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5a8f3117 MG |
1 | SPECIFYING REVISIONS |
2 | -------------------- | |
3 | ||
61e508d9 | 4 | A revision parameter '<rev>' typically, but not necessarily, names a |
d5fa1f1a | 5 | commit object. It uses what is called an 'extended SHA-1' |
5a8f3117 | 6 | syntax. Here are various ways to spell object names. The |
b62c7697 | 7 | ones listed near the end of this list name trees and |
5a8f3117 MG |
8 | blobs contained in a commit. |
9 | ||
61e508d9 | 10 | '<sha1>', e.g. 'dae86e1950b1277e545cee180551750029cfe735', 'dae86e':: |
d5fa1f1a | 11 | The full SHA-1 object name (40-byte hexadecimal string), or |
b62c7697 | 12 | a leading substring that is unique within the repository. |
5a8f3117 | 13 | E.g. dae86e1950b1277e545cee180551750029cfe735 and dae86e both |
b62c7697 | 14 | name the same commit object if there is no other object in |
5a8f3117 MG |
15 | your repository whose object name starts with dae86e. |
16 | ||
61e508d9 | 17 | '<describeOutput>', e.g. 'v1.7.4.2-679-g3bee7fb':: |
b62c7697 | 18 | Output from `git describe`; i.e. a closest tag, optionally |
5a8f3117 | 19 | followed by a dash and a number of commits, followed by a dash, a |
83456b13 | 20 | 'g', and an abbreviated object name. |
5a8f3117 | 21 | |
61e508d9 MG |
22 | '<refname>', e.g. 'master', 'heads/master', 'refs/heads/master':: |
23 | A symbolic ref name. E.g. 'master' typically means the commit | |
83456b13 MG |
24 | object referenced by 'refs/heads/master'. If you |
25 | happen to have both 'heads/master' and 'tags/master', you can | |
2de9b711 | 26 | explicitly say 'heads/master' to tell Git which one you mean. |
89ce391b | 27 | When ambiguous, a '<refname>' is disambiguated by taking the |
5a8f3117 MG |
28 | first match in the following rules: |
29 | ||
89ce391b | 30 | . If '$GIT_DIR/<refname>' exists, that is what you mean (this is usually |
661c3e9b MM |
31 | useful only for `HEAD`, `FETCH_HEAD`, `ORIG_HEAD`, `MERGE_HEAD` |
32 | and `CHERRY_PICK_HEAD`); | |
5a8f3117 | 33 | |
89ce391b | 34 | . otherwise, 'refs/<refname>' if it exists; |
5a8f3117 | 35 | |
b62c7697 | 36 | . otherwise, 'refs/tags/<refname>' if it exists; |
5a8f3117 | 37 | |
89ce391b | 38 | . otherwise, 'refs/heads/<refname>' if it exists; |
5a8f3117 | 39 | |
89ce391b | 40 | . otherwise, 'refs/remotes/<refname>' if it exists; |
5a8f3117 | 41 | |
89ce391b | 42 | . otherwise, 'refs/remotes/<refname>/HEAD' if it exists. |
5a8f3117 | 43 | + |
661c3e9b MM |
44 | `HEAD` names the commit on which you based the changes in the working tree. |
45 | `FETCH_HEAD` records the branch which you fetched from a remote repository | |
83456b13 | 46 | with your last `git fetch` invocation. |
661c3e9b MM |
47 | `ORIG_HEAD` is created by commands that move your `HEAD` in a drastic |
48 | way, to record the position of the `HEAD` before their operation, so that | |
b62c7697 MG |
49 | you can easily change the tip of the branch back to the state before you ran |
50 | them. | |
661c3e9b | 51 | `MERGE_HEAD` records the commit(s) which you are merging into your branch |
83456b13 | 52 | when you run `git merge`. |
661c3e9b | 53 | `CHERRY_PICK_HEAD` records the commit which you are cherry-picking |
83456b13 | 54 | when you run `git cherry-pick`. |
5a8f3117 | 55 | + |
83456b13 MG |
56 | Note that any of the 'refs/*' cases above may come either from |
57 | the '$GIT_DIR/refs' directory or from the '$GIT_DIR/packed-refs' file. | |
e1c3bf49 | 58 | While the ref name encoding is unspecified, UTF-8 is preferred as |
1452bd64 | 59 | some output processing may assume ref names in UTF-8. |
5a8f3117 | 60 | |
9ba89f48 | 61 | '@':: |
661c3e9b | 62 | '@' alone is a shortcut for `HEAD`. |
9ba89f48 | 63 | |
c200deb8 | 64 | '<refname>@{<date>}', e.g. 'master@\{yesterday\}', 'HEAD@{5 minutes ago}':: |
61e508d9 | 65 | A ref followed by the suffix '@' with a date specification |
5a8f3117 | 66 | enclosed in a brace |
c200deb8 MK |
67 | pair (e.g. '\{yesterday\}', '{1 month 2 weeks 3 days 1 hour 1 |
68 | second ago}' or '{1979-02-26 18:30:00}') specifies the value | |
5a8f3117 MG |
69 | of the ref at a prior point in time. This suffix may only be |
70 | used immediately following a ref name and the ref must have an | |
83456b13 | 71 | existing log ('$GIT_DIR/logs/<ref>'). Note that this looks up the state |
5a8f3117 | 72 | of your *local* ref at a given time; e.g., what was in your local |
83456b13 | 73 | 'master' branch last week. If you want to look at commits made during |
bcf9626a | 74 | certain times, see `--since` and `--until`. |
5a8f3117 | 75 | |
c200deb8 | 76 | '<refname>@{<n>}', e.g. 'master@\{1\}':: |
61e508d9 | 77 | A ref followed by the suffix '@' with an ordinal specification |
b62c7697 | 78 | enclosed in a brace pair (e.g. '\{1\}', '\{15\}') specifies |
5a8f3117 MG |
79 | the n-th prior value of that ref. For example 'master@\{1\}' |
80 | is the immediate prior value of 'master' while 'master@\{5\}' | |
81 | is the 5th prior value of 'master'. This suffix may only be used | |
82 | immediately following a ref name and the ref must have an existing | |
61e508d9 | 83 | log ('$GIT_DIR/logs/<refname>'). |
5a8f3117 | 84 | |
c200deb8 | 85 | '@{<n>}', e.g. '@\{1\}':: |
61e508d9 | 86 | You can use the '@' construct with an empty ref part to get at a |
b62c7697 MG |
87 | reflog entry of the current branch. For example, if you are on |
88 | branch 'blabla' then '@\{1\}' means the same as 'blabla@\{1\}'. | |
5a8f3117 | 89 | |
c200deb8 MK |
90 | '@{-<n>}', e.g. '@{-1}':: |
91 | The construct '@{-<n>}' means the <n>th branch/commit checked out | |
5a8f3117 MG |
92 | before the current one. |
93 | ||
47e329ef KK |
94 | '<branchname>@\{upstream\}', e.g. 'master@\{upstream\}', '@\{u\}':: |
95 | The suffix '@\{upstream\}' to a branchname (short form '<branchname>@\{u\}') | |
96 | refers to the branch that the branch specified by branchname is set to build on | |
670a7297 TK |
97 | top of (configured with `branch.<name>.remote` and |
98 | `branch.<name>.merge`). A missing branchname defaults to the | |
99 | current one. | |
5a8f3117 | 100 | |
adfe5d04 JK |
101 | '<branchname>@\{push\}', e.g. 'master@\{push\}', '@\{push\}':: |
102 | The suffix '@\{push}' reports the branch "where we would push to" if | |
103 | `git push` were run while `branchname` was checked out (or the current | |
661c3e9b | 104 | `HEAD` if no branchname is specified). Since our push destination is |
adfe5d04 JK |
105 | in a remote repository, of course, we report the local tracking branch |
106 | that corresponds to that branch (i.e., something in 'refs/remotes/'). | |
107 | + | |
108 | Here's an example to make it more clear: | |
109 | + | |
110 | ------------------------------ | |
111 | $ git config push.default current | |
112 | $ git config remote.pushdefault myfork | |
113 | $ git checkout -b mybranch origin/master | |
114 | ||
115 | $ git rev-parse --symbolic-full-name @{upstream} | |
116 | refs/remotes/origin/master | |
117 | ||
118 | $ git rev-parse --symbolic-full-name @{push} | |
119 | refs/remotes/myfork/mybranch | |
120 | ------------------------------ | |
121 | + | |
122 | Note in the example that we set up a triangular workflow, where we pull | |
123 | from one location and push to another. In a non-triangular workflow, | |
124 | '@\{push}' is the same as '@\{upstream}', and there is no need for it. | |
125 | ||
61e508d9 MG |
126 | '<rev>{caret}', e.g. 'HEAD{caret}, v1.5.1{caret}0':: |
127 | A suffix '{caret}' to a revision parameter means the first parent of | |
5a8f3117 | 128 | that commit object. '{caret}<n>' means the <n>th parent (i.e. |
61e508d9 MG |
129 | '<rev>{caret}' |
130 | is equivalent to '<rev>{caret}1'). As a special rule, | |
131 | '<rev>{caret}0' means the commit itself and is used when '<rev>' is the | |
5a8f3117 MG |
132 | object name of a tag object that refers to a commit object. |
133 | ||
61e508d9 MG |
134 | '<rev>{tilde}<n>', e.g. 'master{tilde}3':: |
135 | A suffix '{tilde}<n>' to a revision parameter means the commit | |
70eb1307 | 136 | object that is the <n>th generation ancestor of the named |
b62c7697 | 137 | commit object, following only the first parents. I.e. '<rev>{tilde}3' is |
61e508d9 | 138 | equivalent to '<rev>{caret}{caret}{caret}' which is equivalent to |
b62c7697 | 139 | '<rev>{caret}1{caret}1{caret}1'. See below for an illustration of |
5a8f3117 MG |
140 | the usage of this form. |
141 | ||
c200deb8 | 142 | '<rev>{caret}{<type>}', e.g. 'v0.99.8{caret}\{commit\}':: |
61e508d9 | 143 | A suffix '{caret}' followed by an object type name enclosed in |
abdb54a1 RH |
144 | brace pair means dereference the object at '<rev>' recursively until |
145 | an object of type '<type>' is found or the object cannot be | |
146 | dereferenced anymore (in which case, barf). | |
147 | For example, if '<rev>' is a commit-ish, '<rev>{caret}\{commit\}' | |
148 | describes the corresponding commit object. | |
149 | Similarly, if '<rev>' is a tree-ish, '<rev>{caret}\{tree\}' | |
150 | describes the corresponding tree object. | |
151 | '<rev>{caret}0' | |
b62c7697 | 152 | is a short-hand for '<rev>{caret}\{commit\}'. |
a6a3f2cc JH |
153 | + |
154 | 'rev{caret}\{object\}' can be used to make sure 'rev' names an | |
155 | object that exists, without requiring 'rev' to be a tag, and | |
156 | without dereferencing 'rev'; because a tag is already an object, | |
157 | it does not have to be dereferenced even once to get to an object. | |
75aa26d3 RH |
158 | + |
159 | 'rev{caret}\{tag\}' can be used to ensure that 'rev' identifies an | |
160 | existing tag object. | |
5a8f3117 | 161 | |
c200deb8 | 162 | '<rev>{caret}{}', e.g. 'v0.99.8{caret}{}':: |
61e508d9 MG |
163 | A suffix '{caret}' followed by an empty brace pair |
164 | means the object could be a tag, | |
5a8f3117 MG |
165 | and dereference the tag recursively until a non-tag object is |
166 | found. | |
167 | ||
c200deb8 | 168 | '<rev>{caret}{/<text>}', e.g. 'HEAD^{/fix nasty bug}':: |
61e508d9 MG |
169 | A suffix '{caret}' to a revision parameter, followed by a brace |
170 | pair that contains a text led by a slash, | |
b62c7697 | 171 | is the same as the ':/fix nasty bug' syntax below except that |
32574b68 | 172 | it returns the youngest matching commit which is reachable from |
61e508d9 | 173 | the '<rev>' before '{caret}'. |
32574b68 | 174 | |
61e508d9 MG |
175 | ':/<text>', e.g. ':/fix nasty bug':: |
176 | A colon, followed by a slash, followed by a text, names | |
95ad6d2d | 177 | a commit whose commit message matches the specified regular expression. |
5a8f3117 | 178 | This name returns the youngest matching commit which is |
0769854f WP |
179 | reachable from any ref. The regular expression can match any part of the |
180 | commit message. To match messages starting with a string, one can use | |
181 | e.g. ':/^foo'. The special sequence ':/!' is reserved for modifiers to what | |
182 | is matched. ':/!-foo' performs a negative match, while ':/!!foo' matches a | |
183 | literal '!' character, followed by 'foo'. Any other sequence beginning with | |
184 | ':/!' is reserved for now. | |
5a8f3117 | 185 | |
61e508d9 MG |
186 | '<rev>:<path>', e.g. 'HEAD:README', ':README', 'master:./README':: |
187 | A suffix ':' followed by a path names the blob or tree | |
5a8f3117 MG |
188 | at the given path in the tree-ish object named by the part |
189 | before the colon. | |
61e508d9 | 190 | ':path' (with an empty part before the colon) |
5a8f3117 MG |
191 | is a special case of the syntax described next: content |
192 | recorded in the index at the given path. | |
b62c7697 MG |
193 | A path starting with './' or '../' is relative to the current working directory. |
194 | The given path will be converted to be relative to the working tree's root directory. | |
979f7929 | 195 | This is most useful to address a blob or tree from a commit or tree that has |
b62c7697 | 196 | the same tree structure as the working tree. |
5a8f3117 | 197 | |
61e508d9 MG |
198 | ':<n>:<path>', e.g. ':0:README', ':README':: |
199 | A colon, optionally followed by a stage number (0 to 3) and a | |
200 | colon, followed by a path, names a blob object in the | |
b62c7697 | 201 | index at the given path. A missing stage number (and the colon |
61e508d9 | 202 | that follows it) names a stage 0 entry. During a merge, stage |
5a8f3117 MG |
203 | 1 is the common ancestor, stage 2 is the target branch's version |
204 | (typically the current branch), and stage 3 is the version from | |
b62c7697 | 205 | the branch which is being merged. |
5a8f3117 MG |
206 | |
207 | Here is an illustration, by Jon Loeliger. Both commit nodes B | |
208 | and C are parents of commit node A. Parent commits are ordered | |
209 | left-to-right. | |
210 | ||
211 | ........................................ | |
212 | G H I J | |
213 | \ / \ / | |
214 | D E F | |
215 | \ | / \ | |
216 | \ | / | | |
217 | \|/ | | |
218 | B C | |
219 | \ / | |
220 | \ / | |
221 | A | |
222 | ........................................ | |
223 | ||
224 | A = = A^0 | |
225 | B = A^ = A^1 = A~1 | |
226 | C = A^2 = A^2 | |
227 | D = A^^ = A^1^1 = A~2 | |
228 | E = B^2 = A^^2 | |
229 | F = B^3 = A^^3 | |
230 | G = A^^^ = A^1^1^1 = A~3 | |
231 | H = D^2 = B^^2 = A^^^2 = A~2^2 | |
232 | I = F^ = B^3^ = A^^3^ | |
233 | J = F^2 = B^3^2 = A^^3^2 | |
234 | ||
235 | ||
236 | SPECIFYING RANGES | |
237 | ----------------- | |
238 | ||
83456b13 | 239 | History traversing commands such as `git log` operate on a set |
0b451248 PO |
240 | of commits, not just a single commit. |
241 | ||
242 | For these commands, | |
243 | specifying a single revision, using the notation described in the | |
244 | previous section, means the set of commits `reachable` from the given | |
245 | commit. | |
246 | ||
247 | A commit's reachable set is the commit itself and the commits in | |
248 | its ancestry chain. | |
249 | ||
5a8f3117 | 250 | |
391a3c70 PO |
251 | Commit Exclusions |
252 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | |
253 | ||
254 | '{caret}<rev>' (caret) Notation:: | |
255 | To exclude commits reachable from a commit, a prefix '{caret}' | |
256 | notation is used. E.g. '{caret}r1 r2' means commits reachable | |
1afe13b9 PO |
257 | from 'r2' but exclude the ones reachable from 'r1' (i.e. 'r1' and |
258 | its ancestors). | |
391a3c70 PO |
259 | |
260 | Dotted Range Notations | |
261 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | |
262 | ||
263 | The '..' (two-dot) Range Notation:: | |
264 | The '{caret}r1 r2' set operation appears so often that there is a shorthand | |
265 | for it. When you have two commits 'r1' and 'r2' (named according | |
266 | to the syntax explained in SPECIFYING REVISIONS above), you can ask | |
267 | for commits that are reachable from r2 excluding those that are reachable | |
268 | from r1 by '{caret}r1 r2' and it can be written as 'r1..r2'. | |
269 | ||
270 | The '...' (three dot) Symmetric Difference Notation:: | |
271 | A similar notation 'r1\...r2' is called symmetric difference | |
272 | of 'r1' and 'r2' and is defined as | |
273 | 'r1 r2 --not $(git merge-base --all r1 r2)'. | |
274 | It is the set of commits that are reachable from either one of | |
275 | 'r1' (left side) or 'r2' (right side) but not from both. | |
276 | ||
277 | In these two shorthand notations, you can omit one end and let it default to HEAD. | |
003c84f6 JH |
278 | For example, 'origin..' is a shorthand for 'origin..HEAD' and asks "What |
279 | did I do since I forked from the origin branch?" Similarly, '..origin' | |
280 | is a shorthand for 'HEAD..origin' and asks "What did the origin do since | |
281 | I forked from them?" Note that '..' would mean 'HEAD..HEAD' which is an | |
282 | empty range that is both reachable and unreachable from HEAD. | |
283 | ||
391a3c70 PO |
284 | Other <rev>{caret} Parent Shorthand Notations |
285 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | |
8779351d | 286 | Three other shorthands exist, particularly useful for merge commits, |
391a3c70 | 287 | for naming a set that is formed by a commit and its parent commits. |
5a8f3117 | 288 | |
391a3c70 PO |
289 | The 'r1{caret}@' notation means all parents of 'r1'. |
290 | ||
59841a39 PO |
291 | The 'r1{caret}!' notation includes commit 'r1' but excludes all of its parents. |
292 | By itself, this notation denotes the single commit 'r1'. | |
391a3c70 | 293 | |
8779351d VN |
294 | The '<rev>{caret}-{<n>}' notation includes '<rev>' but excludes the <n>th |
295 | parent (i.e. a shorthand for '<rev>{caret}<n>..<rev>'), with '<n>' = 1 if | |
296 | not given. This is typically useful for merge commits where you | |
297 | can just pass '<commit>{caret}-' to get all the commits in the branch | |
298 | that was merged in merge commit '<commit>' (including '<commit>' | |
299 | itself). | |
300 | ||
39b4d85e | 301 | While '<rev>{caret}<n>' was about specifying a single commit parent, these |
8779351d | 302 | three notations also consider its parents. For example you can say |
39b4d85e | 303 | 'HEAD{caret}2{caret}@', however you cannot say 'HEAD{caret}@{caret}2'. |
5a8f3117 | 304 | |
391a3c70 PO |
305 | Revision Range Summary |
306 | ---------------------- | |
ca5ee2d1 JH |
307 | |
308 | '<rev>':: | |
1afe13b9 PO |
309 | Include commits that are reachable from <rev> (i.e. <rev> and its |
310 | ancestors). | |
ca5ee2d1 JH |
311 | |
312 | '{caret}<rev>':: | |
1afe13b9 PO |
313 | Exclude commits that are reachable from <rev> (i.e. <rev> and its |
314 | ancestors). | |
ca5ee2d1 JH |
315 | |
316 | '<rev1>..<rev2>':: | |
317 | Include commits that are reachable from <rev2> but exclude | |
3a4dc486 | 318 | those that are reachable from <rev1>. When either <rev1> or |
661c3e9b | 319 | <rev2> is omitted, it defaults to `HEAD`. |
ca5ee2d1 JH |
320 | |
321 | '<rev1>\...<rev2>':: | |
322 | Include commits that are reachable from either <rev1> or | |
3a4dc486 | 323 | <rev2> but exclude those that are reachable from both. When |
661c3e9b | 324 | either <rev1> or <rev2> is omitted, it defaults to `HEAD`. |
ca5ee2d1 JH |
325 | |
326 | '<rev>{caret}@', e.g. 'HEAD{caret}@':: | |
327 | A suffix '{caret}' followed by an at sign is the same as listing | |
328 | all parents of '<rev>' (meaning, include anything reachable from | |
329 | its parents, but not the commit itself). | |
330 | ||
331 | '<rev>{caret}!', e.g. 'HEAD{caret}!':: | |
332 | A suffix '{caret}' followed by an exclamation mark is the same | |
333 | as giving commit '<rev>' and then all its parents prefixed with | |
334 | '{caret}' to exclude them (and their ancestors). | |
335 | ||
8779351d VN |
336 | '<rev>{caret}-{<n>}', e.g. 'HEAD{caret}-, HEAD{caret}-2':: |
337 | Equivalent to '<rev>{caret}<n>..<rev>', with '<n>' = 1 if not | |
338 | given. | |
339 | ||
7a5370e6 PO |
340 | Here are a handful of examples using the Loeliger illustration above, |
341 | with each step in the notation's expansion and selection carefully | |
342 | spelt out: | |
5a8f3117 | 343 | |
7a5370e6 | 344 | Args Expanded arguments Selected commits |
a117be4d PO |
345 | D G H D |
346 | D F G H I J D F | |
347 | ^G D H D | |
348 | ^D B E I J F B | |
349 | ^D B C E I J F B C | |
350 | C I J F C | |
7a5370e6 PO |
351 | B..C = ^B C C |
352 | B...C = B ^F C G H D E B C | |
8779351d VN |
353 | B^- = B^..B |
354 | = ^B^1 B E I J F B | |
7a5370e6 PO |
355 | C^@ = C^1 |
356 | = F I J F | |
357 | B^@ = B^1 B^2 B^3 | |
358 | = D E F D G H E F I J | |
359 | C^! = C ^C^@ | |
360 | = C ^C^1 | |
361 | = C ^F C | |
362 | B^! = B ^B^@ | |
363 | = B ^B^1 ^B^2 ^B^3 | |
364 | = B ^D ^E ^F B | |
365 | F^! D = F ^I ^J D G H D F |