b2c3d4e5f6g7h8i9j0.

Overall, commit hashes are a crucial part of Git and are used to identify and track changes in a repository.