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Software Engineering vocabulary · Version Control

Squash

Meaning in software engineering, with examples

verbCommon term

In software engineering, squash means: To combine several commits into a single commit, usually to make branch history cleaner before merging or review.

In Turkish: tek commit'te birleştirmek, birleştirmek

How it is used

Common in Git workflows, especially during interactive rebase or squash-and-merge. Teams use it to combine fixups, typo commits, and messy intermediate steps.

Example sentences

  1. Before opening the pull request, please squash the five WIP commits into one clear commit with a message the reviewers can understand.

    Here, squash means rewriting the branch history so several temporary work-in-progress commits become one cleaner, review-friendly final commit.

  2. We squashed the hotfix commits after testing because the branch had several tiny reversals that made the release history hard to follow.

    In this example, squash reduces noise in the history by collecting small corrective commits into one change that better represents the final fix.

Common collocations

  • squash commits
  • squash and merge
  • squash a branch
  • squash before merging
  • pull requestA request to merge your code changes from one branch into another, so that teammates can review and discuss them first.
  • commitA saved snapshot of changes in a repository, with a short message that explains what was changed and why. Also used as a verb: to commit your changes.

More terms: Version Control

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