git merge --squash

Today I learned a new Git command that's really useful. git merge --squash takes all the changes from one branch and stages them on top of another branch, ready to be summarized.

Here's a sample workflow:

$ git checkout -b feature-branch

# Make changes across multiple commits
$ echo 1 > 1.txt
$ git add 1.txt
$ git commit -m 'Add first textfile'
$ echo 2 > 2.txt
$ git add 2.txt
$ git commit -m 'Add second textfile'

# Stage all changes on master
$ git checkout master
$ git merge --squash feature-branch
$ git status
On branch master
Changes to be committed:
  (use "git reset HEAD <file>..." to unstage)

        new file:   1.txt
        new file:   2.txt

# Summarize
$ git commit -m 'Add files 1 and 2'

This is a fast way to boil down a lot of WIP commits from a feature branch into a single commit on master.

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