1 ifndef::doctype-manpage[]
4 Jonas Fonseca <fonseca@diku.dk>
5 endif::doctype-manpage[]
7 This is the manual for tig, the ncurses-based text-mode interface for git.
8 Tig allows you to browse changes in a git repository and can additionally act
9 as a pager for output of various git commands. When used as a pager, it will
10 display input from stdin and colorize it.
12 When browsing repositories, tig uses the underlying git commands to present
13 the user with various views, such as summarized commit log and showing the
14 commit with the log message, diffstat, and the diff.
16 ifndef::backend-docbook[]
20 endif::backend-docbook[]
22 [[calling-conventions]]
30 If stdin is a pipe, any log or diff options will be ignored and the pager view
31 will be opened loading data from stdin. The pager mode can be used for
32 colorizing output from various git commands.
34 Example on how to colorize the output of git-show(1):
36 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
38 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
44 All git command options specified on the command line will be passed to the
45 given command and all will be shell quoted before they are passed to the
48 NOTE: If you specify options for the main view, you should not use the
49 `--pretty` option as this option will be set automatically to the format
50 expected by the main view.
52 Example on how to view a commit and show both author and committer
55 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
56 $ tig show --pretty=fuller
57 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
59 See the section on <<refspec, specifying revisions>> for an introduction to
60 revision options supported by the git commands. For details on specific git
61 command options, refer to the man page of the command in question.
67 The display consists of a status window on the last line of the screen and one
68 or more views. The default is to only show one view at the time but it is
69 possible to split both the main and log view to also show the commit diff.
71 If you are in the log view and press 'Enter' when the current line is a commit
74 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
75 commit 4d55caff4cc89335192f3e566004b4ceef572521
76 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
78 You will split the view so that the log view is displayed in the top window
79 and the diff view in the bottom window. You can switch between the two views
80 by pressing 'Tab'. To maximize the log view again, simply press 'l'.
86 Various 'views' of a repository is presented. Each view is based on output
87 from an external command, most often 'git log', 'git diff', or 'git show'.
90 Is the default view, and it shows a one line summary of each commit
91 in the chosen list of revisions. The summary includes commit date,
92 author, and the first line of the log message. Additionally, any
93 repository references, such as tags, will be shown.
96 Presents a more rich view of the revision log showing the whole log
97 message and the diffstat.
100 Shows either the diff of the current working tree, that is, what
101 has changed since the last commit, or the commit diff complete
102 with log message, diffstat and diff.
105 Lists directory trees associated with the current revision allowing
106 subdirectories to be descended or ascended and file blobs to be
110 Displays the file content or "blob" of data associated with a file
114 Displays the file content annotated or blamed by commits.
117 Displays the branches in the repository.
120 Displays status of files in the working tree and allows changes to be
121 staged/unstaged as well as adding of untracked files.
124 Displays diff changes for staged or unstanged files being tracked or
125 file content of untracked files.
128 Is used for displaying both input from stdin and output from git
129 commands entered in the internal prompt.
132 Displays a quick reference of key bindings.
135 Browsing State and User-defined Commands
136 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
138 The viewer keeps track of both what head and commit ID you are currently
139 viewing. The commit ID will follow the cursor line and change every time you
140 highlight a different commit. Whenever you reopen the diff view it will be
141 reloaded, if the commit ID changed. The head ID is used when opening the main
142 and log view to indicate from what revision to show history.
144 Some of the commands used or provided by tig can be configured. This goes for
145 some of the <<env-variables, environment variables>> as well as the
146 <<external-commands, external commands>>. These user-defined commands can use
147 arguments that refer to the current browsing state by using one of the
150 .Browsing state variables
151 [frame="none",grid="none",cols="25<m,75<"]
152 |=============================================================================
153 |%(head) |The currently viewed 'head' ID. Defaults to HEAD
154 |%(commit) |The currently selected commit ID.
155 |%(blob) |The currently selected blob ID.
156 |%(directory) |The current directory path in the tree view;
157 empty for the root directory.
158 |%(file) |The currently selected file.
159 |%(ref) |The reference given to blame or HEAD if undefined.
160 |=============================================================================
166 Each view has a title window which shows the name of the view, current commit
167 ID if available, and where the view is positioned:
169 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
170 [main] c622eefaa485995320bc743431bae0d497b1d875 - commit 1 of 61 (1%)
171 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
173 By default, the title of the current view is highlighted using bold font. For
174 long loading views (taking over 3 seconds) the time since loading started will
177 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
178 [main] 77d9e40fbcea3238015aea403e06f61542df9a31 - commit 1 of 779 (0%) 5s
179 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
182 Environment Variables
183 ---------------------
185 Several options related to the interface with git can be configured via
188 [[configuration-files]]
192 Upon startup, tig first reads the system wide configuration file
193 (`{sysconfdir}/tigrc` by default) and then proceeds to read the user's
194 configuration file (`~/.tigrc` by default). The paths to either of these files
195 can be overridden through the following environment variables:
198 Path of the user configuration file.
201 Path of the system wide configuration file.
204 Repository References
205 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
207 Commits that are referenced by tags and branch heads will be marked by the
208 reference name surrounded by '[' and ']':
210 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
211 2006-03-26 19:42 Petr Baudis | [cogito-0.17.1] Cogito 0.17.1
212 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
214 If you want to filter what branches gets shown, say limit to only show
215 branches named `master` or which starts with the `jf/` prefix, you can
216 do it by setting the following variable:
218 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
219 $ TIG_LS_REMOTE="git ls-remote . master jf/*" tig
220 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
222 Or set the variable permanently in your environment.
228 Set command for retrieving all repository references. The command
229 should output data in the same format as git-ls-remote(1). Defaults
231 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
233 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
241 It is possible to alter which commands are used for the different views. If
242 for example you prefer commits in the main view to be sorted by date and only
243 show 500 commits, use:
245 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
246 $ TIG_MAIN_CMD="git log --date-order -n500 --pretty=raw %(head)" tig
247 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
249 Or set the variable permanently in your environment.
251 Notice, how `%(head)` is used to specify the commit reference.
257 The command used for the diff view. Defaults to:
258 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
259 git show --pretty=fuller --no-color --root
260 --patch-with-stat --find-copies-harder -C %(commit)
261 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
265 The command used for the log view. If you prefer to have both
266 author and committer shown in the log view be sure to pass
267 `--pretty=fuller` to git log. Defaults to:
268 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
269 git log --no-color --cc --stat -n100 %(head)
270 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
274 The command used for the main view. Note, you must always specify
275 the option: `--pretty=raw` since the main view parser expects to
277 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
278 git log --no-color --pretty=raw --parents --topo-order %(head)
279 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
291 The command used for the tree view. Defaults to:
292 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
293 git ls-tree %(commit) %(directory)
294 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
298 The command used for the blob view. Defaults to:
299 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
300 git cat-file blob %(blob)
301 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
308 Below the default key bindings are shown.
314 [frame="none",grid="none",cols="2<,8<",options="header"]
315 |=============================================================================
317 |m |Switch to main view.
318 |d |Switch to diff view.
319 |l |Switch to log view.
320 |p |Switch to pager view.
321 |t |Switch to (directory) tree view.
322 |f |Switch to (file) blob view.
323 |B |Switch to blame view.
324 |H |Switch to branch view.
325 |h |Switch to help view
326 |S |Switch to status view
327 |c |Switch to stage view
328 |=============================================================================
330 [[view-manipulation]]
334 [frame="none",grid="none",cols="2<,8<",options="header"]
335 |=============================================================================
337 |q |Close view, if multiple views are open it will jump back to the
338 previous view in the view stack. If it is the last open view it
339 will quit. Use 'Q' to quit all views at once.
340 |Enter |This key is "context sensitive" depending on what view you are
341 currently in. When in log view on a commit line or in the main
342 view, split the view and show the commit diff. In the diff view
343 pressing Enter will simply scroll the view one line down.
344 |Tab |Switch to next view.
345 |R |Reload and refresh the current view.
346 |M |Maximize the current view to fill the whole display.
347 |Up |This key is "context sensitive" and will move the cursor one
348 line up. However, if you opened a diff view from the main view
349 (split- or full-screen) it will change the cursor to point to
350 the previous commit in the main view and update the diff view
352 |Down |Similar to 'Up' but will move down.
353 |, |Move to parent. In the tree view, this means switch to the parent
354 directory. In the blame view it will load blame for the parent
355 commit. For merges the parent is queried.
356 |=============================================================================
359 View Specific Actions
360 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
362 [frame="none",grid="none",cols="2<,8<",options="header"]
363 |=============================================================================
365 |u |Update status of file. In the status view, this allows you to add an
366 untracked file or stage changes to a file for next commit (similar to
367 running git-add <filename>). In the stage view, when pressing this on
368 a diff chunk line stages only that chunk for next commit, when not on
369 a diff chunk line all changes in the displayed diff is staged.
370 |M |Resolve unmerged file by launching git-mergetool(1). Note, to work
371 correctly this might require some initial configuration of your
372 preferred merge tool. See the manpage of git-mergetool(1).
373 |! |Checkout file with unstaged changes. This will reset the file to
374 contain the content it had at last commit.
375 |@ |Move to next chunk in the stage view.
376 |=============================================================================
382 [frame="none",grid="none",cols="2<,8<",options="header"]
383 |=============================================================================
385 |k |Move cursor one line up.
386 |j |Move cursor one line down.
387 |PgUp,-,a |Move cursor one page up.
388 |PgDown, Space |Move cursor one page down.
389 |End |Jump to last line.
390 |Home |Jump to first line.
391 |=============================================================================
397 [frame="none",grid="none",cols="2<,8<",options="header"]
398 |=============================================================================
400 |Insert |Scroll view one line up.
401 |Delete |Scroll view one line down.
402 |w |Scroll view one page up.
403 |s |Scroll view one page down.
404 |Left |Scroll view one column left.
405 |Right |Scroll view one column right.
406 |=============================================================================
412 [frame="none",grid="none",cols="2<,8<",options="header"]
413 |=============================================================================
415 |/ |Search the view. Opens a prompt for entering search regexp to use.
416 |? |Search backwards in the view. Also prompts for regexp.
417 |n |Find next match for the current search regexp.
418 |N |Find previous match for the current search regexp.
419 |=============================================================================
425 [frame="none",grid="none",cols="2<,8<",options="header"]
426 |=============================================================================
430 |z |Stop all background loading. This can be useful if you use
431 tig in a repository with a long history without limiting
435 |. |Toggle line numbers on/off.
436 |D |Toggle date display on/off/relative.
437 |A |Toggle author display on/off/abbreviated.
438 |g |Toggle revision graph visualization on/off.
439 |F |Toggle reference display on/off (tag and branch names).
440 |: |Open prompt. This allows you to specify what git command
441 to run. Example `:log -p`. You can also use this to jump
442 to a specific line by typing `:<linenumber>`, e.g. `:80`.
443 |e |Open file in editor.
444 |=============================================================================
446 [[external-commands]]
450 For more custom needs, external commands provide a way to easily execute
451 a script or program. They are bound to keys and use information from the
452 current browsing state, such as the current commit ID. Tig comes with
453 the following built-in external commands:
455 [frame="none",grid="none",cols="1<,1<,8<",options="header"]
456 |=============================================================================
458 |main |C |git cherry-pick %(commit)
459 |status |C |git commit
461 |=============================================================================
464 Revision Specification
465 ----------------------
467 This section describes various ways to specify what revisions to display or
468 otherwise limit the view to. Tig does not itself parse the described
469 revision options so refer to the relevant git man pages for further
470 information. Relevant man pages besides git-log(1) are git-diff(1) and
473 You can tune the interaction with git by making use of the options explained
474 in this section. For example, by configuring the environment variables
475 described in the section on <<history-commands, history commands>>.
481 If you are interested only in those revisions that made changes to a specific
482 file (or even several files) list the files like this:
484 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
485 $ tig Makefile README
486 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
488 To avoid ambiguity with tig's subcommands or repository references such as tag
489 name, be sure to separate file names from other git options using "`--`". So if
490 you have a file named 'status' it will clash with the 'status' subcommand, and
491 thus you will have to use:
493 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
495 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
497 [[date-number-limiting]]
498 Limit by Date or Number
499 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
501 To speed up interaction with git, you can limit the amount of commits to show
502 both for the log and main view. Either limit by date using e.g.
503 `--since=1.month` or limit by the number of commits using `-n400`.
505 If you are only interested in changed that happened between two dates you can
508 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
509 $ tig --after="May 5th" --before="2006-05-16 15:44"
510 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
512 NOTE: If you want to avoid having to quote dates containing spaces you can use
513 "." instead, e.g. `--after=May.5th`.
515 [[commit-range-limiting]]
516 Limiting by Commit Ranges
517 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
519 Alternatively, commits can be limited to a specific range, such as "all
520 commits between 'tag-1.0' and 'tag-2.0'". For example:
522 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
523 $ tig tag-1.0..tag-2.0
524 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
526 This way of commit limiting makes it trivial to only browse the commits which
527 haven't been pushed to a remote branch. Assuming 'origin' is your upstream
528 remote branch, using:
530 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
532 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
534 will list what will be pushed to the remote branch. Optionally, the ending
535 'HEAD' can be left out since it is implied.
537 [[reachability-limiting]]
538 Limiting by Reachability
539 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
541 Git interprets the range specifier "tag-1.0..tag-2.0" as "all commits
542 reachable from 'tag-2.0' but not from 'tag-1.0'". Where reachability refers
543 to what commits are ancestors (or part of the history) of the branch or tagged
544 revision in question.
546 If you prefer to specify which commit to preview in this way use the
549 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
550 $ tig tag-2.0 ^tag-1.0
551 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
553 You can think of '^' as a negation operator. Using this alternate syntax, it
554 is possible to further prune commits by specifying multiple branch cut offs.
557 Combining Revisions Specification
558 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
560 Revisions options can to some degree be combined, which makes it possible to
561 say "show at most 20 commits from within the last month that changed files
562 under the Documentation/ directory."
564 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
565 $ tig --since=1.month -n20 -- Documentation/
566 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
569 Examining All Repository References
570 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
572 In some cases, it can be useful to query changes across all references in a
573 repository. An example is to ask "did any line of development in this
574 repository change a particular file within the last week". This can be
577 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
578 $ tig --all --since=1.week -- Makefile
579 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
587 Copyright (c) 2006-2010 Jonas Fonseca <fonseca@diku.dk>
589 This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
590 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
591 the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
592 (at your option) any later version.
595 References and Related Tools
596 ----------------------------