Documentation / rev-list-options.txton commit Merge branch 'ar/maint-mksnpath' into HEAD (356af64)
   1Commit Formatting
   2~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
   3
   4ifdef::git-rev-list[]
   5Using these options, linkgit:git-rev-list[1] will act similar to the
   6more specialized family of commit log tools: linkgit:git-log[1],
   7linkgit:git-show[1], and linkgit:git-whatchanged[1]
   8endif::git-rev-list[]
   9
  10include::pretty-options.txt[]
  11
  12--relative-date::
  13
  14        Synonym for `--date=relative`.
  15
  16--date={relative,local,default,iso,rfc,short}::
  17
  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.
  21+
  22`--date=relative` shows dates relative to the current time,
  23e.g. "2 hours ago".
  24+
  25`--date=local` shows timestamps in user's local timezone.
  26+
  27`--date=iso` (or `--date=iso8601`) shows timestamps in ISO 8601 format.
  28+
  29`--date=rfc` (or `--date=rfc2822`) shows timestamps in RFC 2822
  30format, often found in E-mail messages.
  31+
  32`--date=short` shows only date but not time, in `YYYY-MM-DD` format.
  33+
  34`--date=default` shows timestamps in the original timezone
  35(either committer's or author's).
  36
  37ifdef::git-rev-list[]
  38--header::
  39
  40        Print the contents of the commit in raw-format; each record is
  41        separated with a NUL character.
  42endif::git-rev-list[]
  43
  44--parents::
  45
  46        Print the parents of the commit.  Also enables parent
  47        rewriting, see 'History Simplification' below.
  48
  49--children::
  50
  51        Print the children of the commit.  Also enables parent
  52        rewriting, see 'History Simplification' below.
  53
  54ifdef::git-rev-list[]
  55--timestamp::
  56        Print the raw commit timestamp.
  57endif::git-rev-list[]
  58
  59--left-right::
  60
  61        Mark which side of a symmetric diff a commit is reachable from.
  62        Commits from the left side are prefixed with `<` and those from
  63        the right with `>`.  If combined with `--boundary`, those
  64        commits are prefixed with `-`.
  65+
  66For example, if you have this topology:
  67+
  68-----------------------------------------------------------------------
  69             y---b---b  branch B
  70            / \ /
  71           /   .
  72          /   / \
  73         o---x---a---a  branch A
  74-----------------------------------------------------------------------
  75+
  76you would get an output like this:
  77+
  78-----------------------------------------------------------------------
  79        $ git rev-list --left-right --boundary --pretty=oneline A...B
  80
  81        >bbbbbbb... 3rd on b
  82        >bbbbbbb... 2nd on b
  83        <aaaaaaa... 3rd on a
  84        <aaaaaaa... 2nd on a
  85        -yyyyyyy... 1st on b
  86        -xxxxxxx... 1st on a
  87-----------------------------------------------------------------------
  88
  89--graph::
  90
  91        Draw a text-based graphical representation of the commit history
  92        on the left hand side of the output.  This may cause extra lines
  93        to be printed in between commits, in order for the graph history
  94        to be drawn properly.
  95+
  96This implies the '--topo-order' option by default, but the
  97'--date-order' option may also be specified.
  98
  99ifndef::git-rev-list[]
 100Diff Formatting
 101~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 102
 103Below are listed options that control the formatting of diff output.
 104Some of them are specific to linkgit:git-rev-list[1], however other diff
 105options may be given. See linkgit:git-diff-files[1] for more options.
 106
 107-c::
 108
 109        This flag changes the way a merge commit is displayed.  It shows
 110        the differences from each of the parents to the merge result
 111        simultaneously instead of showing pairwise diff between a parent
 112        and the result one at a time. Furthermore, it lists only files
 113        which were modified from all parents.
 114
 115--cc::
 116
 117        This flag implies the '-c' options and further compresses the
 118        patch output by omitting uninteresting hunks whose contents in
 119        the parents have only two variants and the merge result picks
 120        one of them without modification.
 121
 122-r::
 123
 124        Show recursive diffs.
 125
 126-t::
 127
 128        Show the tree objects in the diff output. This implies '-r'.
 129endif::git-rev-list[]
 130
 131Commit Limiting
 132~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 133
 134Besides specifying a range of commits that should be listed using the
 135special notations explained in the description, additional commit
 136limiting may be applied.
 137
 138--
 139
 140-n 'number'::
 141--max-count='number'::
 142
 143        Limit the number of commits output.
 144
 145--skip='number'::
 146
 147        Skip 'number' commits before starting to show the commit output.
 148
 149--since='date'::
 150--after='date'::
 151
 152        Show commits more recent than a specific date.
 153
 154--until='date'::
 155--before='date'::
 156
 157        Show commits older than a specific date.
 158
 159ifdef::git-rev-list[]
 160--max-age='timestamp'::
 161--min-age='timestamp'::
 162
 163        Limit the commits output to specified time range.
 164endif::git-rev-list[]
 165
 166--author='pattern'::
 167--committer='pattern'::
 168
 169        Limit the commits output to ones with author/committer
 170        header lines that match the specified pattern (regular expression).
 171
 172--grep='pattern'::
 173
 174        Limit the commits output to ones with log message that
 175        matches the specified pattern (regular expression).
 176
 177-i::
 178--regexp-ignore-case::
 179
 180        Match the regexp limiting patterns without regard to letters case.
 181
 182-E::
 183--extended-regexp::
 184
 185        Consider the limiting patterns to be extended regular expressions
 186        instead of the default basic regular expressions.
 187
 188-F::
 189--fixed-strings::
 190
 191        Consider the limiting patterns to be fixed strings (don't interpret
 192        pattern as a regular expression).
 193
 194--remove-empty::
 195
 196        Stop when a given path disappears from the tree.
 197
 198--no-merges::
 199
 200        Do not print commits with more than one parent.
 201
 202--first-parent::
 203        Follow only the first parent commit upon seeing a merge
 204        commit.  This option can give a better overview when
 205        viewing the evolution of a particular topic branch,
 206        because merges into a topic branch tend to be only about
 207        adjusting to updated upstream from time to time, and
 208        this option allows you to ignore the individual commits
 209        brought in to your history by such a merge.
 210
 211--not::
 212
 213        Reverses the meaning of the '{caret}' prefix (or lack thereof)
 214        for all following revision specifiers, up to the next '--not'.
 215
 216--all::
 217
 218        Pretend as if all the refs in `$GIT_DIR/refs/` are listed on the
 219        command line as '<commit>'.
 220
 221ifdef::git-rev-list[]
 222--stdin::
 223
 224        In addition to the '<commit>' listed on the command
 225        line, read them from the standard input.
 226
 227--quiet::
 228
 229        Don't print anything to standard output.  This form
 230        is primarily meant to allow the caller to
 231        test the exit status to see if a range of objects is fully
 232        connected (or not).  It is faster than redirecting stdout
 233        to /dev/null as the output does not have to be formatted.
 234endif::git-rev-list[]
 235
 236--cherry-pick::
 237
 238        Omit any commit that introduces the same change as
 239        another commit on the "other side" when the set of
 240        commits are limited with symmetric difference.
 241+
 242For example, if you have two branches, `A` and `B`, a usual way
 243to list all commits on only one side of them is with
 244`--left-right`, like the example above in the description of
 245that option.  It however shows the commits that were cherry-picked
 246from the other branch (for example, "3rd on b" may be cherry-picked
 247from branch A).  With this option, such pairs of commits are
 248excluded from the output.
 249
 250-g::
 251--walk-reflogs::
 252
 253        Instead of walking the commit ancestry chain, walk
 254        reflog entries from the most recent one to older ones.
 255        When this option is used you cannot specify commits to
 256        exclude (that is, '{caret}commit', 'commit1..commit2',
 257        nor 'commit1...commit2' notations cannot be used).
 258+
 259With '\--pretty' format other than oneline (for obvious reasons),
 260this causes the output to have two extra lines of information
 261taken from the reflog.  By default, 'commit@\{Nth}' notation is
 262used in the output.  When the starting commit is specified as
 263'commit@\{now}', output also uses 'commit@\{timestamp}' notation
 264instead.  Under '\--pretty=oneline', the commit message is
 265prefixed with this information on the same line.
 266This option cannot be combined with '\--reverse'.
 267See also linkgit:git-reflog[1].
 268
 269--merge::
 270
 271        After a failed merge, show refs that touch files having a
 272        conflict and don't exist on all heads to merge.
 273
 274--boundary::
 275
 276        Output uninteresting commits at the boundary, which are usually
 277        not shown.
 278
 279--
 280
 281History Simplification
 282~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 283
 284When optional paths are given, 'git-rev-list' simplifies commits with
 285various strategies, according to the options you have selected.
 286
 287Suppose you specified `foo` as the <paths>.  We shall call commits
 288that modify `foo` !TREESAME, and the rest TREESAME.  (In a diff
 289filtered for `foo`, they look different and equal, respectively.)
 290
 291In the following, we will always refer to the same example history to
 292illustrate the differences between simplification settings.  We assume
 293that you are filtering for a file `foo` in this commit graph:
 294-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 295          .-A---M---N---O---P
 296         /     /   /   /   /
 297        I     B   C   D   E
 298         \   /   /   /   /
 299          `-------------'
 300-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 301The horizontal line of history A--P is taken to be the first parent of
 302each merge.  The commits are:
 303
 304* `I` is the initial commit, in which `foo` exists with contents
 305  "asdf", and a file `quux` exists with contents "quux".  Initial
 306  commits are compared to an empty tree, so `I` is !TREESAME.
 307
 308* In `A`, `foo` contains just "foo".
 309
 310* `B` contains the same change as `A`.  Its merge `M` is trivial and
 311  hence TREESAME to all parents.
 312
 313* `C` does not change `foo`, but its merge `N` changes it to "foobar",
 314  so it is not TREESAME to any parent.
 315
 316* `D` sets `foo` to "baz".  Its merge `O` combines the strings from
 317  `N` and `D` to "foobarbaz"; i.e., it is not TREESAME to any parent.
 318
 319* `E` changes `quux` to "xyzzy", and its merge `P` combines the
 320  strings to "quux xyzzy".  Despite appearing interesting, `P` is
 321  TREESAME to all parents.
 322
 323'rev-list' walks backwards through history, including or excluding
 324commits based on whether '\--full-history' and/or parent rewriting
 325(via '\--parents' or '\--children') are used.  The following settings
 326are available.
 327
 328Default mode::
 329
 330        Commits are included if they are not TREESAME to any parent
 331        (though this can be changed, see '\--sparse' below).  If the
 332        commit was a merge, and it was TREESAME to one parent, follow
 333        only that parent.  (Even if there are several TREESAME
 334        parents, follow only one of them.)  Otherwise, follow all
 335        parents.
 336+
 337This results in:
 338+
 339-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 340          .-A---N---O
 341         /         /
 342        I---------D
 343-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 344+
 345Note how the rule to only follow the TREESAME parent, if one is
 346available, removed `B` from consideration entirely.  `C` was
 347considered via `N`, but is TREESAME.  Root commits are compared to an
 348empty tree, so `I` is !TREESAME.
 349+
 350Parent/child relations are only visible with --parents, but that does
 351not affect the commits selected in default mode, so we have shown the
 352parent lines.
 353
 354--full-history without parent rewriting::
 355
 356        This mode differs from the default in one point: always follow
 357        all parents of a merge, even if it is TREESAME to one of them.
 358        Even if more than one side of the merge has commits that are
 359        included, this does not imply that the merge itself is!  In
 360        the example, we get
 361+
 362-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 363        I  A  B  N  D  O
 364-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 365+
 366`P` and `M` were excluded because they are TREESAME to a parent.  `E`,
 367`C` and `B` were all walked, but only `B` was !TREESAME, so the others
 368do not appear.
 369+
 370Note that without parent rewriting, it is not really possible to talk
 371about the parent/child relationships between the commits, so we show
 372them disconnected.
 373
 374--full-history with parent rewriting::
 375
 376        Ordinary commits are only included if they are !TREESAME
 377        (though this can be changed, see '\--sparse' below).
 378+
 379Merges are always included.  However, their parent list is rewritten:
 380Along each parent, prune away commits that are not included
 381themselves.  This results in
 382+
 383-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 384          .-A---M---N---O---P
 385         /     /   /   /   /
 386        I     B   /   D   /
 387         \   /   /   /   /
 388          `-------------'
 389-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 390+
 391Compare to '\--full-history' without rewriting above.  Note that `E`
 392was pruned away because it is TREESAME, but the parent list of P was
 393rewritten to contain `E`'s parent `I`.  The same happened for `C` and
 394`N`.  Note also that `P` was included despite being TREESAME.
 395
 396In addition to the above settings, you can change whether TREESAME
 397affects inclusion:
 398
 399--dense::
 400
 401        Commits that are walked are included if they are not TREESAME
 402        to any parent.
 403
 404--sparse::
 405
 406        All commits that are walked are included.
 407+
 408Note that without '\--full-history', this still simplifies merges: if
 409one of the parents is TREESAME, we follow only that one, so the other
 410sides of the merge are never walked.
 411
 412Finally, there is a fourth simplification mode available:
 413
 414--simplify-merges::
 415
 416        First, build a history graph in the same way that
 417        '\--full-history' with parent rewriting does (see above).
 418+
 419Then simplify each commit `C` to its replacement `C'` in the final
 420history according to the following rules:
 421+
 422--
 423* Set `C'` to `C`.
 424+
 425* Replace each parent `P` of `C'` with its simplification `P'`.  In
 426  the process, drop parents that are ancestors of other parents, and
 427  remove duplicates.
 428+
 429* If after this parent rewriting, `C'` is a root or merge commit (has
 430  zero or >1 parents), a boundary commit, or !TREESAME, it remains.
 431  Otherwise, it is replaced with its only parent.
 432--
 433+
 434The effect of this is best shown by way of comparing to
 435'\--full-history' with parent rewriting.  The example turns into:
 436+
 437-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 438          .-A---M---N---O
 439         /     /       /
 440        I     B       D
 441         \   /       /
 442          `---------'
 443-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 444+
 445Note the major differences in `N` and `P` over '\--full-history':
 446+
 447--
 448* `N`'s parent list had `I` removed, because it is an ancestor of the
 449  other parent `M`.  Still, `N` remained because it is !TREESAME.
 450+
 451* `P`'s parent list similarly had `I` removed.  `P` was then
 452  removed completely, because it had one parent and is TREESAME.
 453--
 454
 455ifdef::git-rev-list[]
 456Bisection Helpers
 457~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 458
 459--bisect::
 460
 461Limit output to the one commit object which is roughly halfway between
 462the included and excluded commits. Thus, if
 463
 464-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 465        $ git-rev-list --bisect foo ^bar ^baz
 466-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 467
 468outputs 'midpoint', the output of the two commands
 469
 470-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 471        $ git-rev-list foo ^midpoint
 472        $ git-rev-list midpoint ^bar ^baz
 473-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 474
 475would be of roughly the same length.  Finding the change which
 476introduces a regression is thus reduced to a binary search: repeatedly
 477generate and test new 'midpoint's until the commit chain is of length
 478one.
 479
 480--bisect-vars::
 481
 482This calculates the same as `--bisect`, but outputs text ready
 483to be eval'ed by the shell. These lines will assign the name of
 484the midpoint revision to the variable `bisect_rev`, and the
 485expected number of commits to be tested after `bisect_rev` is
 486tested to `bisect_nr`, the expected number of commits to be
 487tested if `bisect_rev` turns out to be good to `bisect_good`,
 488the expected number of commits to be tested if `bisect_rev`
 489turns out to be bad to `bisect_bad`, and the number of commits
 490we are bisecting right now to `bisect_all`.
 491
 492--bisect-all::
 493
 494This outputs all the commit objects between the included and excluded
 495commits, ordered by their distance to the included and excluded
 496commits. The farthest from them is displayed first. (This is the only
 497one displayed by `--bisect`.)
 498
 499This is useful because it makes it easy to choose a good commit to
 500test when you want to avoid to test some of them for some reason (they
 501may not compile for example).
 502
 503This option can be used along with `--bisect-vars`, in this case,
 504after all the sorted commit objects, there will be the same text as if
 505`--bisect-vars` had been used alone.
 506endif::git-rev-list[]
 507
 508
 509Commit Ordering
 510~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 511
 512By default, the commits are shown in reverse chronological order.
 513
 514--topo-order::
 515
 516        This option makes them appear in topological order (i.e.
 517        descendant commits are shown before their parents).
 518
 519--date-order::
 520
 521        This option is similar to '--topo-order' in the sense that no
 522        parent comes before all of its children, but otherwise things
 523        are still ordered in the commit timestamp order.
 524
 525--reverse::
 526
 527        Output the commits in reverse order.
 528        Cannot be combined with '\--walk-reflogs'.
 529
 530Object Traversal
 531~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 532
 533These options are mostly targeted for packing of git repositories.
 534
 535--objects::
 536
 537        Print the object IDs of any object referenced by the listed
 538        commits.  '--objects foo ^bar' thus means "send me
 539        all object IDs which I need to download if I have the commit
 540        object 'bar', but not 'foo'".
 541
 542--objects-edge::
 543
 544        Similar to '--objects', but also print the IDs of excluded
 545        commits prefixed with a "-" character.  This is used by
 546        linkgit:git-pack-objects[1] to build "thin" pack, which records
 547        objects in deltified form based on objects contained in these
 548        excluded commits to reduce network traffic.
 549
 550--unpacked::
 551
 552        Only useful with '--objects'; print the object IDs that are not
 553        in packs.
 554
 555--no-walk::
 556
 557        Only show the given revs, but do not traverse their ancestors.
 558
 559--do-walk::
 560
 561        Overrides a previous --no-walk.