Documentation / git-show-branch.txton commit doc: documentation update for the branch track changes (572fc81)
   1git-show-branch(1)
   2==================
   3
   4NAME
   5----
   6git-show-branch - Show branches and their commits
   7
   8SYNOPSIS
   9--------
  10[verse]
  11'git-show-branch' [--all] [--remotes] [--topo-order] [--current]
  12                [--more=<n> | --list | --independent | --merge-base]
  13                [--no-name | --sha1-name] [--topics] [<rev> | <glob>]...
  14'git-show-branch' (-g|--reflog)[=<n>[,<base>]] [--list] [<ref>]
  15
  16DESCRIPTION
  17-----------
  18
  19Shows the commit ancestry graph starting from the commits named
  20with <rev>s or <globs>s (or all refs under $GIT_DIR/refs/heads
  21and/or $GIT_DIR/refs/tags) semi-visually.
  22
  23It cannot show more than 29 branches and commits at a time.
  24
  25It uses `showbranch.default` multi-valued configuration items if
  26no <rev> nor <glob> is given on the command line.
  27
  28
  29OPTIONS
  30-------
  31<rev>::
  32        Arbitrary extended SHA1 expression (see `git-rev-parse`)
  33        that typically names a branch HEAD or a tag.
  34
  35<glob>::
  36        A glob pattern that matches branch or tag names under
  37        $GIT_DIR/refs.  For example, if you have many topic
  38        branches under $GIT_DIR/refs/heads/topic, giving
  39        `topic/*` would show all of them.
  40
  41-r|--remotes::
  42        Show the remote-tracking branches.
  43
  44-a|--all::
  45        Show both remote-tracking branches and local branches.
  46
  47--current::
  48        With this option, the command includes the current
  49        branch to the list of revs to be shown when it is not
  50        given on the command line.
  51
  52--topo-order::
  53        By default, the branches and their commits are shown in
  54        reverse chronological order.  This option makes them
  55        appear in topological order (i.e., descendant commits
  56        are shown before their parents).
  57
  58--sparse::
  59        By default, the output omits merges that are reachable
  60        from only one tip being shown.  This option makes them
  61        visible.
  62
  63--more=<n>::
  64        Usually the command stops output upon showing the commit
  65        that is the common ancestor of all the branches.  This
  66        flag tells the command to go <n> more common commits
  67        beyond that.  When <n> is negative, display only the
  68        <reference>s given, without showing the commit ancestry
  69        tree.
  70
  71--list::
  72        Synonym to `--more=-1`
  73
  74--merge-base::
  75        Instead of showing the commit list, just act like the
  76        'git-merge-base -a' command, except that it can accept
  77        more than two heads.
  78
  79--independent::
  80        Among the <reference>s given, display only the ones that
  81        cannot be reached from any other <reference>.
  82
  83--no-name::
  84        Do not show naming strings for each commit.
  85
  86--sha1-name::
  87        Instead of naming the commits using the path to reach
  88        them from heads (e.g. "master~2" to mean the grandparent
  89        of "master"), name them with the unique prefix of their
  90        object names.
  91
  92--topics::
  93        Shows only commits that are NOT on the first branch given.
  94        This helps track topic branches by hiding any commit that
  95        is already in the main line of development.  When given
  96        "git show-branch --topics master topic1 topic2", this
  97        will show the revisions given by "git rev-list {caret}master
  98        topic1 topic2"
  99
 100--reflog[=<n>[,<base>]] [<ref>]::
 101        Shows <n> most recent ref-log entries for the given
 102        ref.  If <base> is given, <n> entries going back from
 103        that entry.  <base> can be specified as count or date.
 104        `-g` can be used as a short-hand for this option.  When
 105        no explicit <ref> parameter is given, it defaults to the
 106        current branch (or `HEAD` if it is detached).
 107
 108Note that --more, --list, --independent and --merge-base options
 109are mutually exclusive.
 110
 111
 112OUTPUT
 113------
 114Given N <references>, the first N lines are the one-line
 115description from their commit message.  The branch head that is
 116pointed at by $GIT_DIR/HEAD is prefixed with an asterisk `*`
 117character while other heads are prefixed with a `!` character.
 118
 119Following these N lines, one-line log for each commit is
 120displayed, indented N places.  If a commit is on the I-th
 121branch, the I-th indentation character shows a `+` sign;
 122otherwise it shows a space.  Merge commits are denoted by
 123a `-` sign.  Each commit shows a short name that
 124can be used as an extended SHA1 to name that commit.
 125
 126The following example shows three branches, "master", "fixes"
 127and "mhf":
 128
 129------------------------------------------------
 130$ git show-branch master fixes mhf
 131* [master] Add 'git show-branch'.
 132 ! [fixes] Introduce "reset type" flag to "git reset"
 133  ! [mhf] Allow "+remote:local" refspec to cause --force when fetching.
 134---
 135  + [mhf] Allow "+remote:local" refspec to cause --force when fetching.
 136  + [mhf~1] Use git-octopus when pulling more than one heads.
 137 +  [fixes] Introduce "reset type" flag to "git reset"
 138  + [mhf~2] "git fetch --force".
 139  + [mhf~3] Use .git/remote/origin, not .git/branches/origin.
 140  + [mhf~4] Make "git pull" and "git fetch" default to origin
 141  + [mhf~5] Infamous 'octopus merge'
 142  + [mhf~6] Retire git-parse-remote.
 143  + [mhf~7] Multi-head fetch.
 144  + [mhf~8] Start adding the $GIT_DIR/remotes/ support.
 145*++ [master] Add 'git show-branch'.
 146------------------------------------------------
 147
 148These three branches all forked from a common commit, [master],
 149whose commit message is "Add 'git show-branch'.  "fixes" branch
 150adds one commit 'Introduce "reset type"'.  "mhf" branch has many
 151other commits.  The current branch is "master".
 152
 153
 154EXAMPLE
 155-------
 156
 157If you keep your primary branches immediately under
 158`$GIT_DIR/refs/heads`, and topic branches in subdirectories of
 159it, having the following in the configuration file may help:
 160
 161------------
 162[showbranch]
 163        default = --topo-order
 164        default = heads/*
 165
 166------------
 167
 168With this, `git show-branch` without extra parameters would show
 169only the primary branches.  In addition, if you happen to be on
 170your topic branch, it is shown as well.
 171
 172------------
 173$ git show-branch --reflog='10,1 hour ago' --list master
 174------------
 175
 176shows 10 reflog entries going back from the tip as of 1 hour ago.
 177Without `--list`, the output also shows how these tips are
 178topologically related with each other.
 179
 180
 181Author
 182------
 183Written by Junio C Hamano <junkio@cox.net>
 184
 185
 186Documentation
 187--------------
 188Documentation by Junio C Hamano.
 189
 190
 191GIT
 192---
 193Part of the linkgit:git[7] suite