Recovering from bad rebase in Git - Practice Problems & Coding Challenges

Challenge - 5 Problems

💻 Command Output

intermediate

Output of git reflog after a bad rebase

You performed a rebase that caused conflicts and you want to see the previous HEAD states to recover. What will be the output of git reflog immediately after the bad rebase?

Git

git reflog

A Shows only the commits that were rebased, excluding previous HEAD states

B Shows only the current branch commit history without any rebase info

C Shows an error: 'fatal: no reflog found' because reflog is disabled by default

D Shows a list of recent HEAD changes including the rebase start and commits before rebase

💡 Hint

Think about what reflog tracks in Git.

Git reflog records all movements of HEAD including rebases, so it shows previous states allowing recovery.

🔀 Workflow

intermediate

Steps to abort a bad rebase safely

You started a rebase but realize it is causing too many conflicts. Which sequence of commands correctly aborts the rebase and returns your branch to the state before the rebase?

A 1, 4, 2, 3

B 1, 2, 3, 4

C 2, 1, 4, 3

D 4, 2, 1, 3

💡 Hint

You need to check status before aborting and verify after abort.

Checking status first shows rebase in progress, then abort cancels it, checkout ensures branch, and log verifies history.

❓ Troubleshoot

advanced

Recovering lost commits after a failed rebase

After a rebase gone wrong, some commits seem lost from your branch history. Which command helps you find and recover those lost commits?

A git reflog

B git reset --hard HEAD~3

C git clean -fd

D git stash pop

💡 Hint

Think about where Git tracks all recent HEAD movements.

Git reflog records all recent HEAD positions, allowing you to find lost commits after a bad rebase.

✅ Best Practice

advanced

Best practice to avoid losing work during rebase

Which practice best helps prevent losing commits during a complex rebase?

A Use 'git push --force' immediately after rebase

B Create a backup branch before starting the rebase

C Delete local branches before rebasing

D Run 'git clean -fd' before rebase

💡 Hint

Think about how to save your current work safely before risky operations.

Creating a backup branch preserves your current state so you can recover if rebase goes wrong.

🧠 Conceptual

expert

Understanding the effect of git rebase --continue after conflict resolution

After resolving conflicts during a rebase, what does git rebase --continue do?

A It applies the next commit in the rebase sequence and updates HEAD

B It aborts the entire rebase and resets to original branch state

C It skips the current commit and moves to the next one

D It merges the current branch into the target branch

💡 Hint

Think about how rebase processes commits one by one.

After resolving conflicts, 'git rebase --continue' applies the next commit and moves the rebase forward.