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