Recovering deleted branches in Git - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Recovering Deleted Branches in Git

📖 Scenario: You accidentally deleted a branch in your Git repository but realize you need to recover it. Git keeps a record of recent changes, so you can find the deleted branch's commit and restore it.

🎯 Goal: Learn how to find the commit hash of a deleted branch and recreate the branch to recover lost work.

📋 What You'll Learn

Use git reflog to find the commit hash of the deleted branch

Create a new branch pointing to the recovered commit hash

Verify the branch is restored by listing all branches

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Accidentally deleting a branch is common. Knowing how to recover it quickly saves time and prevents data loss.

💼 Career

Git branch recovery is a valuable skill for developers and DevOps engineers to maintain code integrity and workflow continuity.

1

Find the commit hash of the deleted branch

Run git reflog to see the recent commits and find the commit hash of the deleted branch.

Git

# Run git reflog to find the commit hash of the deleted branch
# Your code here

Need a hint?

The git reflog command shows a list of recent commits and actions, including deleted branches.

2

Create a new branch at the recovered commit hash

Use git branch recovered-branch <commit-hash> to create a new branch called recovered-branch at the commit hash you found in Step 1. Replace <commit-hash> with the actual hash.

Git

git reflog
# Create a new branch called recovered-branch at the commit hash
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Replace abc1234 with the actual commit hash from git reflog.

3

Switch to the recovered branch

Run git checkout recovered-branch to switch to the recovered branch.

Git

git reflog
git branch recovered-branch abc1234
# Switch to the recovered branch
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use git checkout to move to the branch you just created.

4

Verify the recovered branch exists

Run git branch to list all branches and confirm recovered-branch is present.

Git

git reflog
git branch recovered-branch abc1234
git checkout recovered-branch
# List all branches to verify recovery
# Your code here

Need a hint?

The git branch command shows all branches. Look for recovered-branch in the list.