Documentation / rev-list-options.txton commit Merge branch 'jk/alt-odb-cleanup' (0538b84)
   1Commit Limiting
   2~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
   3
   4Besides specifying a range of commits that should be listed using the
   5special notations explained in the description, additional commit
   6limiting may be applied.
   7
   8Using more options generally further limits the output (e.g.
   9`--since=<date1>` limits to commits newer than `<date1>`, and using it
  10with `--grep=<pattern>` further limits to commits whose log message
  11has a line that matches `<pattern>`), unless otherwise noted.
  12
  13Note that these are applied before commit
  14ordering and formatting options, such as `--reverse`.
  15
  16--
  17
  18-<number>::
  19-n <number>::
  20--max-count=<number>::
  21        Limit the number of commits to output.
  22
  23--skip=<number>::
  24        Skip 'number' commits before starting to show the commit output.
  25
  26--since=<date>::
  27--after=<date>::
  28        Show commits more recent than a specific date.
  29
  30--until=<date>::
  31--before=<date>::
  32        Show commits older than a specific date.
  33
  34ifdef::git-rev-list[]
  35--max-age=<timestamp>::
  36--min-age=<timestamp>::
  37        Limit the commits output to specified time range.
  38endif::git-rev-list[]
  39
  40--author=<pattern>::
  41--committer=<pattern>::
  42        Limit the commits output to ones with author/committer
  43        header lines that match the specified pattern (regular
  44        expression).  With more than one `--author=<pattern>`,
  45        commits whose author matches any of the given patterns are
  46        chosen (similarly for multiple `--committer=<pattern>`).
  47
  48--grep-reflog=<pattern>::
  49        Limit the commits output to ones with reflog entries that
  50        match the specified pattern (regular expression). With
  51        more than one `--grep-reflog`, commits whose reflog message
  52        matches any of the given patterns are chosen.  It is an
  53        error to use this option unless `--walk-reflogs` is in use.
  54
  55--grep=<pattern>::
  56        Limit the commits output to ones with log message that
  57        matches the specified pattern (regular expression).  With
  58        more than one `--grep=<pattern>`, commits whose message
  59        matches any of the given patterns are chosen (but see
  60        `--all-match`).
  61ifndef::git-rev-list[]
  62+
  63When `--show-notes` is in effect, the message from the notes is
  64matched as if it were part of the log message.
  65endif::git-rev-list[]
  66
  67--all-match::
  68        Limit the commits output to ones that match all given `--grep`,
  69        instead of ones that match at least one.
  70
  71--invert-grep::
  72        Limit the commits output to ones with log message that do not
  73        match the pattern specified with `--grep=<pattern>`.
  74
  75-i::
  76--regexp-ignore-case::
  77        Match the regular expression limiting patterns without regard to letter
  78        case.
  79
  80--basic-regexp::
  81        Consider the limiting patterns to be basic regular expressions;
  82        this is the default.
  83
  84-E::
  85--extended-regexp::
  86        Consider the limiting patterns to be extended regular expressions
  87        instead of the default basic regular expressions.
  88
  89-F::
  90--fixed-strings::
  91        Consider the limiting patterns to be fixed strings (don't interpret
  92        pattern as a regular expression).
  93
  94--perl-regexp::
  95        Consider the limiting patterns to be Perl-compatible regular expressions.
  96        Requires libpcre to be compiled in.
  97
  98--remove-empty::
  99        Stop when a given path disappears from the tree.
 100
 101--merges::
 102        Print only merge commits. This is exactly the same as `--min-parents=2`.
 103
 104--no-merges::
 105        Do not print commits with more than one parent. This is
 106        exactly the same as `--max-parents=1`.
 107
 108--min-parents=<number>::
 109--max-parents=<number>::
 110--no-min-parents::
 111--no-max-parents::
 112        Show only commits which have at least (or at most) that many parent
 113        commits. In particular, `--max-parents=1` is the same as `--no-merges`,
 114        `--min-parents=2` is the same as `--merges`.  `--max-parents=0`
 115        gives all root commits and `--min-parents=3` all octopus merges.
 116+
 117`--no-min-parents` and `--no-max-parents` reset these limits (to no limit)
 118again.  Equivalent forms are `--min-parents=0` (any commit has 0 or more
 119parents) and `--max-parents=-1` (negative numbers denote no upper limit).
 120
 121--first-parent::
 122        Follow only the first parent commit upon seeing a merge
 123        commit.  This option can give a better overview when
 124        viewing the evolution of a particular topic branch,
 125        because merges into a topic branch tend to be only about
 126        adjusting to updated upstream from time to time, and
 127        this option allows you to ignore the individual commits
 128        brought in to your history by such a merge. Cannot be
 129        combined with --bisect.
 130
 131--not::
 132        Reverses the meaning of the '{caret}' prefix (or lack thereof)
 133        for all following revision specifiers, up to the next `--not`.
 134
 135--all::
 136        Pretend as if all the refs in `refs/` are listed on the
 137        command line as '<commit>'.
 138
 139--branches[=<pattern>]::
 140        Pretend as if all the refs in `refs/heads` are listed
 141        on the command line as '<commit>'. If '<pattern>' is given, limit
 142        branches to ones matching given shell glob. If pattern lacks '?',
 143        '{asterisk}', or '[', '/{asterisk}' at the end is implied.
 144
 145--tags[=<pattern>]::
 146        Pretend as if all the refs in `refs/tags` are listed
 147        on the command line as '<commit>'. If '<pattern>' is given, limit
 148        tags to ones matching given shell glob. If pattern lacks '?', '{asterisk}',
 149        or '[', '/{asterisk}' at the end is implied.
 150
 151--remotes[=<pattern>]::
 152        Pretend as if all the refs in `refs/remotes` are listed
 153        on the command line as '<commit>'. If '<pattern>' is given, limit
 154        remote-tracking branches to ones matching given shell glob.
 155        If pattern lacks '?', '{asterisk}', or '[', '/{asterisk}' at the end is implied.
 156
 157--glob=<glob-pattern>::
 158        Pretend as if all the refs matching shell glob '<glob-pattern>'
 159        are listed on the command line as '<commit>'. Leading 'refs/',
 160        is automatically prepended if missing. If pattern lacks '?', '{asterisk}',
 161        or '[', '/{asterisk}' at the end is implied.
 162
 163--exclude=<glob-pattern>::
 164
 165        Do not include refs matching '<glob-pattern>' that the next `--all`,
 166        `--branches`, `--tags`, `--remotes`, or `--glob` would otherwise
 167        consider. Repetitions of this option accumulate exclusion patterns
 168        up to the next `--all`, `--branches`, `--tags`, `--remotes`, or
 169        `--glob` option (other options or arguments do not clear
 170        accumulated patterns).
 171+
 172The patterns given should not begin with `refs/heads`, `refs/tags`, or
 173`refs/remotes` when applied to `--branches`, `--tags`, or `--remotes`,
 174respectively, and they must begin with `refs/` when applied to `--glob`
 175or `--all`. If a trailing '/{asterisk}' is intended, it must be given
 176explicitly.
 177
 178--reflog::
 179        Pretend as if all objects mentioned by reflogs are listed on the
 180        command line as `<commit>`.
 181
 182--ignore-missing::
 183        Upon seeing an invalid object name in the input, pretend as if
 184        the bad input was not given.
 185
 186ifndef::git-rev-list[]
 187--bisect::
 188        Pretend as if the bad bisection ref `refs/bisect/bad`
 189        was listed and as if it was followed by `--not` and the good
 190        bisection refs `refs/bisect/good-*` on the command
 191        line. Cannot be combined with --first-parent.
 192endif::git-rev-list[]
 193
 194--stdin::
 195        In addition to the '<commit>' listed on the command
 196        line, read them from the standard input. If a `--` separator is
 197        seen, stop reading commits and start reading paths to limit the
 198        result.
 199
 200ifdef::git-rev-list[]
 201--quiet::
 202        Don't print anything to standard output.  This form
 203        is primarily meant to allow the caller to
 204        test the exit status to see if a range of objects is fully
 205        connected (or not).  It is faster than redirecting stdout
 206        to `/dev/null` as the output does not have to be formatted.
 207endif::git-rev-list[]
 208
 209--cherry-mark::
 210        Like `--cherry-pick` (see below) but mark equivalent commits
 211        with `=` rather than omitting them, and inequivalent ones with `+`.
 212
 213--cherry-pick::
 214        Omit any commit that introduces the same change as
 215        another commit on the ``other side'' when the set of
 216        commits are limited with symmetric difference.
 217+
 218For example, if you have two branches, `A` and `B`, a usual way
 219to list all commits on only one side of them is with
 220`--left-right` (see the example below in the description of
 221the `--left-right` option). However, it shows the commits that were
 222cherry-picked from the other branch (for example, ``3rd on b'' may be
 223cherry-picked from branch A). With this option, such pairs of commits are
 224excluded from the output.
 225
 226--left-only::
 227--right-only::
 228        List only commits on the respective side of a symmetric difference,
 229        i.e. only those which would be marked `<` resp. `>` by
 230        `--left-right`.
 231+
 232For example, `--cherry-pick --right-only A...B` omits those
 233commits from `B` which are in `A` or are patch-equivalent to a commit in
 234`A`. In other words, this lists the `+` commits from `git cherry A B`.
 235More precisely, `--cherry-pick --right-only --no-merges` gives the exact
 236list.
 237
 238--cherry::
 239        A synonym for `--right-only --cherry-mark --no-merges`; useful to
 240        limit the output to the commits on our side and mark those that
 241        have been applied to the other side of a forked history with
 242        `git log --cherry upstream...mybranch`, similar to
 243        `git cherry upstream mybranch`.
 244
 245-g::
 246--walk-reflogs::
 247        Instead of walking the commit ancestry chain, walk
 248        reflog entries from the most recent one to older ones.
 249        When this option is used you cannot specify commits to
 250        exclude (that is, '{caret}commit', 'commit1..commit2',
 251        and 'commit1\...commit2' notations cannot be used).
 252+
 253With `--pretty` format other than `oneline` (for obvious reasons),
 254this causes the output to have two extra lines of information
 255taken from the reflog.  The reflog designator in the output may be shown
 256as `ref@{Nth}` (where `Nth` is the reverse-chronological index in the
 257reflog) or as `ref@{timestamp}` (with the timestamp for that entry),
 258depending on a few rules:
 259+
 260--
 2611. If the starting point is specified as `ref@{Nth}`, show the index
 262format.
 263+
 2642. If the starting point was specified as `ref@{now}`, show the
 265timestamp format.
 266+
 2673. If neither was used, but `--date` was given on the command line, show
 268the timestamp in the format requested by `--date`.
 269+
 2704. Otherwise, show the index format.
 271--
 272+
 273Under `--pretty=oneline`, the commit message is
 274prefixed with this information on the same line.
 275This option cannot be combined with `--reverse`.
 276See also linkgit:git-reflog[1].
 277
 278--merge::
 279        After a failed merge, show refs that touch files having a
 280        conflict and don't exist on all heads to merge.
 281
 282--boundary::
 283        Output excluded boundary commits. Boundary commits are
 284        prefixed with `-`.
 285
 286ifdef::git-rev-list[]
 287--use-bitmap-index::
 288
 289        Try to speed up the traversal using the pack bitmap index (if
 290        one is available). Note that when traversing with `--objects`,
 291        trees and blobs will not have their associated path printed.
 292
 293--progress=<header>::
 294        Show progress reports on stderr as objects are considered. The
 295        `<header>` text will be printed with each progress update.
 296endif::git-rev-list[]
 297
 298--
 299
 300History Simplification
 301~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 302
 303Sometimes you are only interested in parts of the history, for example the
 304commits modifying a particular <path>. But there are two parts of
 305'History Simplification', one part is selecting the commits and the other
 306is how to do it, as there are various strategies to simplify the history.
 307
 308The following options select the commits to be shown:
 309
 310<paths>::
 311        Commits modifying the given <paths> are selected.
 312
 313--simplify-by-decoration::
 314        Commits that are referred by some branch or tag are selected.
 315
 316Note that extra commits can be shown to give a meaningful history.
 317
 318The following options affect the way the simplification is performed:
 319
 320Default mode::
 321        Simplifies the history to the simplest history explaining the
 322        final state of the tree. Simplest because it prunes some side
 323        branches if the end result is the same (i.e. merging branches
 324        with the same content)
 325
 326--full-history::
 327        Same as the default mode, but does not prune some history.
 328
 329--dense::
 330        Only the selected commits are shown, plus some to have a
 331        meaningful history.
 332
 333--sparse::
 334        All commits in the simplified history are shown.
 335
 336--simplify-merges::
 337        Additional option to `--full-history` to remove some needless
 338        merges from the resulting history, as there are no selected
 339        commits contributing to this merge.
 340
 341--ancestry-path::
 342        When given a range of commits to display (e.g. 'commit1..commit2'
 343        or 'commit2 {caret}commit1'), only display commits that exist
 344        directly on the ancestry chain between the 'commit1' and
 345        'commit2', i.e. commits that are both descendants of 'commit1',
 346        and ancestors of 'commit2'.
 347
 348A more detailed explanation follows.
 349
 350Suppose you specified `foo` as the <paths>.  We shall call commits
 351that modify `foo` !TREESAME, and the rest TREESAME.  (In a diff
 352filtered for `foo`, they look different and equal, respectively.)
 353
 354In the following, we will always refer to the same example history to
 355illustrate the differences between simplification settings.  We assume
 356that you are filtering for a file `foo` in this commit graph:
 357-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 358          .-A---M---N---O---P---Q
 359         /     /   /   /   /   /
 360        I     B   C   D   E   Y
 361         \   /   /   /   /   /
 362          `-------------'   X
 363-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 364The horizontal line of history A---Q is taken to be the first parent of
 365each merge.  The commits are:
 366
 367* `I` is the initial commit, in which `foo` exists with contents
 368  ``asdf'', and a file `quux` exists with contents ``quux''. Initial
 369  commits are compared to an empty tree, so `I` is !TREESAME.
 370
 371* In `A`, `foo` contains just ``foo''.
 372
 373* `B` contains the same change as `A`.  Its merge `M` is trivial and
 374  hence TREESAME to all parents.
 375
 376* `C` does not change `foo`, but its merge `N` changes it to ``foobar'',
 377  so it is not TREESAME to any parent.
 378
 379* `D` sets `foo` to ``baz''. Its merge `O` combines the strings from
 380  `N` and `D` to ``foobarbaz''; i.e., it is not TREESAME to any parent.
 381
 382* `E` changes `quux` to ``xyzzy'', and its merge `P` combines the
 383  strings to ``quux xyzzy''. `P` is TREESAME to `O`, but not to `E`.
 384
 385* `X` is an independent root commit that added a new file `side`, and `Y`
 386  modified it. `Y` is TREESAME to `X`. Its merge `Q` added `side` to `P`, and
 387  `Q` is TREESAME to `P`, but not to `Y`.
 388
 389`rev-list` walks backwards through history, including or excluding
 390commits based on whether `--full-history` and/or parent rewriting
 391(via `--parents` or `--children`) are used. The following settings
 392are available.
 393
 394Default mode::
 395        Commits are included if they are not TREESAME to any parent
 396        (though this can be changed, see `--sparse` below).  If the
 397        commit was a merge, and it was TREESAME to one parent, follow
 398        only that parent.  (Even if there are several TREESAME
 399        parents, follow only one of them.)  Otherwise, follow all
 400        parents.
 401+
 402This results in:
 403+
 404-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 405          .-A---N---O
 406         /     /   /
 407        I---------D
 408-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 409+
 410Note how the rule to only follow the TREESAME parent, if one is
 411available, removed `B` from consideration entirely.  `C` was
 412considered via `N`, but is TREESAME.  Root commits are compared to an
 413empty tree, so `I` is !TREESAME.
 414+
 415Parent/child relations are only visible with `--parents`, but that does
 416not affect the commits selected in default mode, so we have shown the
 417parent lines.
 418
 419--full-history without parent rewriting::
 420        This mode differs from the default in one point: always follow
 421        all parents of a merge, even if it is TREESAME to one of them.
 422        Even if more than one side of the merge has commits that are
 423        included, this does not imply that the merge itself is!  In
 424        the example, we get
 425+
 426-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 427        I  A  B  N  D  O  P  Q
 428-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 429+
 430`M` was excluded because it is TREESAME to both parents.  `E`,
 431`C` and `B` were all walked, but only `B` was !TREESAME, so the others
 432do not appear.
 433+
 434Note that without parent rewriting, it is not really possible to talk
 435about the parent/child relationships between the commits, so we show
 436them disconnected.
 437
 438--full-history with parent rewriting::
 439        Ordinary commits are only included if they are !TREESAME
 440        (though this can be changed, see `--sparse` below).
 441+
 442Merges are always included.  However, their parent list is rewritten:
 443Along each parent, prune away commits that are not included
 444themselves.  This results in
 445+
 446-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 447          .-A---M---N---O---P---Q
 448         /     /   /   /   /
 449        I     B   /   D   /
 450         \   /   /   /   /
 451          `-------------'
 452-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 453+
 454Compare to `--full-history` without rewriting above.  Note that `E`
 455was pruned away because it is TREESAME, but the parent list of P was
 456rewritten to contain `E`'s parent `I`.  The same happened for `C` and
 457`N`, and `X`, `Y` and `Q`.
 458
 459In addition to the above settings, you can change whether TREESAME
 460affects inclusion:
 461
 462--dense::
 463        Commits that are walked are included if they are not TREESAME
 464        to any parent.
 465
 466--sparse::
 467        All commits that are walked are included.
 468+
 469Note that without `--full-history`, this still simplifies merges: if
 470one of the parents is TREESAME, we follow only that one, so the other
 471sides of the merge are never walked.
 472
 473--simplify-merges::
 474        First, build a history graph in the same way that
 475        `--full-history` with parent rewriting does (see above).
 476+
 477Then simplify each commit `C` to its replacement `C'` in the final
 478history according to the following rules:
 479+
 480--
 481* Set `C'` to `C`.
 482+
 483* Replace each parent `P` of `C'` with its simplification `P'`.  In
 484  the process, drop parents that are ancestors of other parents or that are
 485  root commits TREESAME to an empty tree, and remove duplicates, but take care
 486  to never drop all parents that we are TREESAME to.
 487+
 488* If after this parent rewriting, `C'` is a root or merge commit (has
 489  zero or >1 parents), a boundary commit, or !TREESAME, it remains.
 490  Otherwise, it is replaced with its only parent.
 491--
 492+
 493The effect of this is best shown by way of comparing to
 494`--full-history` with parent rewriting.  The example turns into:
 495+
 496-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 497          .-A---M---N---O
 498         /     /       /
 499        I     B       D
 500         \   /       /
 501          `---------'
 502-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 503+
 504Note the major differences in `N`, `P`, and `Q` over `--full-history`:
 505+
 506--
 507* `N`'s parent list had `I` removed, because it is an ancestor of the
 508  other parent `M`.  Still, `N` remained because it is !TREESAME.
 509+
 510* `P`'s parent list similarly had `I` removed.  `P` was then
 511  removed completely, because it had one parent and is TREESAME.
 512+
 513* `Q`'s parent list had `Y` simplified to `X`. `X` was then removed, because it
 514  was a TREESAME root. `Q` was then removed completely, because it had one
 515  parent and is TREESAME.
 516--
 517
 518Finally, there is a fifth simplification mode available:
 519
 520--ancestry-path::
 521        Limit the displayed commits to those directly on the ancestry
 522        chain between the ``from'' and ``to'' commits in the given commit
 523        range. I.e. only display commits that are ancestor of the ``to''
 524        commit and descendants of the ``from'' commit.
 525+
 526As an example use case, consider the following commit history:
 527+
 528-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 529            D---E-------F
 530           /     \       \
 531          B---C---G---H---I---J
 532         /                     \
 533        A-------K---------------L--M
 534-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 535+
 536A regular 'D..M' computes the set of commits that are ancestors of `M`,
 537but excludes the ones that are ancestors of `D`. This is useful to see
 538what happened to the history leading to `M` since `D`, in the sense
 539that ``what does `M` have that did not exist in `D`''. The result in this
 540example would be all the commits, except `A` and `B` (and `D` itself,
 541of course).
 542+
 543When we want to find out what commits in `M` are contaminated with the
 544bug introduced by `D` and need fixing, however, we might want to view
 545only the subset of 'D..M' that are actually descendants of `D`, i.e.
 546excluding `C` and `K`. This is exactly what the `--ancestry-path`
 547option does. Applied to the 'D..M' range, it results in:
 548+
 549-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 550                E-------F
 551                 \       \
 552                  G---H---I---J
 553                               \
 554                                L--M
 555-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 556
 557The `--simplify-by-decoration` option allows you to view only the
 558big picture of the topology of the history, by omitting commits
 559that are not referenced by tags.  Commits are marked as !TREESAME
 560(in other words, kept after history simplification rules described
 561above) if (1) they are referenced by tags, or (2) they change the
 562contents of the paths given on the command line.  All other
 563commits are marked as TREESAME (subject to be simplified away).
 564
 565ifdef::git-rev-list[]
 566Bisection Helpers
 567~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 568
 569--bisect::
 570        Limit output to the one commit object which is roughly halfway between
 571        included and excluded commits. Note that the bad bisection ref
 572        `refs/bisect/bad` is added to the included commits (if it
 573        exists) and the good bisection refs `refs/bisect/good-*` are
 574        added to the excluded commits (if they exist). Thus, supposing there
 575        are no refs in `refs/bisect/`, if
 576+
 577-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 578        $ git rev-list --bisect foo ^bar ^baz
 579-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 580+
 581outputs 'midpoint', the output of the two commands
 582+
 583-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 584        $ git rev-list foo ^midpoint
 585        $ git rev-list midpoint ^bar ^baz
 586-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 587+
 588would be of roughly the same length.  Finding the change which
 589introduces a regression is thus reduced to a binary search: repeatedly
 590generate and test new 'midpoint's until the commit chain is of length
 591one. Cannot be combined with --first-parent.
 592
 593--bisect-vars::
 594        This calculates the same as `--bisect`, except that refs in
 595        `refs/bisect/` are not used, and except that this outputs
 596        text ready to be eval'ed by the shell. These lines will assign the
 597        name of the midpoint revision to the variable `bisect_rev`, and the
 598        expected number of commits to be tested after `bisect_rev` is tested
 599        to `bisect_nr`, the expected number of commits to be tested if
 600        `bisect_rev` turns out to be good to `bisect_good`, the expected
 601        number of commits to be tested if `bisect_rev` turns out to be bad to
 602        `bisect_bad`, and the number of commits we are bisecting right now to
 603        `bisect_all`.
 604
 605--bisect-all::
 606        This outputs all the commit objects between the included and excluded
 607        commits, ordered by their distance to the included and excluded
 608        commits. Refs in `refs/bisect/` are not used. The farthest
 609        from them is displayed first. (This is the only one displayed by
 610        `--bisect`.)
 611+
 612This is useful because it makes it easy to choose a good commit to
 613test when you want to avoid to test some of them for some reason (they
 614may not compile for example).
 615+
 616This option can be used along with `--bisect-vars`, in this case,
 617after all the sorted commit objects, there will be the same text as if
 618`--bisect-vars` had been used alone.
 619endif::git-rev-list[]
 620
 621
 622Commit Ordering
 623~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 624
 625By default, the commits are shown in reverse chronological order.
 626
 627--date-order::
 628        Show no parents before all of its children are shown, but
 629        otherwise show commits in the commit timestamp order.
 630
 631--author-date-order::
 632        Show no parents before all of its children are shown, but
 633        otherwise show commits in the author timestamp order.
 634
 635--topo-order::
 636        Show no parents before all of its children are shown, and
 637        avoid showing commits on multiple lines of history
 638        intermixed.
 639+
 640For example, in a commit history like this:
 641+
 642----------------------------------------------------------------
 643
 644    ---1----2----4----7
 645        \              \
 646         3----5----6----8---
 647
 648----------------------------------------------------------------
 649+
 650where the numbers denote the order of commit timestamps, `git
 651rev-list` and friends with `--date-order` show the commits in the
 652timestamp order: 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1.
 653+
 654With `--topo-order`, they would show 8 6 5 3 7 4 2 1 (or 8 7 4 2 6 5
 6553 1); some older commits are shown before newer ones in order to
 656avoid showing the commits from two parallel development track mixed
 657together.
 658
 659--reverse::
 660        Output the commits chosen to be shown (see Commit Limiting
 661        section above) in reverse order. Cannot be combined with
 662        `--walk-reflogs`.
 663
 664Object Traversal
 665~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 666
 667These options are mostly targeted for packing of Git repositories.
 668
 669ifdef::git-rev-list[]
 670--objects::
 671        Print the object IDs of any object referenced by the listed
 672        commits.  `--objects foo ^bar` thus means ``send me
 673        all object IDs which I need to download if I have the commit
 674        object _bar_ but not _foo_''.
 675
 676--objects-edge::
 677        Similar to `--objects`, but also print the IDs of excluded
 678        commits prefixed with a ``-'' character.  This is used by
 679        linkgit:git-pack-objects[1] to build a ``thin'' pack, which records
 680        objects in deltified form based on objects contained in these
 681        excluded commits to reduce network traffic.
 682
 683--objects-edge-aggressive::
 684        Similar to `--objects-edge`, but it tries harder to find excluded
 685        commits at the cost of increased time.  This is used instead of
 686        `--objects-edge` to build ``thin'' packs for shallow repositories.
 687
 688--indexed-objects::
 689        Pretend as if all trees and blobs used by the index are listed
 690        on the command line.  Note that you probably want to use
 691        `--objects`, too.
 692
 693--unpacked::
 694        Only useful with `--objects`; print the object IDs that are not
 695        in packs.
 696endif::git-rev-list[]
 697
 698--no-walk[=(sorted|unsorted)]::
 699        Only show the given commits, but do not traverse their ancestors.
 700        This has no effect if a range is specified. If the argument
 701        `unsorted` is given, the commits are shown in the order they were
 702        given on the command line. Otherwise (if `sorted` or no argument
 703        was given), the commits are shown in reverse chronological order
 704        by commit time.
 705        Cannot be combined with `--graph`.
 706
 707--do-walk::
 708        Overrides a previous `--no-walk`.
 709
 710Commit Formatting
 711~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 712
 713ifdef::git-rev-list[]
 714Using these options, linkgit:git-rev-list[1] will act similar to the
 715more specialized family of commit log tools: linkgit:git-log[1],
 716linkgit:git-show[1], and linkgit:git-whatchanged[1]
 717endif::git-rev-list[]
 718
 719include::pretty-options.txt[]
 720
 721--relative-date::
 722        Synonym for `--date=relative`.
 723
 724--date=<format>::
 725        Only takes effect for dates shown in human-readable format, such
 726        as when using `--pretty`. `log.date` config variable sets a default
 727        value for the log command's `--date` option. By default, dates
 728        are shown in the original time zone (either committer's or
 729        author's). If `-local` is appended to the format (e.g.,
 730        `iso-local`), the user's local time zone is used instead.
 731+
 732`--date=relative` shows dates relative to the current time,
 733e.g. ``2 hours ago''. The `-local` option has no effect for
 734`--date=relative`.
 735+
 736`--date=local` is an alias for `--date=default-local`.
 737+
 738`--date=iso` (or `--date=iso8601`) shows timestamps in a ISO 8601-like format.
 739The differences to the strict ISO 8601 format are:
 740
 741        - a space instead of the `T` date/time delimiter
 742        - a space between time and time zone
 743        - no colon between hours and minutes of the time zone
 744
 745+
 746`--date=iso-strict` (or `--date=iso8601-strict`) shows timestamps in strict
 747ISO 8601 format.
 748+
 749`--date=rfc` (or `--date=rfc2822`) shows timestamps in RFC 2822
 750format, often found in email messages.
 751+
 752`--date=short` shows only the date, but not the time, in `YYYY-MM-DD` format.
 753+
 754`--date=raw` shows the date as seconds since the epoch (1970-01-01
 75500:00:00 UTC), followed by a space, and then the timezone as an offset
 756from UTC (a `+` or `-` with four digits; the first two are hours, and
 757the second two are minutes). I.e., as if the timestamp were formatted
 758with `strftime("%s %z")`).
 759Note that the `-local` option does not affect the seconds-since-epoch
 760value (which is always measured in UTC), but does switch the accompanying
 761timezone value.
 762+
 763`--date=unix` shows the date as a Unix epoch timestamp (seconds since
 7641970).  As with `--raw`, this is always in UTC and therefore `-local`
 765has no effect.
 766+
 767`--date=format:...` feeds the format `...` to your system `strftime`.
 768Use `--date=format:%c` to show the date in your system locale's
 769preferred format.  See the `strftime` manual for a complete list of
 770format placeholders. When using `-local`, the correct syntax is
 771`--date=format-local:...`.
 772+
 773`--date=default` is the default format, and is similar to
 774`--date=rfc2822`, with a few exceptions:
 775
 776        - there is no comma after the day-of-week
 777
 778        - the time zone is omitted when the local time zone is used
 779
 780ifdef::git-rev-list[]
 781--header::
 782        Print the contents of the commit in raw-format; each record is
 783        separated with a NUL character.
 784endif::git-rev-list[]
 785
 786--parents::
 787        Print also the parents of the commit (in the form "commit parent...").
 788        Also enables parent rewriting, see 'History Simplification' below.
 789
 790--children::
 791        Print also the children of the commit (in the form "commit child...").
 792        Also enables parent rewriting, see 'History Simplification' below.
 793
 794ifdef::git-rev-list[]
 795--timestamp::
 796        Print the raw commit timestamp.
 797endif::git-rev-list[]
 798
 799--left-right::
 800        Mark which side of a symmetric difference a commit is reachable from.
 801        Commits from the left side are prefixed with `<` and those from
 802        the right with `>`.  If combined with `--boundary`, those
 803        commits are prefixed with `-`.
 804+
 805For example, if you have this topology:
 806+
 807-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 808             y---b---b  branch B
 809            / \ /
 810           /   .
 811          /   / \
 812         o---x---a---a  branch A
 813-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 814+
 815you would get an output like this:
 816+
 817-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 818        $ git rev-list --left-right --boundary --pretty=oneline A...B
 819
 820        >bbbbbbb... 3rd on b
 821        >bbbbbbb... 2nd on b
 822        <aaaaaaa... 3rd on a
 823        <aaaaaaa... 2nd on a
 824        -yyyyyyy... 1st on b
 825        -xxxxxxx... 1st on a
 826-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 827
 828--graph::
 829        Draw a text-based graphical representation of the commit history
 830        on the left hand side of the output.  This may cause extra lines
 831        to be printed in between commits, in order for the graph history
 832        to be drawn properly.
 833        Cannot be combined with `--no-walk`.
 834+
 835This enables parent rewriting, see 'History Simplification' below.
 836+
 837This implies the `--topo-order` option by default, but the
 838`--date-order` option may also be specified.
 839
 840--show-linear-break[=<barrier>]::
 841        When --graph is not used, all history branches are flattened
 842        which can make it hard to see that the two consecutive commits
 843        do not belong to a linear branch. This option puts a barrier
 844        in between them in that case. If `<barrier>` is specified, it
 845        is the string that will be shown instead of the default one.
 846
 847ifdef::git-rev-list[]
 848--count::
 849        Print a number stating how many commits would have been
 850        listed, and suppress all other output.  When used together
 851        with `--left-right`, instead print the counts for left and
 852        right commits, separated by a tab. When used together with
 853        `--cherry-mark`, omit patch equivalent commits from these
 854        counts and print the count for equivalent commits separated
 855        by a tab.
 856endif::git-rev-list[]
 857
 858ifndef::git-rev-list[]
 859Diff Formatting
 860~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 861
 862Listed below are options that control the formatting of diff output.
 863Some of them are specific to linkgit:git-rev-list[1], however other diff
 864options may be given. See linkgit:git-diff-files[1] for more options.
 865
 866-c::
 867        With this option, diff output for a merge commit
 868        shows the differences from each of the parents to the merge result
 869        simultaneously instead of showing pairwise diff between a parent
 870        and the result one at a time. Furthermore, it lists only files
 871        which were modified from all parents.
 872
 873--cc::
 874        This flag implies the `-c` option and further compresses the
 875        patch output by omitting uninteresting hunks whose contents in
 876        the parents have only two variants and the merge result picks
 877        one of them without modification.
 878
 879-m::
 880        This flag makes the merge commits show the full diff like
 881        regular commits; for each merge parent, a separate log entry
 882        and diff is generated. An exception is that only diff against
 883        the first parent is shown when `--first-parent` option is given;
 884        in that case, the output represents the changes the merge
 885        brought _into_ the then-current branch.
 886
 887-r::
 888        Show recursive diffs.
 889
 890-t::
 891        Show the tree objects in the diff output. This implies `-r`.
 892endif::git-rev-list[]