]> git.ipfire.org Git - thirdparty/git.git/blob - Documentation/rev-list-options.txt
Merge branch 'ob/t9001-indent-fix'
[thirdparty/git.git] / Documentation / rev-list-options.txt
1 Commit Limiting
2 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
3
4 Besides specifying a range of commits that should be listed using the
5 special notations explained in the description, additional commit
6 limiting may be applied.
7
8 Using more options generally further limits the output (e.g.
9 `--since=<date1>` limits to commits newer than `<date1>`, and using it
10 with `--grep=<pattern>` further limits to commits whose log message
11 has a line that matches `<pattern>`), unless otherwise noted.
12
13 Note that these are applied before commit
14 ordering and formatting options, such as `--reverse`.
15
16 -<number>::
17 -n <number>::
18 --max-count=<number>::
19 Limit the number of commits to output.
20
21 --skip=<number>::
22 Skip 'number' commits before starting to show the commit output.
23
24 --since=<date>::
25 --after=<date>::
26 Show commits more recent than a specific date.
27
28 --since-as-filter=<date>::
29 Show all commits more recent than a specific date. This visits
30 all commits in the range, rather than stopping at the first commit which
31 is older than a specific date.
32
33 --until=<date>::
34 --before=<date>::
35 Show commits older than a specific date.
36
37 ifdef::git-rev-list[]
38 --max-age=<timestamp>::
39 --min-age=<timestamp>::
40 Limit the commits output to specified time range.
41 endif::git-rev-list[]
42
43 --author=<pattern>::
44 --committer=<pattern>::
45 Limit the commits output to ones with author/committer
46 header lines that match the specified pattern (regular
47 expression). With more than one `--author=<pattern>`,
48 commits whose author matches any of the given patterns are
49 chosen (similarly for multiple `--committer=<pattern>`).
50
51 --grep-reflog=<pattern>::
52 Limit the commits output to ones with reflog entries that
53 match the specified pattern (regular expression). With
54 more than one `--grep-reflog`, commits whose reflog message
55 matches any of the given patterns are chosen. It is an
56 error to use this option unless `--walk-reflogs` is in use.
57
58 --grep=<pattern>::
59 Limit the commits output to ones with log message that
60 matches the specified pattern (regular expression). With
61 more than one `--grep=<pattern>`, commits whose message
62 matches any of the given patterns are chosen (but see
63 `--all-match`).
64 ifndef::git-rev-list[]
65 +
66 When `--notes` is in effect, the message from the notes is
67 matched as if it were part of the log message.
68 endif::git-rev-list[]
69
70 --all-match::
71 Limit the commits output to ones that match all given `--grep`,
72 instead of ones that match at least one.
73
74 --invert-grep::
75 Limit the commits output to ones with log message that do not
76 match the pattern specified with `--grep=<pattern>`.
77
78 -i::
79 --regexp-ignore-case::
80 Match the regular expression limiting patterns without regard to letter
81 case.
82
83 --basic-regexp::
84 Consider the limiting patterns to be basic regular expressions;
85 this is the default.
86
87 -E::
88 --extended-regexp::
89 Consider the limiting patterns to be extended regular expressions
90 instead of the default basic regular expressions.
91
92 -F::
93 --fixed-strings::
94 Consider the limiting patterns to be fixed strings (don't interpret
95 pattern as a regular expression).
96
97 -P::
98 --perl-regexp::
99 Consider the limiting patterns to be Perl-compatible regular
100 expressions.
101 +
102 Support for these types of regular expressions is an optional
103 compile-time dependency. If Git wasn't compiled with support for them
104 providing this option will cause it to die.
105
106 --remove-empty::
107 Stop when a given path disappears from the tree.
108
109 --merges::
110 Print only merge commits. This is exactly the same as `--min-parents=2`.
111
112 --no-merges::
113 Do not print commits with more than one parent. This is
114 exactly the same as `--max-parents=1`.
115
116 --min-parents=<number>::
117 --max-parents=<number>::
118 --no-min-parents::
119 --no-max-parents::
120 Show only commits which have at least (or at most) that many parent
121 commits. In particular, `--max-parents=1` is the same as `--no-merges`,
122 `--min-parents=2` is the same as `--merges`. `--max-parents=0`
123 gives all root commits and `--min-parents=3` all octopus merges.
124 +
125 `--no-min-parents` and `--no-max-parents` reset these limits (to no limit)
126 again. Equivalent forms are `--min-parents=0` (any commit has 0 or more
127 parents) and `--max-parents=-1` (negative numbers denote no upper limit).
128
129 --first-parent::
130 When finding commits to include, follow only the first
131 parent commit upon seeing a merge commit. This option
132 can give a better overview when viewing the evolution of
133 a particular topic branch, because merges into a topic
134 branch tend to be only about adjusting to updated upstream
135 from time to time, and this option allows you to ignore
136 the individual commits brought in to your history by such
137 a merge.
138 ifdef::git-log[]
139 +
140 This option also changes default diff format for merge commits
141 to `first-parent`, see `--diff-merges=first-parent` for details.
142 endif::git-log[]
143
144 --exclude-first-parent-only::
145 When finding commits to exclude (with a '{caret}'), follow only
146 the first parent commit upon seeing a merge commit.
147 This can be used to find the set of changes in a topic branch
148 from the point where it diverged from the remote branch, given
149 that arbitrary merges can be valid topic branch changes.
150
151 --not::
152 Reverses the meaning of the '{caret}' prefix (or lack thereof)
153 for all following revision specifiers, up to the next `--not`.
154
155 --all::
156 Pretend as if all the refs in `refs/`, along with `HEAD`, are
157 listed on the command line as '<commit>'.
158
159 --branches[=<pattern>]::
160 Pretend as if all the refs in `refs/heads` are listed
161 on the command line as '<commit>'. If '<pattern>' is given, limit
162 branches to ones matching given shell glob. If pattern lacks '?',
163 '{asterisk}', or '[', '/{asterisk}' at the end is implied.
164
165 --tags[=<pattern>]::
166 Pretend as if all the refs in `refs/tags` are listed
167 on the command line as '<commit>'. If '<pattern>' is given, limit
168 tags to ones matching given shell glob. If pattern lacks '?', '{asterisk}',
169 or '[', '/{asterisk}' at the end is implied.
170
171 --remotes[=<pattern>]::
172 Pretend as if all the refs in `refs/remotes` are listed
173 on the command line as '<commit>'. If '<pattern>' is given, limit
174 remote-tracking branches to ones matching given shell glob.
175 If pattern lacks '?', '{asterisk}', or '[', '/{asterisk}' at the end is implied.
176
177 --glob=<glob-pattern>::
178 Pretend as if all the refs matching shell glob '<glob-pattern>'
179 are listed on the command line as '<commit>'. Leading 'refs/',
180 is automatically prepended if missing. If pattern lacks '?', '{asterisk}',
181 or '[', '/{asterisk}' at the end is implied.
182
183 --exclude=<glob-pattern>::
184
185 Do not include refs matching '<glob-pattern>' that the next `--all`,
186 `--branches`, `--tags`, `--remotes`, or `--glob` would otherwise
187 consider. Repetitions of this option accumulate exclusion patterns
188 up to the next `--all`, `--branches`, `--tags`, `--remotes`, or
189 `--glob` option (other options or arguments do not clear
190 accumulated patterns).
191 +
192 The patterns given should not begin with `refs/heads`, `refs/tags`, or
193 `refs/remotes` when applied to `--branches`, `--tags`, or `--remotes`,
194 respectively, and they must begin with `refs/` when applied to `--glob`
195 or `--all`. If a trailing '/{asterisk}' is intended, it must be given
196 explicitly.
197
198 --exclude-hidden=[fetch|receive|uploadpack]::
199 Do not include refs that would be hidden by `git-fetch`,
200 `git-receive-pack` or `git-upload-pack` by consulting the appropriate
201 `fetch.hideRefs`, `receive.hideRefs` or `uploadpack.hideRefs`
202 configuration along with `transfer.hideRefs` (see
203 linkgit:git-config[1]). This option affects the next pseudo-ref option
204 `--all` or `--glob` and is cleared after processing them.
205
206 --reflog::
207 Pretend as if all objects mentioned by reflogs are listed on the
208 command line as `<commit>`.
209
210 --alternate-refs::
211 Pretend as if all objects mentioned as ref tips of alternate
212 repositories were listed on the command line. An alternate
213 repository is any repository whose object directory is specified
214 in `objects/info/alternates`. The set of included objects may
215 be modified by `core.alternateRefsCommand`, etc. See
216 linkgit:git-config[1].
217
218 --single-worktree::
219 By default, all working trees will be examined by the
220 following options when there are more than one (see
221 linkgit:git-worktree[1]): `--all`, `--reflog` and
222 `--indexed-objects`.
223 This option forces them to examine the current working tree
224 only.
225
226 --ignore-missing::
227 Upon seeing an invalid object name in the input, pretend as if
228 the bad input was not given.
229
230 ifndef::git-rev-list[]
231 --bisect::
232 Pretend as if the bad bisection ref `refs/bisect/bad`
233 was listed and as if it was followed by `--not` and the good
234 bisection refs `refs/bisect/good-*` on the command
235 line.
236 endif::git-rev-list[]
237
238 --stdin::
239 In addition to getting arguments from the command line, read
240 them from standard input as well. This accepts commits and
241 pseudo-options like `--all` and `--glob=`. When a `--` separator
242 is seen, the following input is treated as paths and used to
243 limit the result.
244
245 ifdef::git-rev-list[]
246 --quiet::
247 Don't print anything to standard output. This form
248 is primarily meant to allow the caller to
249 test the exit status to see if a range of objects is fully
250 connected (or not). It is faster than redirecting stdout
251 to `/dev/null` as the output does not have to be formatted.
252
253 --disk-usage::
254 --disk-usage=human::
255 Suppress normal output; instead, print the sum of the bytes used
256 for on-disk storage by the selected commits or objects. This is
257 equivalent to piping the output into `git cat-file
258 --batch-check='%(objectsize:disk)'`, except that it runs much
259 faster (especially with `--use-bitmap-index`). See the `CAVEATS`
260 section in linkgit:git-cat-file[1] for the limitations of what
261 "on-disk storage" means.
262 With the optional value `human`, on-disk storage size is shown
263 in human-readable string(e.g. 12.24 Kib, 3.50 Mib).
264 endif::git-rev-list[]
265
266 --cherry-mark::
267 Like `--cherry-pick` (see below) but mark equivalent commits
268 with `=` rather than omitting them, and inequivalent ones with `+`.
269
270 --cherry-pick::
271 Omit any commit that introduces the same change as
272 another commit on the ``other side'' when the set of
273 commits are limited with symmetric difference.
274 +
275 For example, if you have two branches, `A` and `B`, a usual way
276 to list all commits on only one side of them is with
277 `--left-right` (see the example below in the description of
278 the `--left-right` option). However, it shows the commits that were
279 cherry-picked from the other branch (for example, ``3rd on b'' may be
280 cherry-picked from branch A). With this option, such pairs of commits are
281 excluded from the output.
282
283 --left-only::
284 --right-only::
285 List only commits on the respective side of a symmetric difference,
286 i.e. only those which would be marked `<` resp. `>` by
287 `--left-right`.
288 +
289 For example, `--cherry-pick --right-only A...B` omits those
290 commits from `B` which are in `A` or are patch-equivalent to a commit in
291 `A`. In other words, this lists the `+` commits from `git cherry A B`.
292 More precisely, `--cherry-pick --right-only --no-merges` gives the exact
293 list.
294
295 --cherry::
296 A synonym for `--right-only --cherry-mark --no-merges`; useful to
297 limit the output to the commits on our side and mark those that
298 have been applied to the other side of a forked history with
299 `git log --cherry upstream...mybranch`, similar to
300 `git cherry upstream mybranch`.
301
302 -g::
303 --walk-reflogs::
304 Instead of walking the commit ancestry chain, walk
305 reflog entries from the most recent one to older ones.
306 When this option is used you cannot specify commits to
307 exclude (that is, '{caret}commit', 'commit1..commit2',
308 and 'commit1\...commit2' notations cannot be used).
309 +
310 With `--pretty` format other than `oneline` and `reference` (for obvious reasons),
311 this causes the output to have two extra lines of information
312 taken from the reflog. The reflog designator in the output may be shown
313 as `ref@{Nth}` (where `Nth` is the reverse-chronological index in the
314 reflog) or as `ref@{timestamp}` (with the timestamp for that entry),
315 depending on a few rules:
316 +
317 --
318 1. If the starting point is specified as `ref@{Nth}`, show the index
319 format.
320 +
321 2. If the starting point was specified as `ref@{now}`, show the
322 timestamp format.
323 +
324 3. If neither was used, but `--date` was given on the command line, show
325 the timestamp in the format requested by `--date`.
326 +
327 4. Otherwise, show the index format.
328 --
329 +
330 Under `--pretty=oneline`, the commit message is
331 prefixed with this information on the same line.
332 This option cannot be combined with `--reverse`.
333 See also linkgit:git-reflog[1].
334 +
335 Under `--pretty=reference`, this information will not be shown at all.
336
337 --merge::
338 After a failed merge, show refs that touch files having a
339 conflict and don't exist on all heads to merge.
340
341 --boundary::
342 Output excluded boundary commits. Boundary commits are
343 prefixed with `-`.
344
345 ifdef::git-rev-list[]
346 --use-bitmap-index::
347
348 Try to speed up the traversal using the pack bitmap index (if
349 one is available). Note that when traversing with `--objects`,
350 trees and blobs will not have their associated path printed.
351
352 --progress=<header>::
353 Show progress reports on stderr as objects are considered. The
354 `<header>` text will be printed with each progress update.
355 endif::git-rev-list[]
356
357 History Simplification
358 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
359
360 Sometimes you are only interested in parts of the history, for example the
361 commits modifying a particular <path>. But there are two parts of
362 'History Simplification', one part is selecting the commits and the other
363 is how to do it, as there are various strategies to simplify the history.
364
365 The following options select the commits to be shown:
366
367 <paths>::
368 Commits modifying the given <paths> are selected.
369
370 --simplify-by-decoration::
371 Commits that are referred by some branch or tag are selected.
372
373 Note that extra commits can be shown to give a meaningful history.
374
375 The following options affect the way the simplification is performed:
376
377 Default mode::
378 Simplifies the history to the simplest history explaining the
379 final state of the tree. Simplest because it prunes some side
380 branches if the end result is the same (i.e. merging branches
381 with the same content)
382
383 --show-pulls::
384 Include all commits from the default mode, but also any merge
385 commits that are not TREESAME to the first parent but are
386 TREESAME to a later parent. This mode is helpful for showing
387 the merge commits that "first introduced" a change to a branch.
388
389 --full-history::
390 Same as the default mode, but does not prune some history.
391
392 --dense::
393 Only the selected commits are shown, plus some to have a
394 meaningful history.
395
396 --sparse::
397 All commits in the simplified history are shown.
398
399 --simplify-merges::
400 Additional option to `--full-history` to remove some needless
401 merges from the resulting history, as there are no selected
402 commits contributing to this merge.
403
404 --ancestry-path[=<commit>]::
405 When given a range of commits to display (e.g. 'commit1..commit2'
406 or 'commit2 {caret}commit1'), only display commits in that range
407 that are ancestors of <commit>, descendants of <commit>, or
408 <commit> itself. If no commit is specified, use 'commit1' (the
409 excluded part of the range) as <commit>. Can be passed multiple
410 times; if so, a commit is included if it is any of the commits
411 given or if it is an ancestor or descendant of one of them.
412
413 A more detailed explanation follows.
414
415 Suppose you specified `foo` as the <paths>. We shall call commits
416 that modify `foo` !TREESAME, and the rest TREESAME. (In a diff
417 filtered for `foo`, they look different and equal, respectively.)
418
419 In the following, we will always refer to the same example history to
420 illustrate the differences between simplification settings. We assume
421 that you are filtering for a file `foo` in this commit graph:
422 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
423 .-A---M---N---O---P---Q
424 / / / / / /
425 I B C D E Y
426 \ / / / / /
427 `-------------' X
428 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
429 The horizontal line of history A---Q is taken to be the first parent of
430 each merge. The commits are:
431
432 * `I` is the initial commit, in which `foo` exists with contents
433 ``asdf'', and a file `quux` exists with contents ``quux''. Initial
434 commits are compared to an empty tree, so `I` is !TREESAME.
435
436 * In `A`, `foo` contains just ``foo''.
437
438 * `B` contains the same change as `A`. Its merge `M` is trivial and
439 hence TREESAME to all parents.
440
441 * `C` does not change `foo`, but its merge `N` changes it to ``foobar'',
442 so it is not TREESAME to any parent.
443
444 * `D` sets `foo` to ``baz''. Its merge `O` combines the strings from
445 `N` and `D` to ``foobarbaz''; i.e., it is not TREESAME to any parent.
446
447 * `E` changes `quux` to ``xyzzy'', and its merge `P` combines the
448 strings to ``quux xyzzy''. `P` is TREESAME to `O`, but not to `E`.
449
450 * `X` is an independent root commit that added a new file `side`, and `Y`
451 modified it. `Y` is TREESAME to `X`. Its merge `Q` added `side` to `P`, and
452 `Q` is TREESAME to `P`, but not to `Y`.
453
454 `rev-list` walks backwards through history, including or excluding
455 commits based on whether `--full-history` and/or parent rewriting
456 (via `--parents` or `--children`) are used. The following settings
457 are available.
458
459 Default mode::
460 Commits are included if they are not TREESAME to any parent
461 (though this can be changed, see `--sparse` below). If the
462 commit was a merge, and it was TREESAME to one parent, follow
463 only that parent. (Even if there are several TREESAME
464 parents, follow only one of them.) Otherwise, follow all
465 parents.
466 +
467 This results in:
468 +
469 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
470 .-A---N---O
471 / / /
472 I---------D
473 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
474 +
475 Note how the rule to only follow the TREESAME parent, if one is
476 available, removed `B` from consideration entirely. `C` was
477 considered via `N`, but is TREESAME. Root commits are compared to an
478 empty tree, so `I` is !TREESAME.
479 +
480 Parent/child relations are only visible with `--parents`, but that does
481 not affect the commits selected in default mode, so we have shown the
482 parent lines.
483
484 --full-history without parent rewriting::
485 This mode differs from the default in one point: always follow
486 all parents of a merge, even if it is TREESAME to one of them.
487 Even if more than one side of the merge has commits that are
488 included, this does not imply that the merge itself is! In
489 the example, we get
490 +
491 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
492 I A B N D O P Q
493 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
494 +
495 `M` was excluded because it is TREESAME to both parents. `E`,
496 `C` and `B` were all walked, but only `B` was !TREESAME, so the others
497 do not appear.
498 +
499 Note that without parent rewriting, it is not really possible to talk
500 about the parent/child relationships between the commits, so we show
501 them disconnected.
502
503 --full-history with parent rewriting::
504 Ordinary commits are only included if they are !TREESAME
505 (though this can be changed, see `--sparse` below).
506 +
507 Merges are always included. However, their parent list is rewritten:
508 Along each parent, prune away commits that are not included
509 themselves. This results in
510 +
511 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
512 .-A---M---N---O---P---Q
513 / / / / /
514 I B / D /
515 \ / / / /
516 `-------------'
517 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
518 +
519 Compare to `--full-history` without rewriting above. Note that `E`
520 was pruned away because it is TREESAME, but the parent list of P was
521 rewritten to contain `E`'s parent `I`. The same happened for `C` and
522 `N`, and `X`, `Y` and `Q`.
523
524 In addition to the above settings, you can change whether TREESAME
525 affects inclusion:
526
527 --dense::
528 Commits that are walked are included if they are not TREESAME
529 to any parent.
530
531 --sparse::
532 All commits that are walked are included.
533 +
534 Note that without `--full-history`, this still simplifies merges: if
535 one of the parents is TREESAME, we follow only that one, so the other
536 sides of the merge are never walked.
537
538 --simplify-merges::
539 First, build a history graph in the same way that
540 `--full-history` with parent rewriting does (see above).
541 +
542 Then simplify each commit `C` to its replacement `C'` in the final
543 history according to the following rules:
544 +
545 --
546 * Set `C'` to `C`.
547 +
548 * Replace each parent `P` of `C'` with its simplification `P'`. In
549 the process, drop parents that are ancestors of other parents or that are
550 root commits TREESAME to an empty tree, and remove duplicates, but take care
551 to never drop all parents that we are TREESAME to.
552 +
553 * If after this parent rewriting, `C'` is a root or merge commit (has
554 zero or >1 parents), a boundary commit, or !TREESAME, it remains.
555 Otherwise, it is replaced with its only parent.
556 --
557 +
558 The effect of this is best shown by way of comparing to
559 `--full-history` with parent rewriting. The example turns into:
560 +
561 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
562 .-A---M---N---O
563 / / /
564 I B D
565 \ / /
566 `---------'
567 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
568 +
569 Note the major differences in `N`, `P`, and `Q` over `--full-history`:
570 +
571 --
572 * `N`'s parent list had `I` removed, because it is an ancestor of the
573 other parent `M`. Still, `N` remained because it is !TREESAME.
574 +
575 * `P`'s parent list similarly had `I` removed. `P` was then
576 removed completely, because it had one parent and is TREESAME.
577 +
578 * `Q`'s parent list had `Y` simplified to `X`. `X` was then removed, because it
579 was a TREESAME root. `Q` was then removed completely, because it had one
580 parent and is TREESAME.
581 --
582
583 There is another simplification mode available:
584
585 --ancestry-path[=<commit>]::
586 Limit the displayed commits to those which are an ancestor of
587 <commit>, or which are a descendant of <commit>, or are <commit>
588 itself.
589 +
590 As an example use case, consider the following commit history:
591 +
592 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
593 D---E-------F
594 / \ \
595 B---C---G---H---I---J
596 / \
597 A-------K---------------L--M
598 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
599 +
600 A regular 'D..M' computes the set of commits that are ancestors of `M`,
601 but excludes the ones that are ancestors of `D`. This is useful to see
602 what happened to the history leading to `M` since `D`, in the sense
603 that ``what does `M` have that did not exist in `D`''. The result in this
604 example would be all the commits, except `A` and `B` (and `D` itself,
605 of course).
606 +
607 When we want to find out what commits in `M` are contaminated with the
608 bug introduced by `D` and need fixing, however, we might want to view
609 only the subset of 'D..M' that are actually descendants of `D`, i.e.
610 excluding `C` and `K`. This is exactly what the `--ancestry-path`
611 option does. Applied to the 'D..M' range, it results in:
612 +
613 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
614 E-------F
615 \ \
616 G---H---I---J
617 \
618 L--M
619 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
620 +
621 We can also use `--ancestry-path=D` instead of `--ancestry-path` which
622 means the same thing when applied to the 'D..M' range but is just more
623 explicit.
624 +
625 If we instead are interested in a given topic within this range, and all
626 commits affected by that topic, we may only want to view the subset of
627 `D..M` which contain that topic in their ancestry path. So, using
628 `--ancestry-path=H D..M` for example would result in:
629 +
630 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
631 E
632 \
633 G---H---I---J
634 \
635 L--M
636 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
637 +
638 Whereas `--ancestry-path=K D..M` would result in
639 +
640 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
641 K---------------L--M
642 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
643
644 Before discussing another option, `--show-pulls`, we need to
645 create a new example history.
646
647 A common problem users face when looking at simplified history is that a
648 commit they know changed a file somehow does not appear in the file's
649 simplified history. Let's demonstrate a new example and show how options
650 such as `--full-history` and `--simplify-merges` works in that case:
651
652 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
653 .-A---M-----C--N---O---P
654 / / \ \ \/ / /
655 I B \ R-'`-Z' /
656 \ / \/ /
657 \ / /\ /
658 `---X--' `---Y--'
659 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
660
661 For this example, suppose `I` created `file.txt` which was modified by
662 `A`, `B`, and `X` in different ways. The single-parent commits `C`, `Z`,
663 and `Y` do not change `file.txt`. The merge commit `M` was created by
664 resolving the merge conflict to include both changes from `A` and `B`
665 and hence is not TREESAME to either. The merge commit `R`, however, was
666 created by ignoring the contents of `file.txt` at `M` and taking only
667 the contents of `file.txt` at `X`. Hence, `R` is TREESAME to `X` but not
668 `M`. Finally, the natural merge resolution to create `N` is to take the
669 contents of `file.txt` at `R`, so `N` is TREESAME to `R` but not `C`.
670 The merge commits `O` and `P` are TREESAME to their first parents, but
671 not to their second parents, `Z` and `Y` respectively.
672
673 When using the default mode, `N` and `R` both have a TREESAME parent, so
674 those edges are walked and the others are ignored. The resulting history
675 graph is:
676
677 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
678 I---X
679 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
680
681 When using `--full-history`, Git walks every edge. This will discover
682 the commits `A` and `B` and the merge `M`, but also will reveal the
683 merge commits `O` and `P`. With parent rewriting, the resulting graph is:
684
685 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
686 .-A---M--------N---O---P
687 / / \ \ \/ / /
688 I B \ R-'`--' /
689 \ / \/ /
690 \ / /\ /
691 `---X--' `------'
692 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
693
694 Here, the merge commits `O` and `P` contribute extra noise, as they did
695 not actually contribute a change to `file.txt`. They only merged a topic
696 that was based on an older version of `file.txt`. This is a common
697 issue in repositories using a workflow where many contributors work in
698 parallel and merge their topic branches along a single trunk: many
699 unrelated merges appear in the `--full-history` results.
700
701 When using the `--simplify-merges` option, the commits `O` and `P`
702 disappear from the results. This is because the rewritten second parents
703 of `O` and `P` are reachable from their first parents. Those edges are
704 removed and then the commits look like single-parent commits that are
705 TREESAME to their parent. This also happens to the commit `N`, resulting
706 in a history view as follows:
707
708 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
709 .-A---M--.
710 / / \
711 I B R
712 \ / /
713 \ / /
714 `---X--'
715 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
716
717 In this view, we see all of the important single-parent changes from
718 `A`, `B`, and `X`. We also see the carefully-resolved merge `M` and the
719 not-so-carefully-resolved merge `R`. This is usually enough information
720 to determine why the commits `A` and `B` "disappeared" from history in
721 the default view. However, there are a few issues with this approach.
722
723 The first issue is performance. Unlike any previous option, the
724 `--simplify-merges` option requires walking the entire commit history
725 before returning a single result. This can make the option difficult to
726 use for very large repositories.
727
728 The second issue is one of auditing. When many contributors are working
729 on the same repository, it is important which merge commits introduced
730 a change into an important branch. The problematic merge `R` above is
731 not likely to be the merge commit that was used to merge into an
732 important branch. Instead, the merge `N` was used to merge `R` and `X`
733 into the important branch. This commit may have information about why
734 the change `X` came to override the changes from `A` and `B` in its
735 commit message.
736
737 --show-pulls::
738 In addition to the commits shown in the default history, show
739 each merge commit that is not TREESAME to its first parent but
740 is TREESAME to a later parent.
741 +
742 When a merge commit is included by `--show-pulls`, the merge is
743 treated as if it "pulled" the change from another branch. When using
744 `--show-pulls` on this example (and no other options) the resulting
745 graph is:
746 +
747 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
748 I---X---R---N
749 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
750 +
751 Here, the merge commits `R` and `N` are included because they pulled
752 the commits `X` and `R` into the base branch, respectively. These
753 merges are the reason the commits `A` and `B` do not appear in the
754 default history.
755 +
756 When `--show-pulls` is paired with `--simplify-merges`, the
757 graph includes all of the necessary information:
758 +
759 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
760 .-A---M--. N
761 / / \ /
762 I B R
763 \ / /
764 \ / /
765 `---X--'
766 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
767 +
768 Notice that since `M` is reachable from `R`, the edge from `N` to `M`
769 was simplified away. However, `N` still appears in the history as an
770 important commit because it "pulled" the change `R` into the main
771 branch.
772
773 The `--simplify-by-decoration` option allows you to view only the
774 big picture of the topology of the history, by omitting commits
775 that are not referenced by tags. Commits are marked as !TREESAME
776 (in other words, kept after history simplification rules described
777 above) if (1) they are referenced by tags, or (2) they change the
778 contents of the paths given on the command line. All other
779 commits are marked as TREESAME (subject to be simplified away).
780
781 ifndef::git-shortlog[]
782 ifdef::git-rev-list[]
783 Bisection Helpers
784 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
785
786 --bisect::
787 Limit output to the one commit object which is roughly halfway between
788 included and excluded commits. Note that the bad bisection ref
789 `refs/bisect/bad` is added to the included commits (if it
790 exists) and the good bisection refs `refs/bisect/good-*` are
791 added to the excluded commits (if they exist). Thus, supposing there
792 are no refs in `refs/bisect/`, if
793 +
794 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
795 $ git rev-list --bisect foo ^bar ^baz
796 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
797 +
798 outputs 'midpoint', the output of the two commands
799 +
800 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
801 $ git rev-list foo ^midpoint
802 $ git rev-list midpoint ^bar ^baz
803 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
804 +
805 would be of roughly the same length. Finding the change which
806 introduces a regression is thus reduced to a binary search: repeatedly
807 generate and test new 'midpoint's until the commit chain is of length
808 one.
809
810 --bisect-vars::
811 This calculates the same as `--bisect`, except that refs in
812 `refs/bisect/` are not used, and except that this outputs
813 text ready to be eval'ed by the shell. These lines will assign the
814 name of the midpoint revision to the variable `bisect_rev`, and the
815 expected number of commits to be tested after `bisect_rev` is tested
816 to `bisect_nr`, the expected number of commits to be tested if
817 `bisect_rev` turns out to be good to `bisect_good`, the expected
818 number of commits to be tested if `bisect_rev` turns out to be bad to
819 `bisect_bad`, and the number of commits we are bisecting right now to
820 `bisect_all`.
821
822 --bisect-all::
823 This outputs all the commit objects between the included and excluded
824 commits, ordered by their distance to the included and excluded
825 commits. Refs in `refs/bisect/` are not used. The farthest
826 from them is displayed first. (This is the only one displayed by
827 `--bisect`.)
828 +
829 This is useful because it makes it easy to choose a good commit to
830 test when you want to avoid to test some of them for some reason (they
831 may not compile for example).
832 +
833 This option can be used along with `--bisect-vars`, in this case,
834 after all the sorted commit objects, there will be the same text as if
835 `--bisect-vars` had been used alone.
836 endif::git-rev-list[]
837 endif::git-shortlog[]
838
839 ifndef::git-shortlog[]
840 Commit Ordering
841 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
842
843 By default, the commits are shown in reverse chronological order.
844
845 --date-order::
846 Show no parents before all of its children are shown, but
847 otherwise show commits in the commit timestamp order.
848
849 --author-date-order::
850 Show no parents before all of its children are shown, but
851 otherwise show commits in the author timestamp order.
852
853 --topo-order::
854 Show no parents before all of its children are shown, and
855 avoid showing commits on multiple lines of history
856 intermixed.
857 +
858 For example, in a commit history like this:
859 +
860 ----------------------------------------------------------------
861
862 ---1----2----4----7
863 \ \
864 3----5----6----8---
865
866 ----------------------------------------------------------------
867 +
868 where the numbers denote the order of commit timestamps, `git
869 rev-list` and friends with `--date-order` show the commits in the
870 timestamp order: 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1.
871 +
872 With `--topo-order`, they would show 8 6 5 3 7 4 2 1 (or 8 7 4 2 6 5
873 3 1); some older commits are shown before newer ones in order to
874 avoid showing the commits from two parallel development track mixed
875 together.
876
877 --reverse::
878 Output the commits chosen to be shown (see Commit Limiting
879 section above) in reverse order. Cannot be combined with
880 `--walk-reflogs`.
881 endif::git-shortlog[]
882
883 ifndef::git-shortlog[]
884 Object Traversal
885 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
886
887 These options are mostly targeted for packing of Git repositories.
888
889 ifdef::git-rev-list[]
890 --objects::
891 Print the object IDs of any object referenced by the listed
892 commits. `--objects foo ^bar` thus means ``send me
893 all object IDs which I need to download if I have the commit
894 object _bar_ but not _foo_''. See also `--object-names` below.
895
896 --in-commit-order::
897 Print tree and blob ids in order of the commits. The tree
898 and blob ids are printed after they are first referenced
899 by a commit.
900
901 --objects-edge::
902 Similar to `--objects`, but also print the IDs of excluded
903 commits prefixed with a ``-'' character. This is used by
904 linkgit:git-pack-objects[1] to build a ``thin'' pack, which records
905 objects in deltified form based on objects contained in these
906 excluded commits to reduce network traffic.
907
908 --objects-edge-aggressive::
909 Similar to `--objects-edge`, but it tries harder to find excluded
910 commits at the cost of increased time. This is used instead of
911 `--objects-edge` to build ``thin'' packs for shallow repositories.
912
913 --indexed-objects::
914 Pretend as if all trees and blobs used by the index are listed
915 on the command line. Note that you probably want to use
916 `--objects`, too.
917
918 --unpacked::
919 Only useful with `--objects`; print the object IDs that are not
920 in packs.
921
922 --object-names::
923 Only useful with `--objects`; print the names of the object IDs
924 that are found. This is the default behavior. Note that the
925 "name" of each object is ambiguous, and mostly intended as a
926 hint for packing objects. In particular: no distinction is made between
927 the names of tags, trees, and blobs; path names may be modified
928 to remove newlines; and if an object would appear multiple times
929 with different names, only one name is shown.
930
931 --no-object-names::
932 Only useful with `--objects`; does not print the names of the object
933 IDs that are found. This inverts `--object-names`. This flag allows
934 the output to be more easily parsed by commands such as
935 linkgit:git-cat-file[1].
936
937 --filter=<filter-spec>::
938 Only useful with one of the `--objects*`; omits objects (usually
939 blobs) from the list of printed objects. The '<filter-spec>'
940 may be one of the following:
941 +
942 The form '--filter=blob:none' omits all blobs.
943 +
944 The form '--filter=blob:limit=<n>[kmg]' omits blobs larger than n bytes
945 or units. n may be zero. The suffixes k, m, and g can be used to name
946 units in KiB, MiB, or GiB. For example, 'blob:limit=1k' is the same
947 as 'blob:limit=1024'.
948 +
949 The form '--filter=object:type=(tag|commit|tree|blob)' omits all objects
950 which are not of the requested type.
951 +
952 The form '--filter=sparse:oid=<blob-ish>' uses a sparse-checkout
953 specification contained in the blob (or blob-expression) '<blob-ish>'
954 to omit blobs that would not be required for a sparse checkout on
955 the requested refs.
956 +
957 The form '--filter=tree:<depth>' omits all blobs and trees whose depth
958 from the root tree is >= <depth> (minimum depth if an object is located
959 at multiple depths in the commits traversed). <depth>=0 will not include
960 any trees or blobs unless included explicitly in the command-line (or
961 standard input when --stdin is used). <depth>=1 will include only the
962 tree and blobs which are referenced directly by a commit reachable from
963 <commit> or an explicitly-given object. <depth>=2 is like <depth>=1
964 while also including trees and blobs one more level removed from an
965 explicitly-given commit or tree.
966 +
967 Note that the form '--filter=sparse:path=<path>' that wants to read
968 from an arbitrary path on the filesystem has been dropped for security
969 reasons.
970 +
971 Multiple '--filter=' flags can be specified to combine filters. Only
972 objects which are accepted by every filter are included.
973 +
974 The form '--filter=combine:<filter1>+<filter2>+...<filterN>' can also be
975 used to combined several filters, but this is harder than just repeating
976 the '--filter' flag and is usually not necessary. Filters are joined by
977 '{plus}' and individual filters are %-encoded (i.e. URL-encoded).
978 Besides the '{plus}' and '%' characters, the following characters are
979 reserved and also must be encoded: `~!@#$^&*()[]{}\;",<>?`+&#39;&#96;+
980 as well as all characters with ASCII code &lt;= `0x20`, which includes
981 space and newline.
982 +
983 Other arbitrary characters can also be encoded. For instance,
984 'combine:tree:3+blob:none' and 'combine:tree%3A3+blob%3Anone' are
985 equivalent.
986
987 --no-filter::
988 Turn off any previous `--filter=` argument.
989
990 --filter-provided-objects::
991 Filter the list of explicitly provided objects, which would otherwise
992 always be printed even if they did not match any of the filters. Only
993 useful with `--filter=`.
994
995 --filter-print-omitted::
996 Only useful with `--filter=`; prints a list of the objects omitted
997 by the filter. Object IDs are prefixed with a ``~'' character.
998
999 --missing=<missing-action>::
1000 A debug option to help with future "partial clone" development.
1001 This option specifies how missing objects are handled.
1002 +
1003 The form '--missing=error' requests that rev-list stop with an error if
1004 a missing object is encountered. This is the default action.
1005 +
1006 The form '--missing=allow-any' will allow object traversal to continue
1007 if a missing object is encountered. Missing objects will silently be
1008 omitted from the results.
1009 +
1010 The form '--missing=allow-promisor' is like 'allow-any', but will only
1011 allow object traversal to continue for EXPECTED promisor missing objects.
1012 Unexpected missing objects will raise an error.
1013 +
1014 The form '--missing=print' is like 'allow-any', but will also print a
1015 list of the missing objects. Object IDs are prefixed with a ``?'' character.
1016
1017 --exclude-promisor-objects::
1018 (For internal use only.) Prefilter object traversal at
1019 promisor boundary. This is used with partial clone. This is
1020 stronger than `--missing=allow-promisor` because it limits the
1021 traversal, rather than just silencing errors about missing
1022 objects.
1023 endif::git-rev-list[]
1024
1025 --no-walk[=(sorted|unsorted)]::
1026 Only show the given commits, but do not traverse their ancestors.
1027 This has no effect if a range is specified. If the argument
1028 `unsorted` is given, the commits are shown in the order they were
1029 given on the command line. Otherwise (if `sorted` or no argument
1030 was given), the commits are shown in reverse chronological order
1031 by commit time.
1032 Cannot be combined with `--graph`.
1033
1034 --do-walk::
1035 Overrides a previous `--no-walk`.
1036 endif::git-shortlog[]
1037
1038 ifndef::git-shortlog[]
1039 Commit Formatting
1040 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1041
1042 ifdef::git-rev-list[]
1043 Using these options, linkgit:git-rev-list[1] will act similar to the
1044 more specialized family of commit log tools: linkgit:git-log[1],
1045 linkgit:git-show[1], and linkgit:git-whatchanged[1]
1046 endif::git-rev-list[]
1047
1048 include::pretty-options.txt[]
1049
1050 --relative-date::
1051 Synonym for `--date=relative`.
1052
1053 --date=<format>::
1054 Only takes effect for dates shown in human-readable format, such
1055 as when using `--pretty`. `log.date` config variable sets a default
1056 value for the log command's `--date` option. By default, dates
1057 are shown in the original time zone (either committer's or
1058 author's). If `-local` is appended to the format (e.g.,
1059 `iso-local`), the user's local time zone is used instead.
1060 +
1061 --
1062 `--date=relative` shows dates relative to the current time,
1063 e.g. ``2 hours ago''. The `-local` option has no effect for
1064 `--date=relative`.
1065
1066 `--date=local` is an alias for `--date=default-local`.
1067
1068 `--date=iso` (or `--date=iso8601`) shows timestamps in a ISO 8601-like format.
1069 The differences to the strict ISO 8601 format are:
1070
1071 - a space instead of the `T` date/time delimiter
1072 - a space between time and time zone
1073 - no colon between hours and minutes of the time zone
1074
1075 `--date=iso-strict` (or `--date=iso8601-strict`) shows timestamps in strict
1076 ISO 8601 format.
1077
1078 `--date=rfc` (or `--date=rfc2822`) shows timestamps in RFC 2822
1079 format, often found in email messages.
1080
1081 `--date=short` shows only the date, but not the time, in `YYYY-MM-DD` format.
1082
1083 `--date=raw` shows the date as seconds since the epoch (1970-01-01
1084 00:00:00 UTC), followed by a space, and then the timezone as an offset
1085 from UTC (a `+` or `-` with four digits; the first two are hours, and
1086 the second two are minutes). I.e., as if the timestamp were formatted
1087 with `strftime("%s %z")`).
1088 Note that the `-local` option does not affect the seconds-since-epoch
1089 value (which is always measured in UTC), but does switch the accompanying
1090 timezone value.
1091
1092 `--date=human` shows the timezone if the timezone does not match the
1093 current time-zone, and doesn't print the whole date if that matches
1094 (ie skip printing year for dates that are "this year", but also skip
1095 the whole date itself if it's in the last few days and we can just say
1096 what weekday it was). For older dates the hour and minute is also
1097 omitted.
1098
1099 `--date=unix` shows the date as a Unix epoch timestamp (seconds since
1100 1970). As with `--raw`, this is always in UTC and therefore `-local`
1101 has no effect.
1102
1103 `--date=format:...` feeds the format `...` to your system `strftime`,
1104 except for %s, %z, and %Z, which are handled internally.
1105 Use `--date=format:%c` to show the date in your system locale's
1106 preferred format. See the `strftime` manual for a complete list of
1107 format placeholders. When using `-local`, the correct syntax is
1108 `--date=format-local:...`.
1109
1110 `--date=default` is the default format, and is based on ctime(3)
1111 output. It shows a single line with three-letter day of the week,
1112 three-letter month, day-of-month, hour-minute-seconds in "HH:MM:SS"
1113 format, followed by 4-digit year, plus timezone information, unless
1114 the local time zone is used, e.g. `Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 +0000`.
1115 --
1116
1117 ifdef::git-rev-list[]
1118 --header::
1119 Print the contents of the commit in raw-format; each record is
1120 separated with a NUL character.
1121
1122 --no-commit-header::
1123 Suppress the header line containing "commit" and the object ID printed before
1124 the specified format. This has no effect on the built-in formats; only custom
1125 formats are affected.
1126
1127 --commit-header::
1128 Overrides a previous `--no-commit-header`.
1129 endif::git-rev-list[]
1130
1131 --parents::
1132 Print also the parents of the commit (in the form "commit parent...").
1133 Also enables parent rewriting, see 'History Simplification' above.
1134
1135 --children::
1136 Print also the children of the commit (in the form "commit child...").
1137 Also enables parent rewriting, see 'History Simplification' above.
1138
1139 ifdef::git-rev-list[]
1140 --timestamp::
1141 Print the raw commit timestamp.
1142 endif::git-rev-list[]
1143
1144 --left-right::
1145 Mark which side of a symmetric difference a commit is reachable from.
1146 Commits from the left side are prefixed with `<` and those from
1147 the right with `>`. If combined with `--boundary`, those
1148 commits are prefixed with `-`.
1149 +
1150 For example, if you have this topology:
1151 +
1152 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
1153 y---b---b branch B
1154 / \ /
1155 / .
1156 / / \
1157 o---x---a---a branch A
1158 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
1159 +
1160 you would get an output like this:
1161 +
1162 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
1163 $ git rev-list --left-right --boundary --pretty=oneline A...B
1164
1165 >bbbbbbb... 3rd on b
1166 >bbbbbbb... 2nd on b
1167 <aaaaaaa... 3rd on a
1168 <aaaaaaa... 2nd on a
1169 -yyyyyyy... 1st on b
1170 -xxxxxxx... 1st on a
1171 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
1172
1173 --graph::
1174 Draw a text-based graphical representation of the commit history
1175 on the left hand side of the output. This may cause extra lines
1176 to be printed in between commits, in order for the graph history
1177 to be drawn properly.
1178 Cannot be combined with `--no-walk`.
1179 +
1180 This enables parent rewriting, see 'History Simplification' above.
1181 +
1182 This implies the `--topo-order` option by default, but the
1183 `--date-order` option may also be specified.
1184
1185 --show-linear-break[=<barrier>]::
1186 When --graph is not used, all history branches are flattened
1187 which can make it hard to see that the two consecutive commits
1188 do not belong to a linear branch. This option puts a barrier
1189 in between them in that case. If `<barrier>` is specified, it
1190 is the string that will be shown instead of the default one.
1191
1192 ifdef::git-rev-list[]
1193 --count::
1194 Print a number stating how many commits would have been
1195 listed, and suppress all other output. When used together
1196 with `--left-right`, instead print the counts for left and
1197 right commits, separated by a tab. When used together with
1198 `--cherry-mark`, omit patch equivalent commits from these
1199 counts and print the count for equivalent commits separated
1200 by a tab.
1201 endif::git-rev-list[]
1202 endif::git-shortlog[]