The git reset HEAD command is the standard and correct way to unstage a file in Git. When a file is accidentally staged using git add, this command removes it from the staging area (index) without modifying the file in the working directory. It essentially resets the state of the specified file in the index to match what is in the HEAD commit, effectively "unstaging" it. This allows the developer to proceed with a clean commit that includes only the intended files.

A. git delete is not a valid Git command for this purpose.

B. git remove is not a valid Git command. The correct command is git rm, which removes files from both the staging area and the working directory.

D. git revert is used to create a new commit that undoes the changes of a previous commit; it does not operate on the staging area for unstaging files.

1. Chacon

S.

& Straub

B. (2014). Pro Git (2nd ed.). Apress. In Chapter 2

"Git Basics

" Section 2.2

"Recording Changes to the Repository

" under the subsection "Unstaging a Staged File

" the text explicitly states: "As it turns out

git reset HEAD ... does the trick."

2. Official Git Documentation. (n.d.). git-reset. git-scm.com. Retrieved from https://git-scm.com/docs/git-reset. The documentation specifies: "When is given

git reset updates the index (i.e. sets it to the tree of ) for the given paths... (It does not affect the working tree...)"

3. MIT Missing Semester of Your CS Education. (2020). Lecture 6: Version Control (Git). In the "Staging area" section

the lecture notes demonstrate that git reset is the command used to unstage a file. Retrieved from https://missing.csail.mit.edu/2020/version-control/