5 Using these options, linkgit:git-rev-list[1] will act similar to the
6 more specialized family of commit log tools: linkgit:git-log[1],
7 linkgit:git-show[1], and linkgit:git-whatchanged[1]
10 include::pretty-options.txt[]
14 Synonym for `--date=relative`.
16 --date=(relative|local|default|iso|rfc|short|raw)::
18 Only takes effect for dates shown in human-readable format, such
19 as when using "--pretty". `log.date` config variable sets a default
20 value for log command's --date option.
22 `--date=relative` shows dates relative to the current time,
25 `--date=local` shows timestamps in user's local timezone.
27 `--date=iso` (or `--date=iso8601`) shows timestamps in ISO 8601 format.
29 `--date=rfc` (or `--date=rfc2822`) shows timestamps in RFC 2822
30 format, often found in E-mail messages.
32 `--date=short` shows only date but not time, in `YYYY-MM-DD` format.
34 `--date=raw` shows the date in the internal raw git format `%s %z` format.
36 `--date=default` shows timestamps in the original timezone
37 (either committer's or author's).
42 Print the contents of the commit in raw-format; each record is
43 separated with a NUL character.
48 Print also the parents of the commit (in the form "commit parent...").
49 Also enables parent rewriting, see 'History Simplification' below.
53 Print also the children of the commit (in the form "commit child...").
54 Also enables parent rewriting, see 'History Simplification' below.
58 Print the raw commit timestamp.
63 Mark which side of a symmetric diff a commit is reachable from.
64 Commits from the left side are prefixed with `<` and those from
65 the right with `>`. If combined with `--boundary`, those
66 commits are prefixed with `-`.
68 For example, if you have this topology:
70 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
75 o---x---a---a branch A
76 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
78 you would get an output like this:
80 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
81 $ git rev-list --left-right --boundary --pretty=oneline A...B
89 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
93 Draw a text-based graphical representation of the commit history
94 on the left hand side of the output. This may cause extra lines
95 to be printed in between commits, in order for the graph history
98 This enables parent rewriting, see 'History Simplification' below.
100 This implies the '--topo-order' option by default, but the
101 '--date-order' option may also be specified.
103 ifdef::git-rev-list[]
105 Print a number stating how many commits would have been
106 listed, and suppress all other output. When used together
107 with '--left-right', instead print the counts for left and
108 right commits, separated by a tab.
109 endif::git-rev-list[]
112 ifndef::git-rev-list[]
116 Below are listed options that control the formatting of diff output.
117 Some of them are specific to linkgit:git-rev-list[1], however other diff
118 options may be given. See linkgit:git-diff-files[1] for more options.
122 With this option, diff output for a merge commit
123 shows the differences from each of the parents to the merge result
124 simultaneously instead of showing pairwise diff between a parent
125 and the result one at a time. Furthermore, it lists only files
126 which were modified from all parents.
130 This flag implies the '-c' options and further compresses the
131 patch output by omitting uninteresting hunks whose contents in
132 the parents have only two variants and the merge result picks
133 one of them without modification.
137 This flag makes the merge commits show the full diff like
138 regular commits; for each merge parent, a separate log entry
139 and diff is generated. An exception is that only diff against
140 the first parent is shown when '--first-parent' option is given;
141 in that case, the output represents the changes the merge
142 brought _into_ the then-current branch.
146 Show recursive diffs.
150 Show the tree objects in the diff output. This implies '-r'.
153 Suppress diff output.
154 endif::git-rev-list[]
159 Besides specifying a range of commits that should be listed using the
160 special notations explained in the description, additional commit
161 limiting may be applied. Note that they are applied before commit
162 ordering and formatting options, such as '--reverse'.
167 --max-count=<number>::
169 Limit the number of commits to output.
173 Skip 'number' commits before starting to show the commit output.
178 Show commits more recent than a specific date.
183 Show commits older than a specific date.
185 ifdef::git-rev-list[]
186 --max-age=<timestamp>::
187 --min-age=<timestamp>::
189 Limit the commits output to specified time range.
190 endif::git-rev-list[]
193 --committer=<pattern>::
195 Limit the commits output to ones with author/committer
196 header lines that match the specified pattern (regular expression).
200 Limit the commits output to ones with log message that
201 matches the specified pattern (regular expression).
204 Limit the commits output to ones that match all given --grep,
205 --author and --committer instead of ones that match at least one.
208 --regexp-ignore-case::
210 Match the regexp limiting patterns without regard to letters case.
215 Consider the limiting patterns to be extended regular expressions
216 instead of the default basic regular expressions.
221 Consider the limiting patterns to be fixed strings (don't interpret
222 pattern as a regular expression).
226 Stop when a given path disappears from the tree.
230 Print only merge commits.
234 Do not print commits with more than one parent.
237 Follow only the first parent commit upon seeing a merge
238 commit. This option can give a better overview when
239 viewing the evolution of a particular topic branch,
240 because merges into a topic branch tend to be only about
241 adjusting to updated upstream from time to time, and
242 this option allows you to ignore the individual commits
243 brought in to your history by such a merge.
247 Reverses the meaning of the '{caret}' prefix (or lack thereof)
248 for all following revision specifiers, up to the next '--not'.
252 Pretend as if all the refs in `refs/` are listed on the
253 command line as '<commit>'.
255 --branches[=<pattern>]::
257 Pretend as if all the refs in `refs/heads` are listed
258 on the command line as '<commit>'. If '<pattern>' is given, limit
259 branches to ones matching given shell glob. If pattern lacks '?',
260 '*', or '[', '/*' at the end is implied.
264 Pretend as if all the refs in `refs/tags` are listed
265 on the command line as '<commit>'. If '<pattern>' is given, limit
266 tags to ones matching given shell glob. If pattern lacks '?', '*',
267 or '[', '/*' at the end is implied.
269 --remotes[=<pattern>]::
271 Pretend as if all the refs in `refs/remotes` are listed
272 on the command line as '<commit>'. If '<pattern>' is given, limit
273 remote-tracking branches to ones matching given shell glob.
274 If pattern lacks '?', '*', or '[', '/*' at the end is implied.
276 --glob=<glob-pattern>::
277 Pretend as if all the refs matching shell glob '<glob-pattern>'
278 are listed on the command line as '<commit>'. Leading 'refs/',
279 is automatically prepended if missing. If pattern lacks '?', '*',
280 or '[', '/*' at the end is implied.
283 ifndef::git-rev-list[]
286 Pretend as if the bad bisection ref `refs/bisect/bad`
287 was listed and as if it was followed by `--not` and the good
288 bisection refs `refs/bisect/good-*` on the command
290 endif::git-rev-list[]
294 In addition to the '<commit>' listed on the command
295 line, read them from the standard input. If a '--' separator is
296 seen, stop reading commits and start reading paths to limit the
299 ifdef::git-rev-list[]
302 Don't print anything to standard output. This form
303 is primarily meant to allow the caller to
304 test the exit status to see if a range of objects is fully
305 connected (or not). It is faster than redirecting stdout
306 to /dev/null as the output does not have to be formatted.
307 endif::git-rev-list[]
311 Omit any commit that introduces the same change as
312 another commit on the "other side" when the set of
313 commits are limited with symmetric difference.
315 For example, if you have two branches, `A` and `B`, a usual way
316 to list all commits on only one side of them is with
317 `--left-right`, like the example above in the description of
318 that option. It however shows the commits that were cherry-picked
319 from the other branch (for example, "3rd on b" may be cherry-picked
320 from branch A). With this option, such pairs of commits are
321 excluded from the output.
326 Instead of walking the commit ancestry chain, walk
327 reflog entries from the most recent one to older ones.
328 When this option is used you cannot specify commits to
329 exclude (that is, '{caret}commit', 'commit1..commit2',
330 nor 'commit1\...commit2' notations cannot be used).
332 With '\--pretty' format other than oneline (for obvious reasons),
333 this causes the output to have two extra lines of information
334 taken from the reflog. By default, 'commit@\{Nth}' notation is
335 used in the output. When the starting commit is specified as
336 'commit@\{now}', output also uses 'commit@\{timestamp}' notation
337 instead. Under '\--pretty=oneline', the commit message is
338 prefixed with this information on the same line.
339 This option cannot be combined with '\--reverse'.
340 See also linkgit:git-reflog[1].
344 After a failed merge, show refs that touch files having a
345 conflict and don't exist on all heads to merge.
349 Output uninteresting commits at the boundary, which are usually
354 History Simplification
355 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
357 Sometimes you are only interested in parts of the history, for example the
358 commits modifying a particular <path>. But there are two parts of
359 'History Simplification', one part is selecting the commits and the other
360 is how to do it, as there are various strategies to simplify the history.
362 The following options select the commits to be shown:
366 Commits modifying the given <paths> are selected.
368 --simplify-by-decoration::
370 Commits that are referred by some branch or tag are selected.
372 Note that extra commits can be shown to give a meaningful history.
374 The following options affect the way the simplification is performed:
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)
385 As the default mode but does not prune some history.
389 Only the selected commits are shown, plus some to have a
394 All commits in the simplified history are shown.
398 Additional option to '--full-history' to remove some needless
399 merges from the resulting history, as there are no selected
400 commits contributing to this merge.
404 When given a range of commits to display (e.g. 'commit1..commit2'
405 or 'commit2 {caret}commit1'), only display commits that exist
406 directly on the ancestry chain between the 'commit1' and
407 'commit2', i.e. commits that are both descendants of 'commit1',
408 and ancestors of 'commit2'.
410 A more detailed explanation follows.
412 Suppose you specified `foo` as the <paths>. We shall call commits
413 that modify `foo` !TREESAME, and the rest TREESAME. (In a diff
414 filtered for `foo`, they look different and equal, respectively.)
416 In the following, we will always refer to the same example history to
417 illustrate the differences between simplification settings. We assume
418 that you are filtering for a file `foo` in this commit graph:
419 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
425 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
426 The horizontal line of history A--P is taken to be the first parent of
427 each merge. The commits are:
429 * `I` is the initial commit, in which `foo` exists with contents
430 "asdf", and a file `quux` exists with contents "quux". Initial
431 commits are compared to an empty tree, so `I` is !TREESAME.
433 * In `A`, `foo` contains just "foo".
435 * `B` contains the same change as `A`. Its merge `M` is trivial and
436 hence TREESAME to all parents.
438 * `C` does not change `foo`, but its merge `N` changes it to "foobar",
439 so it is not TREESAME to any parent.
441 * `D` sets `foo` to "baz". Its merge `O` combines the strings from
442 `N` and `D` to "foobarbaz"; i.e., it is not TREESAME to any parent.
444 * `E` changes `quux` to "xyzzy", and its merge `P` combines the
445 strings to "quux xyzzy". Despite appearing interesting, `P` is
446 TREESAME to all parents.
448 'rev-list' walks backwards through history, including or excluding
449 commits based on whether '\--full-history' and/or parent rewriting
450 (via '\--parents' or '\--children') are used. The following settings
455 Commits are included if they are not TREESAME to any parent
456 (though this can be changed, see '\--sparse' below). If the
457 commit was a merge, and it was TREESAME to one parent, follow
458 only that parent. (Even if there are several TREESAME
459 parents, follow only one of them.) Otherwise, follow all
464 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
468 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
470 Note how the rule to only follow the TREESAME parent, if one is
471 available, removed `B` from consideration entirely. `C` was
472 considered via `N`, but is TREESAME. Root commits are compared to an
473 empty tree, so `I` is !TREESAME.
475 Parent/child relations are only visible with --parents, but that does
476 not affect the commits selected in default mode, so we have shown the
479 --full-history without parent rewriting::
481 This mode differs from the default in one point: always follow
482 all parents of a merge, even if it is TREESAME to one of them.
483 Even if more than one side of the merge has commits that are
484 included, this does not imply that the merge itself is! In
487 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
489 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
491 `P` and `M` were excluded because they are TREESAME to a parent. `E`,
492 `C` and `B` were all walked, but only `B` was !TREESAME, so the others
495 Note that without parent rewriting, it is not really possible to talk
496 about the parent/child relationships between the commits, so we show
499 --full-history with parent rewriting::
501 Ordinary commits are only included if they are !TREESAME
502 (though this can be changed, see '\--sparse' below).
504 Merges are always included. However, their parent list is rewritten:
505 Along each parent, prune away commits that are not included
506 themselves. This results in
508 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
514 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
516 Compare to '\--full-history' without rewriting above. Note that `E`
517 was pruned away because it is TREESAME, but the parent list of P was
518 rewritten to contain `E`'s parent `I`. The same happened for `C` and
519 `N`. Note also that `P` was included despite being TREESAME.
521 In addition to the above settings, you can change whether TREESAME
526 Commits that are walked are included if they are not TREESAME
531 All commits that are walked are included.
533 Note that without '\--full-history', this still simplifies merges: if
534 one of the parents is TREESAME, we follow only that one, so the other
535 sides of the merge are never walked.
539 First, build a history graph in the same way that
540 '\--full-history' with parent rewriting does (see above).
542 Then simplify each commit `C` to its replacement `C'` in the final
543 history according to the following rules:
548 * Replace each parent `P` of `C'` with its simplification `P'`. In
549 the process, drop parents that are ancestors of other parents, and
552 * If after this parent rewriting, `C'` is a root or merge commit (has
553 zero or >1 parents), a boundary commit, or !TREESAME, it remains.
554 Otherwise, it is replaced with its only parent.
557 The effect of this is best shown by way of comparing to
558 '\--full-history' with parent rewriting. The example turns into:
560 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
566 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
568 Note the major differences in `N` and `P` over '\--full-history':
571 * `N`'s parent list had `I` removed, because it is an ancestor of the
572 other parent `M`. Still, `N` remained because it is !TREESAME.
574 * `P`'s parent list similarly had `I` removed. `P` was then
575 removed completely, because it had one parent and is TREESAME.
578 Finally, there is a fifth simplification mode available:
582 Limit the displayed commits to those directly on the ancestry
583 chain between the "from" and "to" commits in the given commit
584 range. I.e. only display commits that are ancestor of the "to"
585 commit, and descendants of the "from" commit.
587 As an example use case, consider the following commit history:
589 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
592 B---C---G---H---I---J
594 A-------K---------------L--M
595 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
597 A regular 'D..M' computes the set of commits that are ancestors of `M`,
598 but excludes the ones that are ancestors of `D`. This is useful to see
599 what happened to the history leading to `M` since `D`, in the sense
600 that "what does `M` have that did not exist in `D`". The result in this
601 example would be all the commits, except `A` and `B` (and `D` itself,
604 When we want to find out what commits in `M` are contaminated with the
605 bug introduced by `D` and need fixing, however, we might want to view
606 only the subset of 'D..M' that are actually descendants of `D`, i.e.
607 excluding `C` and `K`. This is exactly what the '\--ancestry-path'
608 option does. Applied to the 'D..M' range, it results in:
610 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
616 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
618 The '\--simplify-by-decoration' option allows you to view only the
619 big picture of the topology of the history, by omitting commits
620 that are not referenced by tags. Commits are marked as !TREESAME
621 (in other words, kept after history simplification rules described
622 above) if (1) they are referenced by tags, or (2) they change the
623 contents of the paths given on the command line. All other
624 commits are marked as TREESAME (subject to be simplified away).
626 ifdef::git-rev-list[]
632 Limit output to the one commit object which is roughly halfway between
633 included and excluded commits. Note that the bad bisection ref
634 `refs/bisect/bad` is added to the included commits (if it
635 exists) and the good bisection refs `refs/bisect/good-*` are
636 added to the excluded commits (if they exist). Thus, supposing there
637 are no refs in `refs/bisect/`, if
639 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
640 $ git rev-list --bisect foo ^bar ^baz
641 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
643 outputs 'midpoint', the output of the two commands
645 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
646 $ git rev-list foo ^midpoint
647 $ git rev-list midpoint ^bar ^baz
648 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
650 would be of roughly the same length. Finding the change which
651 introduces a regression is thus reduced to a binary search: repeatedly
652 generate and test new 'midpoint's until the commit chain is of length
657 This calculates the same as `--bisect`, except that refs in
658 `refs/bisect/` are not used, and except that this outputs
659 text ready to be eval'ed by the shell. These lines will assign the
660 name of the midpoint revision to the variable `bisect_rev`, and the
661 expected number of commits to be tested after `bisect_rev` is tested
662 to `bisect_nr`, the expected number of commits to be tested if
663 `bisect_rev` turns out to be good to `bisect_good`, the expected
664 number of commits to be tested if `bisect_rev` turns out to be bad to
665 `bisect_bad`, and the number of commits we are bisecting right now to
670 This outputs all the commit objects between the included and excluded
671 commits, ordered by their distance to the included and excluded
672 commits. Refs in `refs/bisect/` are not used. The farthest
673 from them is displayed first. (This is the only one displayed by
676 This is useful because it makes it easy to choose a good commit to
677 test when you want to avoid to test some of them for some reason (they
678 may not compile for example).
680 This option can be used along with `--bisect-vars`, in this case,
681 after all the sorted commit objects, there will be the same text as if
682 `--bisect-vars` had been used alone.
683 endif::git-rev-list[]
689 By default, the commits are shown in reverse chronological order.
693 This option makes them appear in topological order (i.e.
694 descendant commits are shown before their parents).
698 This option is similar to '--topo-order' in the sense that no
699 parent comes before all of its children, but otherwise things
700 are still ordered in the commit timestamp order.
704 Output the commits in reverse order.
705 Cannot be combined with '\--walk-reflogs'.
710 These options are mostly targeted for packing of git repositories.
714 Print the object IDs of any object referenced by the listed
715 commits. '--objects foo ^bar' thus means "send me
716 all object IDs which I need to download if I have the commit
717 object 'bar', but not 'foo'".
721 Similar to '--objects', but also print the IDs of excluded
722 commits prefixed with a "-" character. This is used by
723 linkgit:git-pack-objects[1] to build "thin" pack, which records
724 objects in deltified form based on objects contained in these
725 excluded commits to reduce network traffic.
729 Only useful with '--objects'; print the object IDs that are not
734 Only show the given revs, but do not traverse their ancestors.
738 Overrides a previous --no-walk.