Documentation / rev-list-options.txton commit Merge branch 'jk/drop-free-refspecs' (6e9b010)
   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
  96        expressions.
  97+
  98Support for these types of regular expressions is an optional
  99compile-time dependency. If Git wasn't compiled with support for them
 100providing this option will cause it to die.
 101
 102--remove-empty::
 103        Stop when a given path disappears from the tree.
 104
 105--merges::
 106        Print only merge commits. This is exactly the same as `--min-parents=2`.
 107
 108--no-merges::
 109        Do not print commits with more than one parent. This is
 110        exactly the same as `--max-parents=1`.
 111
 112--min-parents=<number>::
 113--max-parents=<number>::
 114--no-min-parents::
 115--no-max-parents::
 116        Show only commits which have at least (or at most) that many parent
 117        commits. In particular, `--max-parents=1` is the same as `--no-merges`,
 118        `--min-parents=2` is the same as `--merges`.  `--max-parents=0`
 119        gives all root commits and `--min-parents=3` all octopus merges.
 120+
 121`--no-min-parents` and `--no-max-parents` reset these limits (to no limit)
 122again.  Equivalent forms are `--min-parents=0` (any commit has 0 or more
 123parents) and `--max-parents=-1` (negative numbers denote no upper limit).
 124
 125--first-parent::
 126        Follow only the first parent commit upon seeing a merge
 127        commit.  This option can give a better overview when
 128        viewing the evolution of a particular topic branch,
 129        because merges into a topic branch tend to be only about
 130        adjusting to updated upstream from time to time, and
 131        this option allows you to ignore the individual commits
 132        brought in to your history by such a merge. Cannot be
 133        combined with --bisect.
 134
 135--not::
 136        Reverses the meaning of the '{caret}' prefix (or lack thereof)
 137        for all following revision specifiers, up to the next `--not`.
 138
 139--all::
 140        Pretend as if all the refs in `refs/`, along with `HEAD`, are
 141        listed on the command line as '<commit>'.
 142
 143--branches[=<pattern>]::
 144        Pretend as if all the refs in `refs/heads` are listed
 145        on the command line as '<commit>'. If '<pattern>' is given, limit
 146        branches to ones matching given shell glob. If pattern lacks '?',
 147        '{asterisk}', or '[', '/{asterisk}' at the end is implied.
 148
 149--tags[=<pattern>]::
 150        Pretend as if all the refs in `refs/tags` are listed
 151        on the command line as '<commit>'. If '<pattern>' is given, limit
 152        tags to ones matching given shell glob. If pattern lacks '?', '{asterisk}',
 153        or '[', '/{asterisk}' at the end is implied.
 154
 155--remotes[=<pattern>]::
 156        Pretend as if all the refs in `refs/remotes` are listed
 157        on the command line as '<commit>'. If '<pattern>' is given, limit
 158        remote-tracking branches to ones matching given shell glob.
 159        If pattern lacks '?', '{asterisk}', or '[', '/{asterisk}' at the end is implied.
 160
 161--glob=<glob-pattern>::
 162        Pretend as if all the refs matching shell glob '<glob-pattern>'
 163        are listed on the command line as '<commit>'. Leading 'refs/',
 164        is automatically prepended if missing. If pattern lacks '?', '{asterisk}',
 165        or '[', '/{asterisk}' at the end is implied.
 166
 167--exclude=<glob-pattern>::
 168
 169        Do not include refs matching '<glob-pattern>' that the next `--all`,
 170        `--branches`, `--tags`, `--remotes`, or `--glob` would otherwise
 171        consider. Repetitions of this option accumulate exclusion patterns
 172        up to the next `--all`, `--branches`, `--tags`, `--remotes`, or
 173        `--glob` option (other options or arguments do not clear
 174        accumulated patterns).
 175+
 176The patterns given should not begin with `refs/heads`, `refs/tags`, or
 177`refs/remotes` when applied to `--branches`, `--tags`, or `--remotes`,
 178respectively, and they must begin with `refs/` when applied to `--glob`
 179or `--all`. If a trailing '/{asterisk}' is intended, it must be given
 180explicitly.
 181
 182--reflog::
 183        Pretend as if all objects mentioned by reflogs are listed on the
 184        command line as `<commit>`.
 185
 186--ignore-missing::
 187        Upon seeing an invalid object name in the input, pretend as if
 188        the bad input was not given.
 189
 190ifndef::git-rev-list[]
 191--bisect::
 192        Pretend as if the bad bisection ref `refs/bisect/bad`
 193        was listed and as if it was followed by `--not` and the good
 194        bisection refs `refs/bisect/good-*` on the command
 195        line. Cannot be combined with --first-parent.
 196endif::git-rev-list[]
 197
 198--stdin::
 199        In addition to the '<commit>' listed on the command
 200        line, read them from the standard input. If a `--` separator is
 201        seen, stop reading commits and start reading paths to limit the
 202        result.
 203
 204ifdef::git-rev-list[]
 205--quiet::
 206        Don't print anything to standard output.  This form
 207        is primarily meant to allow the caller to
 208        test the exit status to see if a range of objects is fully
 209        connected (or not).  It is faster than redirecting stdout
 210        to `/dev/null` as the output does not have to be formatted.
 211endif::git-rev-list[]
 212
 213--cherry-mark::
 214        Like `--cherry-pick` (see below) but mark equivalent commits
 215        with `=` rather than omitting them, and inequivalent ones with `+`.
 216
 217--cherry-pick::
 218        Omit any commit that introduces the same change as
 219        another commit on the ``other side'' when the set of
 220        commits are limited with symmetric difference.
 221+
 222For example, if you have two branches, `A` and `B`, a usual way
 223to list all commits on only one side of them is with
 224`--left-right` (see the example below in the description of
 225the `--left-right` option). However, it shows the commits that were
 226cherry-picked from the other branch (for example, ``3rd on b'' may be
 227cherry-picked from branch A). With this option, such pairs of commits are
 228excluded from the output.
 229
 230--left-only::
 231--right-only::
 232        List only commits on the respective side of a symmetric difference,
 233        i.e. only those which would be marked `<` resp. `>` by
 234        `--left-right`.
 235+
 236For example, `--cherry-pick --right-only A...B` omits those
 237commits from `B` which are in `A` or are patch-equivalent to a commit in
 238`A`. In other words, this lists the `+` commits from `git cherry A B`.
 239More precisely, `--cherry-pick --right-only --no-merges` gives the exact
 240list.
 241
 242--cherry::
 243        A synonym for `--right-only --cherry-mark --no-merges`; useful to
 244        limit the output to the commits on our side and mark those that
 245        have been applied to the other side of a forked history with
 246        `git log --cherry upstream...mybranch`, similar to
 247        `git cherry upstream mybranch`.
 248
 249-g::
 250--walk-reflogs::
 251        Instead of walking the commit ancestry chain, walk
 252        reflog entries from the most recent one to older ones.
 253        When this option is used you cannot specify commits to
 254        exclude (that is, '{caret}commit', 'commit1..commit2',
 255        and 'commit1\...commit2' notations cannot be used).
 256+
 257With `--pretty` format other than `oneline` (for obvious reasons),
 258this causes the output to have two extra lines of information
 259taken from the reflog.  The reflog designator in the output may be shown
 260as `ref@{Nth}` (where `Nth` is the reverse-chronological index in the
 261reflog) or as `ref@{timestamp}` (with the timestamp for that entry),
 262depending on a few rules:
 263+
 264--
 2651. If the starting point is specified as `ref@{Nth}`, show the index
 266format.
 267+
 2682. If the starting point was specified as `ref@{now}`, show the
 269timestamp format.
 270+
 2713. If neither was used, but `--date` was given on the command line, show
 272the timestamp in the format requested by `--date`.
 273+
 2744. Otherwise, show the index format.
 275--
 276+
 277Under `--pretty=oneline`, the commit message is
 278prefixed with this information on the same line.
 279This option cannot be combined with `--reverse`.
 280See also linkgit:git-reflog[1].
 281
 282--merge::
 283        After a failed merge, show refs that touch files having a
 284        conflict and don't exist on all heads to merge.
 285
 286--boundary::
 287        Output excluded boundary commits. Boundary commits are
 288        prefixed with `-`.
 289
 290ifdef::git-rev-list[]
 291--use-bitmap-index::
 292
 293        Try to speed up the traversal using the pack bitmap index (if
 294        one is available). Note that when traversing with `--objects`,
 295        trees and blobs will not have their associated path printed.
 296
 297--progress=<header>::
 298        Show progress reports on stderr as objects are considered. The
 299        `<header>` text will be printed with each progress update.
 300endif::git-rev-list[]
 301
 302--
 303
 304History Simplification
 305~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 306
 307Sometimes you are only interested in parts of the history, for example the
 308commits modifying a particular <path>. But there are two parts of
 309'History Simplification', one part is selecting the commits and the other
 310is how to do it, as there are various strategies to simplify the history.
 311
 312The following options select the commits to be shown:
 313
 314<paths>::
 315        Commits modifying the given <paths> are selected.
 316
 317--simplify-by-decoration::
 318        Commits that are referred by some branch or tag are selected.
 319
 320Note that extra commits can be shown to give a meaningful history.
 321
 322The following options affect the way the simplification is performed:
 323
 324Default mode::
 325        Simplifies the history to the simplest history explaining the
 326        final state of the tree. Simplest because it prunes some side
 327        branches if the end result is the same (i.e. merging branches
 328        with the same content)
 329
 330--full-history::
 331        Same as the default mode, but does not prune some history.
 332
 333--dense::
 334        Only the selected commits are shown, plus some to have a
 335        meaningful history.
 336
 337--sparse::
 338        All commits in the simplified history are shown.
 339
 340--simplify-merges::
 341        Additional option to `--full-history` to remove some needless
 342        merges from the resulting history, as there are no selected
 343        commits contributing to this merge.
 344
 345--ancestry-path::
 346        When given a range of commits to display (e.g. 'commit1..commit2'
 347        or 'commit2 {caret}commit1'), only display commits that exist
 348        directly on the ancestry chain between the 'commit1' and
 349        'commit2', i.e. commits that are both descendants of 'commit1',
 350        and ancestors of 'commit2'.
 351
 352A more detailed explanation follows.
 353
 354Suppose you specified `foo` as the <paths>.  We shall call commits
 355that modify `foo` !TREESAME, and the rest TREESAME.  (In a diff
 356filtered for `foo`, they look different and equal, respectively.)
 357
 358In the following, we will always refer to the same example history to
 359illustrate the differences between simplification settings.  We assume
 360that you are filtering for a file `foo` in this commit graph:
 361-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 362          .-A---M---N---O---P---Q
 363         /     /   /   /   /   /
 364        I     B   C   D   E   Y
 365         \   /   /   /   /   /
 366          `-------------'   X
 367-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 368The horizontal line of history A---Q is taken to be the first parent of
 369each merge.  The commits are:
 370
 371* `I` is the initial commit, in which `foo` exists with contents
 372  ``asdf'', and a file `quux` exists with contents ``quux''. Initial
 373  commits are compared to an empty tree, so `I` is !TREESAME.
 374
 375* In `A`, `foo` contains just ``foo''.
 376
 377* `B` contains the same change as `A`.  Its merge `M` is trivial and
 378  hence TREESAME to all parents.
 379
 380* `C` does not change `foo`, but its merge `N` changes it to ``foobar'',
 381  so it is not TREESAME to any parent.
 382
 383* `D` sets `foo` to ``baz''. Its merge `O` combines the strings from
 384  `N` and `D` to ``foobarbaz''; i.e., it is not TREESAME to any parent.
 385
 386* `E` changes `quux` to ``xyzzy'', and its merge `P` combines the
 387  strings to ``quux xyzzy''. `P` is TREESAME to `O`, but not to `E`.
 388
 389* `X` is an independent root commit that added a new file `side`, and `Y`
 390  modified it. `Y` is TREESAME to `X`. Its merge `Q` added `side` to `P`, and
 391  `Q` is TREESAME to `P`, but not to `Y`.
 392
 393`rev-list` walks backwards through history, including or excluding
 394commits based on whether `--full-history` and/or parent rewriting
 395(via `--parents` or `--children`) are used. The following settings
 396are available.
 397
 398Default mode::
 399        Commits are included if they are not TREESAME to any parent
 400        (though this can be changed, see `--sparse` below).  If the
 401        commit was a merge, and it was TREESAME to one parent, follow
 402        only that parent.  (Even if there are several TREESAME
 403        parents, follow only one of them.)  Otherwise, follow all
 404        parents.
 405+
 406This results in:
 407+
 408-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 409          .-A---N---O
 410         /     /   /
 411        I---------D
 412-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 413+
 414Note how the rule to only follow the TREESAME parent, if one is
 415available, removed `B` from consideration entirely.  `C` was
 416considered via `N`, but is TREESAME.  Root commits are compared to an
 417empty tree, so `I` is !TREESAME.
 418+
 419Parent/child relations are only visible with `--parents`, but that does
 420not affect the commits selected in default mode, so we have shown the
 421parent lines.
 422
 423--full-history without parent rewriting::
 424        This mode differs from the default in one point: always follow
 425        all parents of a merge, even if it is TREESAME to one of them.
 426        Even if more than one side of the merge has commits that are
 427        included, this does not imply that the merge itself is!  In
 428        the example, we get
 429+
 430-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 431        I  A  B  N  D  O  P  Q
 432-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 433+
 434`M` was excluded because it is TREESAME to both parents.  `E`,
 435`C` and `B` were all walked, but only `B` was !TREESAME, so the others
 436do not appear.
 437+
 438Note that without parent rewriting, it is not really possible to talk
 439about the parent/child relationships between the commits, so we show
 440them disconnected.
 441
 442--full-history with parent rewriting::
 443        Ordinary commits are only included if they are !TREESAME
 444        (though this can be changed, see `--sparse` below).
 445+
 446Merges are always included.  However, their parent list is rewritten:
 447Along each parent, prune away commits that are not included
 448themselves.  This results in
 449+
 450-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 451          .-A---M---N---O---P---Q
 452         /     /   /   /   /
 453        I     B   /   D   /
 454         \   /   /   /   /
 455          `-------------'
 456-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 457+
 458Compare to `--full-history` without rewriting above.  Note that `E`
 459was pruned away because it is TREESAME, but the parent list of P was
 460rewritten to contain `E`'s parent `I`.  The same happened for `C` and
 461`N`, and `X`, `Y` and `Q`.
 462
 463In addition to the above settings, you can change whether TREESAME
 464affects inclusion:
 465
 466--dense::
 467        Commits that are walked are included if they are not TREESAME
 468        to any parent.
 469
 470--sparse::
 471        All commits that are walked are included.
 472+
 473Note that without `--full-history`, this still simplifies merges: if
 474one of the parents is TREESAME, we follow only that one, so the other
 475sides of the merge are never walked.
 476
 477--simplify-merges::
 478        First, build a history graph in the same way that
 479        `--full-history` with parent rewriting does (see above).
 480+
 481Then simplify each commit `C` to its replacement `C'` in the final
 482history according to the following rules:
 483+
 484--
 485* Set `C'` to `C`.
 486+
 487* Replace each parent `P` of `C'` with its simplification `P'`.  In
 488  the process, drop parents that are ancestors of other parents or that are
 489  root commits TREESAME to an empty tree, and remove duplicates, but take care
 490  to never drop all parents that we are TREESAME to.
 491+
 492* If after this parent rewriting, `C'` is a root or merge commit (has
 493  zero or >1 parents), a boundary commit, or !TREESAME, it remains.
 494  Otherwise, it is replaced with its only parent.
 495--
 496+
 497The effect of this is best shown by way of comparing to
 498`--full-history` with parent rewriting.  The example turns into:
 499+
 500-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 501          .-A---M---N---O
 502         /     /       /
 503        I     B       D
 504         \   /       /
 505          `---------'
 506-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 507+
 508Note the major differences in `N`, `P`, and `Q` over `--full-history`:
 509+
 510--
 511* `N`'s parent list had `I` removed, because it is an ancestor of the
 512  other parent `M`.  Still, `N` remained because it is !TREESAME.
 513+
 514* `P`'s parent list similarly had `I` removed.  `P` was then
 515  removed completely, because it had one parent and is TREESAME.
 516+
 517* `Q`'s parent list had `Y` simplified to `X`. `X` was then removed, because it
 518  was a TREESAME root. `Q` was then removed completely, because it had one
 519  parent and is TREESAME.
 520--
 521
 522Finally, there is a fifth simplification mode available:
 523
 524--ancestry-path::
 525        Limit the displayed commits to those directly on the ancestry
 526        chain between the ``from'' and ``to'' commits in the given commit
 527        range. I.e. only display commits that are ancestor of the ``to''
 528        commit and descendants of the ``from'' commit.
 529+
 530As an example use case, consider the following commit history:
 531+
 532-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 533            D---E-------F
 534           /     \       \
 535          B---C---G---H---I---J
 536         /                     \
 537        A-------K---------------L--M
 538-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 539+
 540A regular 'D..M' computes the set of commits that are ancestors of `M`,
 541but excludes the ones that are ancestors of `D`. This is useful to see
 542what happened to the history leading to `M` since `D`, in the sense
 543that ``what does `M` have that did not exist in `D`''. The result in this
 544example would be all the commits, except `A` and `B` (and `D` itself,
 545of course).
 546+
 547When we want to find out what commits in `M` are contaminated with the
 548bug introduced by `D` and need fixing, however, we might want to view
 549only the subset of 'D..M' that are actually descendants of `D`, i.e.
 550excluding `C` and `K`. This is exactly what the `--ancestry-path`
 551option does. Applied to the 'D..M' range, it results in:
 552+
 553-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 554                E-------F
 555                 \       \
 556                  G---H---I---J
 557                               \
 558                                L--M
 559-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 560
 561The `--simplify-by-decoration` option allows you to view only the
 562big picture of the topology of the history, by omitting commits
 563that are not referenced by tags.  Commits are marked as !TREESAME
 564(in other words, kept after history simplification rules described
 565above) if (1) they are referenced by tags, or (2) they change the
 566contents of the paths given on the command line.  All other
 567commits are marked as TREESAME (subject to be simplified away).
 568
 569ifdef::git-rev-list[]
 570Bisection Helpers
 571~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 572
 573--bisect::
 574        Limit output to the one commit object which is roughly halfway between
 575        included and excluded commits. Note that the bad bisection ref
 576        `refs/bisect/bad` is added to the included commits (if it
 577        exists) and the good bisection refs `refs/bisect/good-*` are
 578        added to the excluded commits (if they exist). Thus, supposing there
 579        are no refs in `refs/bisect/`, if
 580+
 581-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 582        $ git rev-list --bisect foo ^bar ^baz
 583-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 584+
 585outputs 'midpoint', the output of the two commands
 586+
 587-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 588        $ git rev-list foo ^midpoint
 589        $ git rev-list midpoint ^bar ^baz
 590-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 591+
 592would be of roughly the same length.  Finding the change which
 593introduces a regression is thus reduced to a binary search: repeatedly
 594generate and test new 'midpoint's until the commit chain is of length
 595one. Cannot be combined with --first-parent.
 596
 597--bisect-vars::
 598        This calculates the same as `--bisect`, except that refs in
 599        `refs/bisect/` are not used, and except that this outputs
 600        text ready to be eval'ed by the shell. These lines will assign the
 601        name of the midpoint revision to the variable `bisect_rev`, and the
 602        expected number of commits to be tested after `bisect_rev` is tested
 603        to `bisect_nr`, the expected number of commits to be tested if
 604        `bisect_rev` turns out to be good to `bisect_good`, the expected
 605        number of commits to be tested if `bisect_rev` turns out to be bad to
 606        `bisect_bad`, and the number of commits we are bisecting right now to
 607        `bisect_all`.
 608
 609--bisect-all::
 610        This outputs all the commit objects between the included and excluded
 611        commits, ordered by their distance to the included and excluded
 612        commits. Refs in `refs/bisect/` are not used. The farthest
 613        from them is displayed first. (This is the only one displayed by
 614        `--bisect`.)
 615+
 616This is useful because it makes it easy to choose a good commit to
 617test when you want to avoid to test some of them for some reason (they
 618may not compile for example).
 619+
 620This option can be used along with `--bisect-vars`, in this case,
 621after all the sorted commit objects, there will be the same text as if
 622`--bisect-vars` had been used alone.
 623endif::git-rev-list[]
 624
 625
 626Commit Ordering
 627~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 628
 629By default, the commits are shown in reverse chronological order.
 630
 631--date-order::
 632        Show no parents before all of its children are shown, but
 633        otherwise show commits in the commit timestamp order.
 634
 635--author-date-order::
 636        Show no parents before all of its children are shown, but
 637        otherwise show commits in the author timestamp order.
 638
 639--topo-order::
 640        Show no parents before all of its children are shown, and
 641        avoid showing commits on multiple lines of history
 642        intermixed.
 643+
 644For example, in a commit history like this:
 645+
 646----------------------------------------------------------------
 647
 648    ---1----2----4----7
 649        \              \
 650         3----5----6----8---
 651
 652----------------------------------------------------------------
 653+
 654where the numbers denote the order of commit timestamps, `git
 655rev-list` and friends with `--date-order` show the commits in the
 656timestamp order: 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1.
 657+
 658With `--topo-order`, they would show 8 6 5 3 7 4 2 1 (or 8 7 4 2 6 5
 6593 1); some older commits are shown before newer ones in order to
 660avoid showing the commits from two parallel development track mixed
 661together.
 662
 663--reverse::
 664        Output the commits chosen to be shown (see Commit Limiting
 665        section above) in reverse order. Cannot be combined with
 666        `--walk-reflogs`.
 667
 668Object Traversal
 669~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 670
 671These options are mostly targeted for packing of Git repositories.
 672
 673ifdef::git-rev-list[]
 674--objects::
 675        Print the object IDs of any object referenced by the listed
 676        commits.  `--objects foo ^bar` thus means ``send me
 677        all object IDs which I need to download if I have the commit
 678        object _bar_ but not _foo_''.
 679
 680--objects-edge::
 681        Similar to `--objects`, but also print the IDs of excluded
 682        commits prefixed with a ``-'' character.  This is used by
 683        linkgit:git-pack-objects[1] to build a ``thin'' pack, which records
 684        objects in deltified form based on objects contained in these
 685        excluded commits to reduce network traffic.
 686
 687--objects-edge-aggressive::
 688        Similar to `--objects-edge`, but it tries harder to find excluded
 689        commits at the cost of increased time.  This is used instead of
 690        `--objects-edge` to build ``thin'' packs for shallow repositories.
 691
 692--indexed-objects::
 693        Pretend as if all trees and blobs used by the index are listed
 694        on the command line.  Note that you probably want to use
 695        `--objects`, too.
 696
 697--unpacked::
 698        Only useful with `--objects`; print the object IDs that are not
 699        in packs.
 700endif::git-rev-list[]
 701
 702--no-walk[=(sorted|unsorted)]::
 703        Only show the given commits, but do not traverse their ancestors.
 704        This has no effect if a range is specified. If the argument
 705        `unsorted` is given, the commits are shown in the order they were
 706        given on the command line. Otherwise (if `sorted` or no argument
 707        was given), the commits are shown in reverse chronological order
 708        by commit time.
 709        Cannot be combined with `--graph`.
 710
 711--do-walk::
 712        Overrides a previous `--no-walk`.
 713
 714Commit Formatting
 715~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 716
 717ifdef::git-rev-list[]
 718Using these options, linkgit:git-rev-list[1] will act similar to the
 719more specialized family of commit log tools: linkgit:git-log[1],
 720linkgit:git-show[1], and linkgit:git-whatchanged[1]
 721endif::git-rev-list[]
 722
 723include::pretty-options.txt[]
 724
 725--relative-date::
 726        Synonym for `--date=relative`.
 727
 728--date=<format>::
 729        Only takes effect for dates shown in human-readable format, such
 730        as when using `--pretty`. `log.date` config variable sets a default
 731        value for the log command's `--date` option. By default, dates
 732        are shown in the original time zone (either committer's or
 733        author's). If `-local` is appended to the format (e.g.,
 734        `iso-local`), the user's local time zone is used instead.
 735+
 736`--date=relative` shows dates relative to the current time,
 737e.g. ``2 hours ago''. The `-local` option has no effect for
 738`--date=relative`.
 739+
 740`--date=local` is an alias for `--date=default-local`.
 741+
 742`--date=iso` (or `--date=iso8601`) shows timestamps in a ISO 8601-like format.
 743The differences to the strict ISO 8601 format are:
 744
 745        - a space instead of the `T` date/time delimiter
 746        - a space between time and time zone
 747        - no colon between hours and minutes of the time zone
 748
 749+
 750`--date=iso-strict` (or `--date=iso8601-strict`) shows timestamps in strict
 751ISO 8601 format.
 752+
 753`--date=rfc` (or `--date=rfc2822`) shows timestamps in RFC 2822
 754format, often found in email messages.
 755+
 756`--date=short` shows only the date, but not the time, in `YYYY-MM-DD` format.
 757+
 758`--date=raw` shows the date as seconds since the epoch (1970-01-01
 75900:00:00 UTC), followed by a space, and then the timezone as an offset
 760from UTC (a `+` or `-` with four digits; the first two are hours, and
 761the second two are minutes). I.e., as if the timestamp were formatted
 762with `strftime("%s %z")`).
 763Note that the `-local` option does not affect the seconds-since-epoch
 764value (which is always measured in UTC), but does switch the accompanying
 765timezone value.
 766+
 767`--date=unix` shows the date as a Unix epoch timestamp (seconds since
 7681970).  As with `--raw`, this is always in UTC and therefore `-local`
 769has no effect.
 770+
 771`--date=format:...` feeds the format `...` to your system `strftime`.
 772Use `--date=format:%c` to show the date in your system locale's
 773preferred format.  See the `strftime` manual for a complete list of
 774format placeholders. When using `-local`, the correct syntax is
 775`--date=format-local:...`.
 776+
 777`--date=default` is the default format, and is similar to
 778`--date=rfc2822`, with a few exceptions:
 779
 780        - there is no comma after the day-of-week
 781
 782        - the time zone is omitted when the local time zone is used
 783
 784ifdef::git-rev-list[]
 785--header::
 786        Print the contents of the commit in raw-format; each record is
 787        separated with a NUL character.
 788endif::git-rev-list[]
 789
 790--parents::
 791        Print also the parents of the commit (in the form "commit parent...").
 792        Also enables parent rewriting, see 'History Simplification' below.
 793
 794--children::
 795        Print also the children of the commit (in the form "commit child...").
 796        Also enables parent rewriting, see 'History Simplification' below.
 797
 798ifdef::git-rev-list[]
 799--timestamp::
 800        Print the raw commit timestamp.
 801endif::git-rev-list[]
 802
 803--left-right::
 804        Mark which side of a symmetric difference a commit is reachable from.
 805        Commits from the left side are prefixed with `<` and those from
 806        the right with `>`.  If combined with `--boundary`, those
 807        commits are prefixed with `-`.
 808+
 809For example, if you have this topology:
 810+
 811-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 812             y---b---b  branch B
 813            / \ /
 814           /   .
 815          /   / \
 816         o---x---a---a  branch A
 817-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 818+
 819you would get an output like this:
 820+
 821-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 822        $ git rev-list --left-right --boundary --pretty=oneline A...B
 823
 824        >bbbbbbb... 3rd on b
 825        >bbbbbbb... 2nd on b
 826        <aaaaaaa... 3rd on a
 827        <aaaaaaa... 2nd on a
 828        -yyyyyyy... 1st on b
 829        -xxxxxxx... 1st on a
 830-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 831
 832--graph::
 833        Draw a text-based graphical representation of the commit history
 834        on the left hand side of the output.  This may cause extra lines
 835        to be printed in between commits, in order for the graph history
 836        to be drawn properly.
 837        Cannot be combined with `--no-walk`.
 838+
 839This enables parent rewriting, see 'History Simplification' below.
 840+
 841This implies the `--topo-order` option by default, but the
 842`--date-order` option may also be specified.
 843
 844--show-linear-break[=<barrier>]::
 845        When --graph is not used, all history branches are flattened
 846        which can make it hard to see that the two consecutive commits
 847        do not belong to a linear branch. This option puts a barrier
 848        in between them in that case. If `<barrier>` is specified, it
 849        is the string that will be shown instead of the default one.
 850
 851ifdef::git-rev-list[]
 852--count::
 853        Print a number stating how many commits would have been
 854        listed, and suppress all other output.  When used together
 855        with `--left-right`, instead print the counts for left and
 856        right commits, separated by a tab. When used together with
 857        `--cherry-mark`, omit patch equivalent commits from these
 858        counts and print the count for equivalent commits separated
 859        by a tab.
 860endif::git-rev-list[]
 861
 862ifndef::git-rev-list[]
 863Diff Formatting
 864~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 865
 866Listed below are options that control the formatting of diff output.
 867Some of them are specific to linkgit:git-rev-list[1], however other diff
 868options may be given. See linkgit:git-diff-files[1] for more options.
 869
 870-c::
 871        With this option, diff output for a merge commit
 872        shows the differences from each of the parents to the merge result
 873        simultaneously instead of showing pairwise diff between a parent
 874        and the result one at a time. Furthermore, it lists only files
 875        which were modified from all parents.
 876
 877--cc::
 878        This flag implies the `-c` option and further compresses the
 879        patch output by omitting uninteresting hunks whose contents in
 880        the parents have only two variants and the merge result picks
 881        one of them without modification.
 882
 883-m::
 884        This flag makes the merge commits show the full diff like
 885        regular commits; for each merge parent, a separate log entry
 886        and diff is generated. An exception is that only diff against
 887        the first parent is shown when `--first-parent` option is given;
 888        in that case, the output represents the changes the merge
 889        brought _into_ the then-current branch.
 890
 891-r::
 892        Show recursive diffs.
 893
 894-t::
 895        Show the tree objects in the diff output. This implies `-r`.
 896endif::git-rev-list[]