Do you know how to change the date of an existing commit?

Updated by Jeoffrey Fischer [SSW] 12 months ago. See history
123

Updating commit information can be essential for maintaining accurate project history or correcting errors. Whether you need to change a commit date for clarity, compliance, or other reasons, you have a couple of methods at your disposal.

This rule outlines how to change the date of an existing commit using both a manual CLI approach and an automated script.
## Method 1 – Use CLI

1. Checkout to the branch containing the commit

    ```bash
    git checkout -b &#123;&#123; BRANCH NAME &#125;&#125; origin/&#123;&#123; BRANCH NAME &#125;&#125;
    ```

2. Run git log to get the last commit hash

    ```bash
    git log
    ```

3. Do an interactive rebase for the parent of the last commit

    ```bash
    git rebase -i &#123;&#123; COMMIT HASH &#125;&#125;^
    ```

4. This opens vi editor:

    1. Press "I" key to enter interactive mode,
    2. Change "pick" to "edit",
    3. Press "escape" to exit interactive mode,
    4. Type ":wq" to save and exit

5. Change the commit date

    ``` bash
    GIT_COMMITTER_DATE="&#123;&#123; NEW DATE IN  'YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS' FORMAT &#125;&#125;" GIT_AUTHOR_DATE="&#123;&#123; NEW DATE IN  'YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS' FORMAT &#125;&#125;" git commit --amend --no-edit
    ```

6. Finish the rebase

    ```bash
    git rebase --continue
    ```

7. Force push to origin

    ```bash
    git push origin &#123;&#123; BRANCH NAME &#125;&#125; --force
    ```

## Method 2 (recommended) – Use a script

If the date change is to be applied on several branches, it is preferable to automate the process with a script.

```bash
BRANCH=$1
DATE=$2
if [ -z "$BRANCH" ] || [ -z "$DATE" ]; then
   echo "Usage: $0 &#123;&#123; BRANCH NAME &#125;&#125; &#123;&#123; NEW DATE IN  'YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS' FORMAT &#125;&#125;"
   exit 1
fi
git checkout -b "$BRANCH" "origin/$BRANCH"
LAST_COMMIT_HASH=$(git log -n 1 --pretty=format:"%H")
git rebase -i "$LAST_COMMIT_HASH^"
GIT_COMMITTER_DATE="$DATE" GIT_AUTHOR_DATE="$DATE" git commit --amend --no-edit
git rebase --continue
git push origin "$BRANCH" --force
git checkout main
```

The script can be actioned with the following command:

```bash
./change_history.sh "&#123;&#123; LOCAL PATH &#125;&#125;" "&#123;&#123; NEW DATE IN  'YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS' FORMAT &#125;&#125;"
```
Do you know how to change the date of an existing commit?

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