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You can do it for arbitrary refs. This is how to move a branch pointer:

git update-ref -m "reset: Reset <branch> to <new commit>" refs/heads/<branch> <commit>

The general form:

git update-ref -m "reset: Reset <branch> to <new commit>" <ref> <commit>

You can pick nits about the reflog message if you like - I believe the branch -f one is different from the reset --hard one, and this isn't exactly either of them.

You can do it for arbitrary refs. This is how to move a branch pointer:

git update-ref -m "reset: Reset <branch> to <new commit>" refs/heads/<branch> <commit>

where -m adds a message to the reflog for the branch.

The general form is

git update-ref -m "reset: Reset <branch> to <new commit>" <ref> <commit>

You can pick nits about the reflog message if you like - I believe the branch -f one is different from the reset --hard one, and this isn't exactly either of them.

N.B. If you simply want to move a branch to another commit, the easiest way is

git branch -f branch-name new-tip-commit

as detailed by Chris Johnsen's answer.

You can do it for arbitrary refs. This is how to move a branch pointer:

git update-ref -m "reset: Reset <branch> to <new commit>" refs/heads/<branch> <commit>

The general form:

git update-ref -m "reset: Reset <branch> to <new commit>" <ref> <commit>

You can pick nits about the reflog message if you like - I believe the branch -f one is different from the reset --hard one, and this isn't exactly either of them.

You can do it for arbitrary refs. This is how to move a branch pointer:

git update-ref -m "reset: Reset <branch> to <new commit>" refs/heads/<branch> <commit>

The general form:

git update-ref -m "reset: Reset <branch> to <new commit>" <ref> <commit>

You can pick nits about the reflog message if you like - I believe the branch -f one is different from the reset --hard one, and this isn't exactly either of them.

N.B. If you simply want to move a branch to another commit, the easiest way is

git branch -f branch-name new-tip-commit

as detailed by Chris Johnsen.

You can do it for arbitrary refs. This is how to move a branch pointer:

git update-ref -m "reset: Reset <branch> to <new commit>" refs/heads/<branch> <commit>

The general form:

git update-ref -m "reset: Reset <branch> to <new commit>" <ref> <commit>

You can pick nits about the reflog message if you like - I believe the branch -f one is different from the reset --hard one, and this isn't exactly either of them.

N.B. If you simply want to move a branch to another commit, the easiest way is

git branch -f branch-name new-tip-commit

as detailed by Chris Johnsen's answer.

You can do it for arbitrary refs. This is how to move a branch pointer:

git update-ref -m "reset: Reset <branch> to <new commit>" refs/heads/<branch> <commit>

The general form:

git update-ref -m "reset: Reset <branch> to <new commit>" <ref> <commit>

You can pick nits about the reflog message if you like - I believe the branch -f one is different from the reset --hard one, and this isn't exactly either of them.