Documentation / git-log.txton commit check-ref-format doc: de-emphasize the implementation detail of a ref (a0a7e9e)
   1git-log(1)
   2==========
   3
   4NAME
   5----
   6git-log - Show commit logs
   7
   8
   9SYNOPSIS
  10--------
  11'git log' [<options>] [<since>..<until>] [[\--] <path>...]
  12
  13DESCRIPTION
  14-----------
  15Shows the commit logs.
  16
  17The command takes options applicable to the 'git rev-list'
  18command to control what is shown and how, and options applicable to
  19the 'git diff-*' commands to control how the changes
  20each commit introduces are shown.
  21
  22
  23OPTIONS
  24-------
  25
  26-<n>::
  27        Limits the number of commits to show.
  28        Note that this is a commit limiting option, see below.
  29
  30<since>..<until>::
  31        Show only commits between the named two commits.  When
  32        either <since> or <until> is omitted, it defaults to
  33        `HEAD`, i.e. the tip of the current branch.
  34        For a more complete list of ways to spell <since>
  35        and <until>, see linkgit:gitrevisions[7].
  36
  37--follow::
  38        Continue listing the history of a file beyond renames
  39        (works only for a single file).
  40
  41--no-decorate::
  42--decorate[=short|full|no]::
  43        Print out the ref names of any commits that are shown. If 'short' is
  44        specified, the ref name prefixes 'refs/heads/', 'refs/tags/' and
  45        'refs/remotes/' will not be printed. If 'full' is specified, the
  46        full ref name (including prefix) will be printed. The default option
  47        is 'short'.
  48
  49--source::
  50        Print out the ref name given on the command line by which each
  51        commit was reached.
  52
  53--full-diff::
  54        Without this flag, "git log -p <path>..." shows commits that
  55        touch the specified paths, and diffs about the same specified
  56        paths.  With this, the full diff is shown for commits that touch
  57        the specified paths; this means that "<path>..." limits only
  58        commits, and doesn't limit diff for those commits.
  59+
  60Note that this affects all diff-based output types, e.g. those
  61produced by --stat etc.
  62
  63--log-size::
  64        Before the log message print out its size in bytes. Intended
  65        mainly for porcelain tools consumption. If git is unable to
  66        produce a valid value size is set to zero.
  67        Note that only message is considered, if also a diff is shown
  68        its size is not included.
  69
  70[\--] <path>...::
  71        Show only commits that affect any of the specified paths. To
  72        prevent confusion with options and branch names, paths may need
  73        to be prefixed with "\-- " to separate them from options or
  74        refnames.
  75
  76include::rev-list-options.txt[]
  77
  78include::pretty-formats.txt[]
  79
  80Common diff options
  81-------------------
  82
  83:git-log: 1
  84include::diff-options.txt[]
  85
  86include::diff-generate-patch.txt[]
  87
  88Examples
  89--------
  90git log --no-merges::
  91
  92        Show the whole commit history, but skip any merges
  93
  94git log v2.6.12.. include/scsi drivers/scsi::
  95
  96        Show all commits since version 'v2.6.12' that changed any file
  97        in the include/scsi or drivers/scsi subdirectories
  98
  99git log --since="2 weeks ago" \-- gitk::
 100
 101        Show the changes during the last two weeks to the file 'gitk'.
 102        The "--" is necessary to avoid confusion with the *branch* named
 103        'gitk'
 104
 105git log --name-status release..test::
 106
 107        Show the commits that are in the "test" branch but not yet
 108        in the "release" branch, along with the list of paths
 109        each commit modifies.
 110
 111git log --follow builtin-rev-list.c::
 112
 113        Shows the commits that changed builtin-rev-list.c, including
 114        those commits that occurred before the file was given its
 115        present name.
 116
 117git log --branches --not --remotes=origin::
 118
 119        Shows all commits that are in any of local branches but not in
 120        any of remote-tracking branches for 'origin' (what you have that
 121        origin doesn't).
 122
 123git log master --not --remotes=*/master::
 124
 125        Shows all commits that are in local master but not in any remote
 126        repository master branches.
 127
 128git log -p -m --first-parent::
 129
 130        Shows the history including change diffs, but only from the
 131        "main branch" perspective, skipping commits that come from merged
 132        branches, and showing full diffs of changes introduced by the merges.
 133        This makes sense only when following a strict policy of merging all
 134        topic branches when staying on a single integration branch.
 135
 136
 137Discussion
 138----------
 139
 140include::i18n.txt[]
 141
 142Configuration
 143-------------
 144
 145See linkgit:git-config[1] for core variables and linkgit:git-diff[1]
 146for settings related to diff generation.
 147
 148format.pretty::
 149        Default for the `--format` option.  (See "PRETTY FORMATS" above.)
 150        Defaults to "medium".
 151
 152i18n.logOutputEncoding::
 153        Encoding to use when displaying logs.  (See "Discussion", above.)
 154        Defaults to the value of `i18n.commitEncoding` if set, UTF-8
 155        otherwise.
 156
 157log.date::
 158        Default format for human-readable dates.  (Compare the
 159        `--date` option.)  Defaults to "default", which means to write
 160        dates like `Sat May 8 19:35:34 2010 -0500`.
 161
 162log.showroot::
 163        If `false`, 'git log' and related commands will not treat the
 164        initial commit as a big creation event.  Any root commits in
 165        `git log -p` output would be shown without a diff attached.
 166        The default is `true`.
 167
 168mailmap.file::
 169        See linkgit:git-shortlog[1].
 170
 171notes.displayRef::
 172        Which refs, in addition to the default set by `core.notesRef`
 173        or 'GIT_NOTES_REF', to read notes from when showing commit
 174        messages with the 'log' family of commands.  See
 175        linkgit:git-notes[1].
 176+
 177May be an unabbreviated ref name or a glob and may be specified
 178multiple times.  A warning will be issued for refs that do not exist,
 179but a glob that does not match any refs is silently ignored.
 180+
 181This setting can be disabled by the `--no-standard-notes` option,
 182overridden by the 'GIT_NOTES_DISPLAY_REF' environment variable,
 183and supplemented by the `--show-notes` option.
 184
 185GIT
 186---
 187Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite