Git Squash

Git squash combines multiple commits into a single commit to simplify and clean up project history, making it more organized and easier to review.

• The top sequence shows multiple incremental commits made during development (feature branch history).
• The squashing process combines those intermediate commits into a single commit.
• The bottom sequence shows a cleaner history with fewer commits, making it easier to understand and review.

Git Squash-Merge Command (Command Line)

You can combine commits from a feature branch into a single commit and merge it into your current branch using:

git merge --squash feature-branch

This command condenses all commits from the feature branch into one that is applied onto your current branch. After squash merging, the repository history becomes cleaner and more organized.

Ways to Squash Commits

There are mainly two way:

1. Interactive Rebase Method

git rebase -i HEAD~3

Steps:

• An interactive editor opens listing the last 3 commits.
• Change pick to squash (or s) for the commits you want to combine.
• Save and close the editor.
• Another editor opens to edit the combined commit message.
• Save and exit to complete the rebase.

Result: Multiple commits are combined into a single commit.

2. Squashing with the --squash Option

Steps:

• Switch to your target branch:

git checkout main

• Merge using squash:

git merge --squash feature-branch

• Resolve any merge conflicts (if they occur).
• Commit the combined changes:

git commit -m "Add group video calls and bug fixes"

• Push changes to the remote repository.

Squashing Last Two Commits

git rebase -i HEAD~2

Steps:

• Open interactive rebase for the last 2 commits.
• Change pick to squash for the second commit.
• Save, update the commit message if needed, and close the editor.

Result: The last two commits are merged into one.

Git Squash Vs Rebase

Here are some differences: