Documentation/git-log.txt

   1 git-log(1)
   2 ==========
   3
   4 NAME
   5 ----
   6 git-log - Show commit logs
   7
   8
   9 SYNOPSIS
  10 --------
  11 [verse]
  12 'git log' [<options>] [<revision range>] [[--] <path>...]
  13
  14 DESCRIPTION
  15 -----------
  16 Shows the commit logs.
  17
  18 :git-log: 1
  19 include::rev-list-description.txt[]
  20
  21 The command takes options applicable to the linkgit:git-rev-list[1]
  22 command to control what is shown and how, and options applicable to
  23 the linkgit:git-diff[1] command to control how the changes
  24 each commit introduces are shown.
  25
  26
  27 OPTIONS
  28 -------
  29
  30 --follow::
  31         Continue listing the history of a file beyond renames
  32         (works only for a single file).
  33
  34 --no-decorate::
  35 --decorate[=short|full|auto|no]::
  36         Print out the ref names of any commits that are shown. If 'short' is
  37         specified, the ref name prefixes 'refs/heads/', 'refs/tags/' and
  38         'refs/remotes/' will not be printed. If 'full' is specified, the
  39         full ref name (including prefix) will be printed. If 'auto' is
  40         specified, then if the output is going to a terminal, the ref names
  41         are shown as if 'short' were given, otherwise no ref names are
  42         shown. The default option is 'short'.
  43
  44 --decorate-refs=<pattern>::
  45 --decorate-refs-exclude=<pattern>::
  46         If no `--decorate-refs` is given, pretend as if all refs were
  47         included.  For each candidate, do not use it for decoration if it
  48         matches any patterns given to `--decorate-refs-exclude` or if it
  49         doesn't match any of the patterns given to `--decorate-refs`. The
  50         `log.excludeDecoration` config option allows excluding refs from
  51         the decorations, but an explicit `--decorate-refs` pattern will
  52         override a match in `log.excludeDecoration`.
  53
  54 --source::
  55         Print out the ref name given on the command line by which each
  56         commit was reached.
  57
  58 --[no-]mailmap::
  59 --[no-]use-mailmap::
  60         Use mailmap file to map author and committer names and email
  61         addresses to canonical real names and email addresses. See
  62         linkgit:git-shortlog[1].
  63
  64 --full-diff::
  65         Without this flag, `git log -p <path>...` shows commits that
  66         touch the specified paths, and diffs about the same specified
  67         paths.  With this, the full diff is shown for commits that touch
  68         the specified paths; this means that "<path>..." limits only
  69         commits, and doesn't limit diff for those commits.
  70 +
  71 Note that this affects all diff-based output types, e.g. those
  72 produced by `--stat`, etc.
  73
  74 --log-size::
  75         Include a line ``log size <number>'' in the output for each commit,
  76         where <number> is the length of that commit's message in bytes.
  77         Intended to speed up tools that read log messages from `git log`
  78         output by allowing them to allocate space in advance.
  79
  80 include::line-range-options.txt[]
  81
  82 <revision range>::
  83         Show only commits in the specified revision range.  When no
  84         <revision range> is specified, it defaults to `HEAD` (i.e. the
  85         whole history leading to the current commit).  `origin..HEAD`
  86         specifies all the commits reachable from the current commit
  87         (i.e. `HEAD`), but not from `origin`. For a complete list of
  88         ways to spell <revision range>, see the 'Specifying Ranges'
  89         section of linkgit:gitrevisions[7].
  90
  91 [--] <path>...::
  92         Show only commits that are enough to explain how the files
  93         that match the specified paths came to be.  See 'History
  94         Simplification' below for details and other simplification
  95         modes.
  96 +
  97 Paths may need to be prefixed with `--` to separate them from
  98 options or the revision range, when confusion arises.
  99
 100 include::rev-list-options.txt[]
 101
 102 include::pretty-formats.txt[]
 103
 104 DIFF FORMATTING
 105 ---------------
 106
 107 By default, `git log` does not generate any diff output. The options
 108 below can be used to show the changes made by each commit.
 109
 110 Note that unless one of `--diff-merges` variants (including short
 111 `-m`, `-c`, and `--cc` options) is explicitly given, merge commits
 112 will not show a diff, even if a diff format like `--patch` is
 113 selected, nor will they match search options like `-S`. The exception
 114 is when `--first-parent` is in use, in which case `first-parent` is
 115 the default format.
 116
 117 :git-log: 1
 118 :diff-merges-default: `off`
 119 include::diff-options.txt[]
 120
 121 include::diff-generate-patch.txt[]
 122
 123 EXAMPLES
 124 --------
 125 `git log --no-merges`::
 126
 127         Show the whole commit history, but skip any merges
 128
 129 `git log v2.6.12.. include/scsi drivers/scsi`::
 130
 131         Show all commits since version 'v2.6.12' that changed any file
 132         in the `include/scsi` or `drivers/scsi` subdirectories
 133
 134 `git log --since="2 weeks ago" -- gitk`::
 135
 136         Show the changes during the last two weeks to the file 'gitk'.
 137         The `--` is necessary to avoid confusion with the *branch* named
 138         'gitk'
 139
 140 `git log --name-status release..test`::
 141
 142         Show the commits that are in the "test" branch but not yet
 143         in the "release" branch, along with the list of paths
 144         each commit modifies.
 145
 146 `git log --follow builtin/rev-list.c`::
 147
 148         Shows the commits that changed `builtin/rev-list.c`, including
 149         those commits that occurred before the file was given its
 150         present name.
 151
 152 `git log --branches --not --remotes=origin`::
 153
 154         Shows all commits that are in any of local branches but not in
 155         any of remote-tracking branches for 'origin' (what you have that
 156         origin doesn't).
 157
 158 `git log master --not --remotes=*/master`::
 159
 160         Shows all commits that are in local master but not in any remote
 161         repository master branches.
 162
 163 `git log -p -m --first-parent`::
 164
 165         Shows the history including change diffs, but only from the
 166         ``main branch'' perspective, skipping commits that come from merged
 167         branches, and showing full diffs of changes introduced by the merges.
 168         This makes sense only when following a strict policy of merging all
 169         topic branches when staying on a single integration branch.
 170
 171 `git log -L '/int main/',/^}/:main.c`::
 172
 173         Shows how the function `main()` in the file `main.c` evolved
 174         over time.
 175
 176 `git log -3`::
 177
 178         Limits the number of commits to show to 3.
 179
 180 DISCUSSION
 181 ----------
 182
 183 include::i18n.txt[]
 184
 185 CONFIGURATION
 186 -------------
 187
 188 See linkgit:git-config[1] for core variables and linkgit:git-diff[1]
 189 for settings related to diff generation.
 190
 191 format.pretty::
 192         Default for the `--format` option.  (See 'Pretty Formats' above.)
 193         Defaults to `medium`.
 194
 195 i18n.logOutputEncoding::
 196         Encoding to use when displaying logs.  (See 'Discussion' above.)
 197         Defaults to the value of `i18n.commitEncoding` if set, and UTF-8
 198         otherwise.
 199
 200 log.date::
 201         Default format for human-readable dates.  (Compare the
 202         `--date` option.)  Defaults to "default", which means to write
 203         dates like `Sat May 8 19:35:34 2010 -0500`.
 204 +
 205 If the format is set to "auto:foo" and the pager is in use, format
 206 "foo" will be the used for the date format. Otherwise "default" will
 207 be used.
 208
 209 log.follow::
 210         If `true`, `git log` will act as if the `--follow` option was used when
 211         a single <path> is given.  This has the same limitations as `--follow`,
 212         i.e. it cannot be used to follow multiple files and does not work well
 213         on non-linear history.
 214
 215 log.showRoot::
 216         If `false`, `git log` and related commands will not treat the
 217         initial commit as a big creation event.  Any root commits in
 218         `git log -p` output would be shown without a diff attached.
 219         The default is `true`.
 220
 221 log.showSignature::
 222         If `true`, `git log` and related commands will act as if the
 223         `--show-signature` option was passed to them.
 224
 225 mailmap.*::
 226         See linkgit:git-shortlog[1].
 227
 228 notes.displayRef::
 229         Which refs, in addition to the default set by `core.notesRef`
 230         or `GIT_NOTES_REF`, to read notes from when showing commit
 231         messages with the `log` family of commands.  See
 232         linkgit:git-notes[1].
 233 +
 234 May be an unabbreviated ref name or a glob and may be specified
 235 multiple times.  A warning will be issued for refs that do not exist,
 236 but a glob that does not match any refs is silently ignored.
 237 +
 238 This setting can be disabled by the `--no-notes` option,
 239 overridden by the `GIT_NOTES_DISPLAY_REF` environment variable,
 240 and overridden by the `--notes=<ref>` option.
 241
 242 GIT
 243 ---
 244 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite