Merging a Detached Head?

Question

So I kind of messed up royally and created a detached head because I wanted to go back to a previous version of my code. Problem is: now I can't push anything because my main branch is a detached head. If I try to merge the branches then it gets rid of the head and anything on it. How do I get the commits on my detached head back onto the master branch? I heard about this code: git merge HEAD@{1} but I was scared to try it without confirmation because I was afraid of what would happen. Anyone know how to do this?

Answer 1

because my main branch is a detached head

No, that’s not correct. A detached HEAD is when you have checked out a commit that is not a branch. So by definition, you are not on a branch if you have a detached HEAD.

I would suggest you to create a branch from your current (detached) HEAD, so you don’t lose any information but can move around freely again:

git checkout -b newbranch

After that, you will be on a non-detached HEAD again, on newbranch, and you should be able to check out other branches and merge newbranch in some other branch if necesary.