git reflog delete HEAD@{1} HEAD@{2} caught me by surprise...
From: George Spelvin <hidden>
Date: 2016-06-15 22:55:00
Try the following commands in an empty directory:
(I'm using the bash extention for {1..5}.)
git init
for i in {1..5}; do git commit -m "Commit $i" --allow-empty; done
git reflog
bc93e06 HEAD@{0}: commit: Commit 5
e14f92d HEAD@{1}: commit: Commit 4
ac64d8e HEAD@{2}: commit: Commit 3
287602b HEAD@{3}: commit: Commit 2
183a378 HEAD@{4}: commit (initial): Commit 1
git reflog delete HEAD@{{1,2}}
git reflog
bc93e06 HEAD@{0}: commit: Commit 5
e14f92d HEAD@{1}: commit: Commit 3
287602b HEAD@{2}: commit (initial): Commit 1
Er...I meant to delete Commit 3 from the reflog, not Commit 2.
In hindsight, it's obvious how this could happen, but it definitely
took me by surprise when I was trying to delete the reference to
a large and messy merge (that I didn't want and bloated my repository
size) from the reflog.
If this is, in fact, Working As Designed, could I request a paragraph
in the man page clarifying it? something like:
To delete single entries from the reflog, use the subcommand "delete"
and specify the _exact_ entry (e.g. "`git reflog delete master@{2}`").
You may delete multiple reflog entries with one delete command,
_however_ they are processed one at a time, so earlier deletes will cause
renumbering that will affect later ones. To delete reflog entries @{2}
and @{3}, the command would be either "`git reflog delete @{3} @{2}`",
or "`git reflog delete @{2} @{2}`".