Find the commit that introduced a bug in your code: how to use git bisect in 7 steps
Tags: commandline, howto, todayilearned, git
Published: 2020-04-09 10:16:48

---
title: Find the commit that introduced a bug in your code: how to use git bisect in 7 steps
published: true
date: 2020-04-09 08:00:00 UTC
tags: command line,how-to,til,git
canonical_url: https://flaviabastos.ca/2020/04/09/find-the-commit-that-introduced-a-bug-in-your-code-how-to-use-git-bisect-in-7-steps/
---

When I first heard about `git bisect` I thought it sounded scary and complicated, so I never looked for an opportunity to learn more about it and use it. That’s until last week when I ran into a bug in our master branch. I knew that the bug was not there two days before so I tested an earlier commit and confirmed that that older commit was a good one. Now, we had tens of commits in between. How to find out when exactly the bug was introduced? It would be impractical to check and test each individual commit.

Enter `git bisect` for the rescue! ![🦸‍♀️](https://s0.wp.com/wp-content/mu-plugins/wpcom-smileys/twemoji/2/72x72/1f9b8-200d-2640-fe0f.png)

## When to use git bisect

When you want to find out which commit introduced a bug in your code.

## How to use git bisect

step 1. Find two commits to use as comparison: one with the bug and one without the bug.

step 2. Get those commits hashes: run `git log` and copy the hash for these two commits:

```
git log
```

If your last commit is the bad one, you don’t need to find its hash. You can use ‘`HEAD`‘ – see below.

step 3. Enter in bisect mode: run `git bisect start`

step 4. Tell git which one is your bad commit: `git bisect bad <commit hash>` or `HEAD`

```
git bisect bad HEAD
```

step 5. Now tell git the good commit hash: `git bisect good <commit hash>`

```
git bisect good 78cdc0fbe34aadb2ca5148d3877257664cfb69a1
```

step 6. At this point git will put you in a different commit in your code (some commit in between those two) so you can **test** and tell git what was the result. If this commit is good, run `git bisect good` or run `git bisect bad` if that commit has the bug.

The more commits you have in between the two points in time, the more steps you will have to run through but it’s as simple as that: **just test and give a feedback**.

At the end, git will tell you which commit introduced the bug:

```
0088810e9ce4a6abef5923a3674be71599112abc is the first bad commitcommit 0088810e9ce4a6abef5923a3674be71599112abcAuthor: FlaviaBastos <my\_email\_address\_here@email.com>Date: Fri Mar 20 19:21:18 2020 -0400 Adjust mobile styling:100644 100644 72adc1919a30e436d6bbeb387bcaf52ea329bd35 10a77070785f4f7d2a7732c8b6a6dd48616e4643 Mindex.html:100644 100644 30071a4c36b1e8df0caaf3633b37bdf116de3837 fb895eab1f531a859635ddc877ffb3944b4f5245 Mstyle.css
```

It was mind blowing! ![🤯](https://s0.wp.com/wp-content/mu-plugins/wpcom-smileys/twemoji/2/72x72/1f92f.png)

step 7. Now you can exit bisect mode by running `git bisect reset` and that will put you back in the same commit where you started you research.

Show me! ![🕵](https://s0.wp.com/wp-content/mu-plugins/wpcom-smileys/twemoji/2/72x72/1f575.png)

```
flavia:~/code/my\_project$ git log
commit 0088810e9ce4a6abef5923a3674be71599112abc (HEAD -> master, origin/master)
Author: FlaviaBastos <my\_email\_address\_here@email.com>
Date: Fri Mar 20 19:21:18 2020 -0400 

Adjust mobile styling

commitb584bf9491aa971216ad87506e6ea765537d0214
Author: FlaviaBastos <my\_email\_address\_here@email.com>
Date: Fri Mar 20 17:41:52 2020 -0400 

Add reset basic styling - not sure about this

commit 78cdc0fbe34aadb2ca5148d3877257664cfb69a1
Author: FlaviaBastos <my\_email\_address\_here@email.com>
Date: Fri Mar 20 17:29:00 2020 -0400 

Add topics section

commit b34e2a36f29cbf03369b444013351e24b6a39d51
Author: FlaviaBastos <my\_email\_address\_here@email.com>
Date: Fri Mar 20 17:18:19 2020 -0400 

Add 'who is this for'

flavia:~/code/my\_project$ git bisect start

flavia:~/code/my\_project$ git bisect bad HEAD

flavia:~/code/my\_project$ git bisect good b34e2a36f29cbf03369b444013351e24b6a39d51

Bisecting: 0 revisions left to test after this (roughly 1 step)[b584bf9491aa971216ad87506e6ea765537d0214] Add reset basic styling - not sure about this

flavia:~/code/my\_project$ git bisect good0088810e9ce4a6abef5923a3674be71599112abc is the first bad commit

commit 0088810e9ce4a6abef5923a3674be71599112abcA
uthor: FlaviaBastos <my\_email\_address\_here@email.com>
Date: Fri Mar 20 19:21:18 2020 -0400 

Adjust mobile styling

:100644 100644 72adc1919a30e436d6bbeb387bcaf52ea329bd35 10a77070785f4f7d2a7732c8b6a6dd48616e4643 Mindex.html
:100644 100644 30071a4c36b1e8df0caaf3633b37bdf116de3837 fb895eab1f531a859635ddc877ffb3944b4f5245 Mstyle.css

flavia:~/code/my\_project$ git bisect reset

Previous HEAD position was b584bf9 Add reset basic styling - not sure about this
Switched to branch 'master'
Your branch is up to date with 'origin/master'.
```

Also note: `git bisect` doesn’t change any code or commits. Like `git status` and `git log`, it’s purely an investigation tool. Go ahead and try it out!

Happy bug chasing!

* * *

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> _The post _[Find the commit that introduced a bug in your code: how to use git bisect in 7 steps](https://wp.me/pa0b0y-6N)_ was originally published at _[flaviabastos.ca](https://flaviabastos.ca/)

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