Git Cherry-Pick

What is it?

Cherry-pick takes a commit from another branch and creates a new commit with the same changes on your current branch. It’s like copy-pasting commits selectively.

Basic Usage

# Pick a single commit
git cherry-pick <commit-hash>

# Pick multiple commits
git cherry-pick commit1 commit2 commit3

# Pick a range of commits
git cherry-pick start-commit..end-commit

Common Use Cases

1. Apply hotfix to multiple branches

git checkout main
git cherry-pick hotfix-commit-hash

2. Backport features to older releases

git checkout release-v1.0
git cherry-pick new-feature-commit

3. Select specific commits from a feature branch

git checkout main
git cherry-pick feature-branch~2  # Pick specific commit

Useful Flags

# Add reference to original commit
git cherry-pick -x <commit-hash>

# Don't auto-commit (stage changes only)
git cherry-pick -n <commit-hash>

# Edit commit message
git cherry-pick -e <commit-hash>

Quick Example

Say you have this structure:

main:     A---B---C
               \
feature:        D---E---F

To apply only commit E to main:

git checkout main
git log --oneline feature  # Find commit hash
git cherry-pick e4d5c6b    # Apply specific commit

Result:

main:     A---B---C---E'
               \
feature:        D---E---F

Key Points

• Creates new commits with different hashes
• Non-destructive - original commits stay intact
• Use -x flag to track where commits came from
• Best for selective commits, not entire branches

Perfect for hotfixes, backporting, and selective feature integration!