Why cherry-pick is useful in Git - Why It Works

Introduction

Sometimes you want to take a specific change from one branch and add it to another without merging everything. Cherry-pick lets you copy just that one change easily.

When you fixed a bug in a feature branch and want to apply the fix to the main branch without merging all feature changes

When you want to add a small improvement from one branch to another without bringing unrelated commits

When you accidentally committed a change to the wrong branch and want to move it to the correct branch

When you want to test a specific commit from another branch in your current branch

When you want to share a single commit with a teammate without sharing the whole branch

Commands

Switch to the main branch where you want to apply the specific change.

Terminal

git checkout main

Expected Output

No output (command runs silently)

Copy the commit with ID 3a1b2c4 from another branch and apply it to the current branch.

Terminal

git cherry-pick 3a1b2c4

Expected Output

[main 9f8e7d6] Fix typo in README

 Author: Jane Doe <[e-mail]>

 Date:   Thu Apr 25 10:00:00 2024 +0000



    README typo fixed

Check the latest commit on the current branch to confirm the cherry-pick was successful.

Terminal

git log --oneline -1

Expected Output

9f8e7d6 Fix typo in README

Key Concept

If you remember nothing else from this pattern, remember: cherry-pick lets you copy a single commit from one branch to another without merging all changes.

Common Mistakes

Trying to cherry-pick a commit that causes conflicts without resolving them

The cherry-pick will stop and not complete until conflicts are fixed, leaving the branch in a conflicted state

Manually fix the conflicts shown, then run 'git cherry-pick --continue' to finish

Cherry-picking commits that depend on previous commits not included

The cherry-picked commit may not work correctly if it relies on earlier changes missing in the target branch

Also cherry-pick the dependent commits or merge the branches instead

Cherry-picking commits without checking out the correct target branch first

The commit will be applied to the wrong branch, causing confusion and possible errors

Always switch to the branch where you want the commit before running cherry-pick

Summary

Use 'git checkout' to switch to the branch where you want to apply a specific commit.

Run 'git cherry-pick <commit-id>' to copy that commit to your current branch.

Verify the commit was added with 'git log --oneline -1'.