How do I reset my local branch to be just like the branch on the remote repository?
I tried:
git reset --hard HEAD
But git status claims I have modified files:
On branch master
Changes to be committed:
(use "git reset HEAD <file>..." to unstage)
modified: java/com/mycompany/TestContacts.java
modified: java/com/mycompany/TestParser.java
Setting your branch to exactly match the remote branch can be done in two steps:
git fetch origin
git reset --hard origin/master
If you want to save your current branch's state before doing this (just in case), you can do:
git commit -a -m "Saving my work, just in case"
git branch my-saved-work
Now your work is saved on the branch "my-saved-work" in case you decide you want it back (or want to look at it later or diff it against your updated branch).
Note: the first example assumes that the remote repo's name is origin and that the branch named master in the remote repo matches the currently checked-out branch in your local repo, since that is in line with the example given in the question. If you are trying to reset to the default branch in a more recent repository, it is likely that it will be main.
BTW, this situation that you're in looks an awful lot like a common case where a push has been done into the currently checked out branch of a non-bare repository. Did you recently push into your local repo? If not, then no worries -- something else must have caused these files to unexpectedly end up modified. Otherwise, you should be aware that it's not recommended to push into a non-bare repository (and not into the currently checked-out branch, in particular).