git reset --soft
doesn't change the index, so unless the commit that you are moving to has the same content as what was actually in your index before the reset, your index will be different to the new HEAD
commit. Difference between HEAD
and your index are staged changes, by definition.
As your index hasn't changed, if you didn't have any unstaged changes you still will have no unstaged changes. There difference between your working tree and the index will be the same as before; neither has changed.
(It sounds like what you are expected is actually what a standard reset
- or reset --mixed
does: move your HEAD
and then update your index to match the new HEAD
.)