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How to use git log command line parameters

February 3, 2017 by admin

Git comes with a very power history viewing command – git log, which supports a number of command line parameters.

git-log-oneline

This options are very powerful, especially when used in combination. Here are the ones that I use the most:

  • --author=“Alex Kras" – Only show commits made by a certain author
  • --name-only – Only show names of files that changed
  • --oneline – Show commit data compressed to one line
  • --graph – Show dependency tree for all commits
  • --reverse – Show commits in reverse order (Oldest commit first)
  • --after – Show all commits that happened after certain date
  • --before – Show all commits that happened before certain data

For example, I once had a manager who required weekly reports submitted each Friday. So every Friday I would just run: git log --author="Alex Kras" --after="1 week ago" --oneline, edit it a little and send it in to the manager for review.

Git has a lot more command line parameters that are handy. Just run man git-log from your terminal and see what it can do for you.

If everything else fails, git has a --pretty parameter that let’s you create a highly customizable output. i.e git log --pretty="%t - %an - %s" --graph which will output abbreviated commit, author name, and first line of the commit message.

Filed Under: Git Tagged With: git

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