Documentation / rev-list-options.txton commit Update draft release notes to 1.6.1 (9f8f132)
   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--all-match::
 178        Limit the commits output to ones that match all given --grep,
 179        --author and --committer instead of ones that match at least one.
 180
 181-i::
 182--regexp-ignore-case::
 183
 184        Match the regexp limiting patterns without regard to letters case.
 185
 186-E::
 187--extended-regexp::
 188
 189        Consider the limiting patterns to be extended regular expressions
 190        instead of the default basic regular expressions.
 191
 192-F::
 193--fixed-strings::
 194
 195        Consider the limiting patterns to be fixed strings (don't interpret
 196        pattern as a regular expression).
 197
 198--remove-empty::
 199
 200        Stop when a given path disappears from the tree.
 201
 202--no-merges::
 203
 204        Do not print commits with more than one parent.
 205
 206--first-parent::
 207        Follow only the first parent commit upon seeing a merge
 208        commit.  This option can give a better overview when
 209        viewing the evolution of a particular topic branch,
 210        because merges into a topic branch tend to be only about
 211        adjusting to updated upstream from time to time, and
 212        this option allows you to ignore the individual commits
 213        brought in to your history by such a merge.
 214
 215--not::
 216
 217        Reverses the meaning of the '{caret}' prefix (or lack thereof)
 218        for all following revision specifiers, up to the next '--not'.
 219
 220--all::
 221
 222        Pretend as if all the refs in `$GIT_DIR/refs/` are listed on the
 223        command line as '<commit>'.
 224
 225ifdef::git-rev-list[]
 226--stdin::
 227
 228        In addition to the '<commit>' listed on the command
 229        line, read them from the standard input.
 230
 231--quiet::
 232
 233        Don't print anything to standard output.  This form
 234        is primarily meant to allow the caller to
 235        test the exit status to see if a range of objects is fully
 236        connected (or not).  It is faster than redirecting stdout
 237        to /dev/null as the output does not have to be formatted.
 238endif::git-rev-list[]
 239
 240--cherry-pick::
 241
 242        Omit any commit that introduces the same change as
 243        another commit on the "other side" when the set of
 244        commits are limited with symmetric difference.
 245+
 246For example, if you have two branches, `A` and `B`, a usual way
 247to list all commits on only one side of them is with
 248`--left-right`, like the example above in the description of
 249that option.  It however shows the commits that were cherry-picked
 250from the other branch (for example, "3rd on b" may be cherry-picked
 251from branch A).  With this option, such pairs of commits are
 252excluded from the output.
 253
 254-g::
 255--walk-reflogs::
 256
 257        Instead of walking the commit ancestry chain, walk
 258        reflog entries from the most recent one to older ones.
 259        When this option is used you cannot specify commits to
 260        exclude (that is, '{caret}commit', 'commit1..commit2',
 261        nor 'commit1...commit2' notations cannot be used).
 262+
 263With '\--pretty' format other than oneline (for obvious reasons),
 264this causes the output to have two extra lines of information
 265taken from the reflog.  By default, 'commit@\{Nth}' notation is
 266used in the output.  When the starting commit is specified as
 267'commit@\{now}', output also uses 'commit@\{timestamp}' notation
 268instead.  Under '\--pretty=oneline', the commit message is
 269prefixed with this information on the same line.
 270This option cannot be combined with '\--reverse'.
 271See also linkgit:git-reflog[1].
 272
 273--merge::
 274
 275        After a failed merge, show refs that touch files having a
 276        conflict and don't exist on all heads to merge.
 277
 278--boundary::
 279
 280        Output uninteresting commits at the boundary, which are usually
 281        not shown.
 282
 283--
 284
 285History Simplification
 286~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 287
 288When optional paths are given, 'git-rev-list' simplifies commits with
 289various strategies, according to the options you have selected.
 290
 291Suppose you specified `foo` as the <paths>.  We shall call commits
 292that modify `foo` !TREESAME, and the rest TREESAME.  (In a diff
 293filtered for `foo`, they look different and equal, respectively.)
 294
 295In the following, we will always refer to the same example history to
 296illustrate the differences between simplification settings.  We assume
 297that you are filtering for a file `foo` in this commit graph:
 298-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 299          .-A---M---N---O---P
 300         /     /   /   /   /
 301        I     B   C   D   E
 302         \   /   /   /   /
 303          `-------------'
 304-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 305The horizontal line of history A--P is taken to be the first parent of
 306each merge.  The commits are:
 307
 308* `I` is the initial commit, in which `foo` exists with contents
 309  "asdf", and a file `quux` exists with contents "quux".  Initial
 310  commits are compared to an empty tree, so `I` is !TREESAME.
 311
 312* In `A`, `foo` contains just "foo".
 313
 314* `B` contains the same change as `A`.  Its merge `M` is trivial and
 315  hence TREESAME to all parents.
 316
 317* `C` does not change `foo`, but its merge `N` changes it to "foobar",
 318  so it is not TREESAME to any parent.
 319
 320* `D` sets `foo` to "baz".  Its merge `O` combines the strings from
 321  `N` and `D` to "foobarbaz"; i.e., it is not TREESAME to any parent.
 322
 323* `E` changes `quux` to "xyzzy", and its merge `P` combines the
 324  strings to "quux xyzzy".  Despite appearing interesting, `P` is
 325  TREESAME to all parents.
 326
 327'rev-list' walks backwards through history, including or excluding
 328commits based on whether '\--full-history' and/or parent rewriting
 329(via '\--parents' or '\--children') are used.  The following settings
 330are available.
 331
 332Default mode::
 333
 334        Commits are included if they are not TREESAME to any parent
 335        (though this can be changed, see '\--sparse' below).  If the
 336        commit was a merge, and it was TREESAME to one parent, follow
 337        only that parent.  (Even if there are several TREESAME
 338        parents, follow only one of them.)  Otherwise, follow all
 339        parents.
 340+
 341This results in:
 342+
 343-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 344          .-A---N---O
 345         /         /
 346        I---------D
 347-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 348+
 349Note how the rule to only follow the TREESAME parent, if one is
 350available, removed `B` from consideration entirely.  `C` was
 351considered via `N`, but is TREESAME.  Root commits are compared to an
 352empty tree, so `I` is !TREESAME.
 353+
 354Parent/child relations are only visible with --parents, but that does
 355not affect the commits selected in default mode, so we have shown the
 356parent lines.
 357
 358--full-history without parent rewriting::
 359
 360        This mode differs from the default in one point: always follow
 361        all parents of a merge, even if it is TREESAME to one of them.
 362        Even if more than one side of the merge has commits that are
 363        included, this does not imply that the merge itself is!  In
 364        the example, we get
 365+
 366-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 367        I  A  B  N  D  O
 368-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 369+
 370`P` and `M` were excluded because they are TREESAME to a parent.  `E`,
 371`C` and `B` were all walked, but only `B` was !TREESAME, so the others
 372do not appear.
 373+
 374Note that without parent rewriting, it is not really possible to talk
 375about the parent/child relationships between the commits, so we show
 376them disconnected.
 377
 378--full-history with parent rewriting::
 379
 380        Ordinary commits are only included if they are !TREESAME
 381        (though this can be changed, see '\--sparse' below).
 382+
 383Merges are always included.  However, their parent list is rewritten:
 384Along each parent, prune away commits that are not included
 385themselves.  This results in
 386+
 387-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 388          .-A---M---N---O---P
 389         /     /   /   /   /
 390        I     B   /   D   /
 391         \   /   /   /   /
 392          `-------------'
 393-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 394+
 395Compare to '\--full-history' without rewriting above.  Note that `E`
 396was pruned away because it is TREESAME, but the parent list of P was
 397rewritten to contain `E`'s parent `I`.  The same happened for `C` and
 398`N`.  Note also that `P` was included despite being TREESAME.
 399
 400In addition to the above settings, you can change whether TREESAME
 401affects inclusion:
 402
 403--dense::
 404
 405        Commits that are walked are included if they are not TREESAME
 406        to any parent.
 407
 408--sparse::
 409
 410        All commits that are walked are included.
 411+
 412Note that without '\--full-history', this still simplifies merges: if
 413one of the parents is TREESAME, we follow only that one, so the other
 414sides of the merge are never walked.
 415
 416Finally, there is a fourth simplification mode available:
 417
 418--simplify-merges::
 419
 420        First, build a history graph in the same way that
 421        '\--full-history' with parent rewriting does (see above).
 422+
 423Then simplify each commit `C` to its replacement `C'` in the final
 424history according to the following rules:
 425+
 426--
 427* Set `C'` to `C`.
 428+
 429* Replace each parent `P` of `C'` with its simplification `P'`.  In
 430  the process, drop parents that are ancestors of other parents, and
 431  remove duplicates.
 432+
 433* If after this parent rewriting, `C'` is a root or merge commit (has
 434  zero or >1 parents), a boundary commit, or !TREESAME, it remains.
 435  Otherwise, it is replaced with its only parent.
 436--
 437+
 438The effect of this is best shown by way of comparing to
 439'\--full-history' with parent rewriting.  The example turns into:
 440+
 441-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 442          .-A---M---N---O
 443         /     /       /
 444        I     B       D
 445         \   /       /
 446          `---------'
 447-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 448+
 449Note the major differences in `N` and `P` over '\--full-history':
 450+
 451--
 452* `N`'s parent list had `I` removed, because it is an ancestor of the
 453  other parent `M`.  Still, `N` remained because it is !TREESAME.
 454+
 455* `P`'s parent list similarly had `I` removed.  `P` was then
 456  removed completely, because it had one parent and is TREESAME.
 457--
 458
 459ifdef::git-rev-list[]
 460Bisection Helpers
 461~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 462
 463--bisect::
 464
 465Limit output to the one commit object which is roughly halfway between
 466the included and excluded commits. Thus, if
 467
 468-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 469        $ git-rev-list --bisect foo ^bar ^baz
 470-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 471
 472outputs 'midpoint', the output of the two commands
 473
 474-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 475        $ git-rev-list foo ^midpoint
 476        $ git-rev-list midpoint ^bar ^baz
 477-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 478
 479would be of roughly the same length.  Finding the change which
 480introduces a regression is thus reduced to a binary search: repeatedly
 481generate and test new 'midpoint's until the commit chain is of length
 482one.
 483
 484--bisect-vars::
 485
 486This calculates the same as `--bisect`, but outputs text ready
 487to be eval'ed by the shell. These lines will assign the name of
 488the midpoint revision to the variable `bisect_rev`, and the
 489expected number of commits to be tested after `bisect_rev` is
 490tested to `bisect_nr`, the expected number of commits to be
 491tested if `bisect_rev` turns out to be good to `bisect_good`,
 492the expected number of commits to be tested if `bisect_rev`
 493turns out to be bad to `bisect_bad`, and the number of commits
 494we are bisecting right now to `bisect_all`.
 495
 496--bisect-all::
 497
 498This outputs all the commit objects between the included and excluded
 499commits, ordered by their distance to the included and excluded
 500commits. The farthest from them is displayed first. (This is the only
 501one displayed by `--bisect`.)
 502
 503This is useful because it makes it easy to choose a good commit to
 504test when you want to avoid to test some of them for some reason (they
 505may not compile for example).
 506
 507This option can be used along with `--bisect-vars`, in this case,
 508after all the sorted commit objects, there will be the same text as if
 509`--bisect-vars` had been used alone.
 510endif::git-rev-list[]
 511
 512
 513Commit Ordering
 514~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 515
 516By default, the commits are shown in reverse chronological order.
 517
 518--topo-order::
 519
 520        This option makes them appear in topological order (i.e.
 521        descendant commits are shown before their parents).
 522
 523--date-order::
 524
 525        This option is similar to '--topo-order' in the sense that no
 526        parent comes before all of its children, but otherwise things
 527        are still ordered in the commit timestamp order.
 528
 529--reverse::
 530
 531        Output the commits in reverse order.
 532        Cannot be combined with '\--walk-reflogs'.
 533
 534Object Traversal
 535~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 536
 537These options are mostly targeted for packing of git repositories.
 538
 539--objects::
 540
 541        Print the object IDs of any object referenced by the listed
 542        commits.  '--objects foo ^bar' thus means "send me
 543        all object IDs which I need to download if I have the commit
 544        object 'bar', but not 'foo'".
 545
 546--objects-edge::
 547
 548        Similar to '--objects', but also print the IDs of excluded
 549        commits prefixed with a "-" character.  This is used by
 550        linkgit:git-pack-objects[1] to build "thin" pack, which records
 551        objects in deltified form based on objects contained in these
 552        excluded commits to reduce network traffic.
 553
 554--unpacked::
 555
 556        Only useful with '--objects'; print the object IDs that are not
 557        in packs.
 558
 559--no-walk::
 560
 561        Only show the given revs, but do not traverse their ancestors.
 562
 563--do-walk::
 564
 565        Overrides a previous --no-walk.