How To Add Line Break To 'git commit -m' From The Command Line?
In Git, you should frequently include multi-line, detailed messages when committing changes. Adding line breaks can be challenging, even though the git commit -m command is useful for single-line messages. You can use the command line to include line breaks in your commit messages using a variety of techniques that are covered. In this article we have discussed How to add line break to 'git commit -m' from the command line using various approaches:
Table of Content
1. Using Escaped Characters
To add a line break to a git commit -m message from the command line, you need to use the -m flag multiple times, once for each paragraph. Here's an example:
- Open your terminal.
- Navigate to your Git repository.
- Use the following syntax to commit with a multiline message:
git commit -m "My head line" -m "My content line."

Output

2. Using Here Documents (heredoc):
Heredoc is a way to specify a multiline string. This method provides a more readable way to write multiline commit messages directly in the terminal.
- Open your terminal.
- Navigate to your Git repository.
- Use the following syntax:
git commit -F- <<EOF
First line of the commit message
Second line of the commit message
Third line of the commit message
EOF
3. Using Interactive Mode:
Interactive mode allows you to enter a commit message directly in your text editor configured for Git.
- Open your terminal.
- Navigate to your Git repository.
- Simply run:
git commit
Your default text editor will open. Enter your multiline commit message and save the file.
4. Using an External Text Editor:
You can use any text editor to write your commit message and then use it with the -F flag.
- Open your text editor.
- Write your multiline commit message and save it as commit_message.txt.
- Open your terminal and navigate to your Git repository.
- Use the following syntax to commit with the saved file:
git commit -F commit_message.txt