How to amend the n-th commit before?

Question

I want to change a word in commit HEAD^2, how to do it?

EDIT These commits have not been pushed yet. So it doesn't shown as pick xxxxxx in the interactive editor.

Answer 1

git rebase -i <name your branch's parent, probably "master">

Vim will open and you will see something like this;

pick ba95551 Commit_message_1
pick 3e357b5 Commit_message_for_commit_I_want_to_edit
pick 5eee414 Commit_message_3
pick c9a1f38 Commit_message_4

1. Position cursor (with mouse/arrow keys/or the commands "h" "j" "k" "l) to the start of the line for the commit you want to edit.
2. Press "Insert" to enter edit mode
3. Type "e" for "edit"
4. Delete the word "pick" ("esc" "d" "w" for "delete word", or just hit delete a few times)

You should see something like this;

pick ba95551 Commit_message_1
e 3e357b5 Commit_message_for_commit_I_want_to_edit
pick 5eee414 Commit_message_3
pick c9a1f38 Commit_message_4

Press "Esc" to enter command mode. Type ":wq" to write, quit. Hit enter.

Git will now reapply your commits up to that point. Then you're free to "edit previous commit" as you would normally:

git commit --amend

or

git gui

Interactive rebase also allows you to re-order and remove commits of your choice. You should be aware that re-writing history like this will affect those who have pulled from you. See Recovering from upstream rebase.