Answer
To reset a specific file to the last-committed state (to discard uncommitted changes in a specific file):
git checkout thefiletoreset.txt
This is mentioned in the git status output:
(use "git checkout -- <file>..." to discard changes in working directory)
To reset the entire repository to the last committed state:
git reset --hard
To remove untracked files, I usually just delete all files in the working copy (but not the .git/ folder!), then do git reset --hard which leaves it with only committed files.
A better way is to use git clean (warning: using the -x flag as below will cause Git to delete ignored files):
git clean -d -x -f
will remove untracked files, including directories (-d) and files ignored by git (-x). Replace the -f argument with -n to perform a dry-run or -i for interactive mode, and it will tell you what will be removed.
Relevant links:
- git-reset man page
- git-clean man page
- git ready "cleaning up untracked files" (as Marko posted)
- Stack Overflow question "How to remove local (untracked) files from the current Git working tree")