How can I merge two commits into one if I already started rebase?

 

If you have already started a rebase operation and want to merge two commits into one during the rebase process, you can use Git's interactive rebase feature. Here's a step-by-step example:

Suppose you have a commit history like this:

mathematica

A -- B -- C -- D -- E (your branch)

You want to merge commits C and D into a single commit. You've already started a rebase with the command:

bash

git rebase -i HEAD~5

1. When you run this command, Git opens an interactive rebase file in your text editor. It looks something like this:

   bash

pick A
pick B
pick C
pick D
pick E

To merge commits C and D, change the lines for those commits from "pick" to "squash" or "s". It should look like this:

bash

pick A
pick B
squash C
squash D
pick E

Save and close the file.

Git will prompt you to edit the commit message for the combined commit. You can edit the message as needed and save the file. The message might look like this:

bash

# This is a combination of 2 commits.
# This is the commit message for commit C:

Commit C message

# This is the commit message for commit D:

Commit D message

Modify the combined message to your liking, combining the commit messages as appropriate.

Save and close the file.

Git will now create a new combined commit and complete the rebase. Your commit history will look like this:

css

5. A -- B -- CD -- E (your branch)
   

You have successfully merged two commits (C and D) into one (CD) during the rebase process. Remember to force-push your branch if you've already pushed it to a remote repository to update the branch's history there as well:

bash

git push -f origin your-branch

Be cautious when force-pushing, especially if you're collaborating with others, as it can rewrite the branch's history and cause conflicts for other contributors.