Documentation / rev-list-options.txton commit Merge branch 'ah/doc-empty-string-is-false' into next (df47ffe)
   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-P::
  95--perl-regexp::
  96        Consider the limiting patterns to be Perl-compatible regular
  97        expressions.
  98+
  99Support for these types of regular expressions is an optional
 100compile-time dependency. If Git wasn't compiled with support for them
 101providing this option will cause it to die.
 102
 103--remove-empty::
 104        Stop when a given path disappears from the tree.
 105
 106--merges::
 107        Print only merge commits. This is exactly the same as `--min-parents=2`.
 108
 109--no-merges::
 110        Do not print commits with more than one parent. This is
 111        exactly the same as `--max-parents=1`.
 112
 113--min-parents=<number>::
 114--max-parents=<number>::
 115--no-min-parents::
 116--no-max-parents::
 117        Show only commits which have at least (or at most) that many parent
 118        commits. In particular, `--max-parents=1` is the same as `--no-merges`,
 119        `--min-parents=2` is the same as `--merges`.  `--max-parents=0`
 120        gives all root commits and `--min-parents=3` all octopus merges.
 121+
 122`--no-min-parents` and `--no-max-parents` reset these limits (to no limit)
 123again.  Equivalent forms are `--min-parents=0` (any commit has 0 or more
 124parents) and `--max-parents=-1` (negative numbers denote no upper limit).
 125
 126--first-parent::
 127        Follow only the first parent commit upon seeing a merge
 128        commit.  This option can give a better overview when
 129        viewing the evolution of a particular topic branch,
 130        because merges into a topic branch tend to be only about
 131        adjusting to updated upstream from time to time, and
 132        this option allows you to ignore the individual commits
 133        brought in to your history by such a merge. Cannot be
 134        combined with --bisect.
 135
 136--not::
 137        Reverses the meaning of the '{caret}' prefix (or lack thereof)
 138        for all following revision specifiers, up to the next `--not`.
 139
 140--all::
 141        Pretend as if all the refs in `refs/`, along with `HEAD`, are
 142        listed on the command line as '<commit>'.
 143
 144--branches[=<pattern>]::
 145        Pretend as if all the refs in `refs/heads` are listed
 146        on the command line as '<commit>'. If '<pattern>' is given, limit
 147        branches to ones matching given shell glob. If pattern lacks '?',
 148        '{asterisk}', or '[', '/{asterisk}' at the end is implied.
 149
 150--tags[=<pattern>]::
 151        Pretend as if all the refs in `refs/tags` are listed
 152        on the command line as '<commit>'. If '<pattern>' is given, limit
 153        tags to ones matching given shell glob. If pattern lacks '?', '{asterisk}',
 154        or '[', '/{asterisk}' at the end is implied.
 155
 156--remotes[=<pattern>]::
 157        Pretend as if all the refs in `refs/remotes` are listed
 158        on the command line as '<commit>'. If '<pattern>' is given, limit
 159        remote-tracking branches to ones matching given shell glob.
 160        If pattern lacks '?', '{asterisk}', or '[', '/{asterisk}' at the end is implied.
 161
 162--glob=<glob-pattern>::
 163        Pretend as if all the refs matching shell glob '<glob-pattern>'
 164        are listed on the command line as '<commit>'. Leading 'refs/',
 165        is automatically prepended if missing. If pattern lacks '?', '{asterisk}',
 166        or '[', '/{asterisk}' at the end is implied.
 167
 168--exclude=<glob-pattern>::
 169
 170        Do not include refs matching '<glob-pattern>' that the next `--all`,
 171        `--branches`, `--tags`, `--remotes`, or `--glob` would otherwise
 172        consider. Repetitions of this option accumulate exclusion patterns
 173        up to the next `--all`, `--branches`, `--tags`, `--remotes`, or
 174        `--glob` option (other options or arguments do not clear
 175        accumulated patterns).
 176+
 177The patterns given should not begin with `refs/heads`, `refs/tags`, or
 178`refs/remotes` when applied to `--branches`, `--tags`, or `--remotes`,
 179respectively, and they must begin with `refs/` when applied to `--glob`
 180or `--all`. If a trailing '/{asterisk}' is intended, it must be given
 181explicitly.
 182
 183--reflog::
 184        Pretend as if all objects mentioned by reflogs are listed on the
 185        command line as `<commit>`.
 186
 187--ignore-missing::
 188        Upon seeing an invalid object name in the input, pretend as if
 189        the bad input was not given.
 190
 191ifndef::git-rev-list[]
 192--bisect::
 193        Pretend as if the bad bisection ref `refs/bisect/bad`
 194        was listed and as if it was followed by `--not` and the good
 195        bisection refs `refs/bisect/good-*` on the command
 196        line. Cannot be combined with --first-parent.
 197endif::git-rev-list[]
 198
 199--stdin::
 200        In addition to the '<commit>' listed on the command
 201        line, read them from the standard input. If a `--` separator is
 202        seen, stop reading commits and start reading paths to limit the
 203        result.
 204
 205ifdef::git-rev-list[]
 206--quiet::
 207        Don't print anything to standard output.  This form
 208        is primarily meant to allow the caller to
 209        test the exit status to see if a range of objects is fully
 210        connected (or not).  It is faster than redirecting stdout
 211        to `/dev/null` as the output does not have to be formatted.
 212endif::git-rev-list[]
 213
 214--cherry-mark::
 215        Like `--cherry-pick` (see below) but mark equivalent commits
 216        with `=` rather than omitting them, and inequivalent ones with `+`.
 217
 218--cherry-pick::
 219        Omit any commit that introduces the same change as
 220        another commit on the ``other side'' when the set of
 221        commits are limited with symmetric difference.
 222+
 223For example, if you have two branches, `A` and `B`, a usual way
 224to list all commits on only one side of them is with
 225`--left-right` (see the example below in the description of
 226the `--left-right` option). However, it shows the commits that were
 227cherry-picked from the other branch (for example, ``3rd on b'' may be
 228cherry-picked from branch A). With this option, such pairs of commits are
 229excluded from the output.
 230
 231--left-only::
 232--right-only::
 233        List only commits on the respective side of a symmetric difference,
 234        i.e. only those which would be marked `<` resp. `>` by
 235        `--left-right`.
 236+
 237For example, `--cherry-pick --right-only A...B` omits those
 238commits from `B` which are in `A` or are patch-equivalent to a commit in
 239`A`. In other words, this lists the `+` commits from `git cherry A B`.
 240More precisely, `--cherry-pick --right-only --no-merges` gives the exact
 241list.
 242
 243--cherry::
 244        A synonym for `--right-only --cherry-mark --no-merges`; useful to
 245        limit the output to the commits on our side and mark those that
 246        have been applied to the other side of a forked history with
 247        `git log --cherry upstream...mybranch`, similar to
 248        `git cherry upstream mybranch`.
 249
 250-g::
 251--walk-reflogs::
 252        Instead of walking the commit ancestry chain, walk
 253        reflog entries from the most recent one to older ones.
 254        When this option is used you cannot specify commits to
 255        exclude (that is, '{caret}commit', 'commit1..commit2',
 256        and 'commit1\...commit2' notations cannot be used).
 257+
 258With `--pretty` format other than `oneline` (for obvious reasons),
 259this causes the output to have two extra lines of information
 260taken from the reflog.  The reflog designator in the output may be shown
 261as `ref@{Nth}` (where `Nth` is the reverse-chronological index in the
 262reflog) or as `ref@{timestamp}` (with the timestamp for that entry),
 263depending on a few rules:
 264+
 265--
 2661. If the starting point is specified as `ref@{Nth}`, show the index
 267format.
 268+
 2692. If the starting point was specified as `ref@{now}`, show the
 270timestamp format.
 271+
 2723. If neither was used, but `--date` was given on the command line, show
 273the timestamp in the format requested by `--date`.
 274+
 2754. Otherwise, show the index format.
 276--
 277+
 278Under `--pretty=oneline`, the commit message is
 279prefixed with this information on the same line.
 280This option cannot be combined with `--reverse`.
 281See also linkgit:git-reflog[1].
 282
 283--merge::
 284        After a failed merge, show refs that touch files having a
 285        conflict and don't exist on all heads to merge.
 286
 287--boundary::
 288        Output excluded boundary commits. Boundary commits are
 289        prefixed with `-`.
 290
 291ifdef::git-rev-list[]
 292--use-bitmap-index::
 293
 294        Try to speed up the traversal using the pack bitmap index (if
 295        one is available). Note that when traversing with `--objects`,
 296        trees and blobs will not have their associated path printed.
 297
 298--progress=<header>::
 299        Show progress reports on stderr as objects are considered. The
 300        `<header>` text will be printed with each progress update.
 301endif::git-rev-list[]
 302
 303--
 304
 305History Simplification
 306~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 307
 308Sometimes you are only interested in parts of the history, for example the
 309commits modifying a particular <path>. But there are two parts of
 310'History Simplification', one part is selecting the commits and the other
 311is how to do it, as there are various strategies to simplify the history.
 312
 313The following options select the commits to be shown:
 314
 315<paths>::
 316        Commits modifying the given <paths> are selected.
 317
 318--simplify-by-decoration::
 319        Commits that are referred by some branch or tag are selected.
 320
 321Note that extra commits can be shown to give a meaningful history.
 322
 323The following options affect the way the simplification is performed:
 324
 325Default mode::
 326        Simplifies the history to the simplest history explaining the
 327        final state of the tree. Simplest because it prunes some side
 328        branches if the end result is the same (i.e. merging branches
 329        with the same content)
 330
 331--full-history::
 332        Same as the default mode, but does not prune some history.
 333
 334--dense::
 335        Only the selected commits are shown, plus some to have a
 336        meaningful history.
 337
 338--sparse::
 339        All commits in the simplified history are shown.
 340
 341--simplify-merges::
 342        Additional option to `--full-history` to remove some needless
 343        merges from the resulting history, as there are no selected
 344        commits contributing to this merge.
 345
 346--ancestry-path::
 347        When given a range of commits to display (e.g. 'commit1..commit2'
 348        or 'commit2 {caret}commit1'), only display commits that exist
 349        directly on the ancestry chain between the 'commit1' and
 350        'commit2', i.e. commits that are both descendants of 'commit1',
 351        and ancestors of 'commit2'.
 352
 353A more detailed explanation follows.
 354
 355Suppose you specified `foo` as the <paths>.  We shall call commits
 356that modify `foo` !TREESAME, and the rest TREESAME.  (In a diff
 357filtered for `foo`, they look different and equal, respectively.)
 358
 359In the following, we will always refer to the same example history to
 360illustrate the differences between simplification settings.  We assume
 361that you are filtering for a file `foo` in this commit graph:
 362-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 363          .-A---M---N---O---P---Q
 364         /     /   /   /   /   /
 365        I     B   C   D   E   Y
 366         \   /   /   /   /   /
 367          `-------------'   X
 368-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 369The horizontal line of history A---Q is taken to be the first parent of
 370each merge.  The commits are:
 371
 372* `I` is the initial commit, in which `foo` exists with contents
 373  ``asdf'', and a file `quux` exists with contents ``quux''. Initial
 374  commits are compared to an empty tree, so `I` is !TREESAME.
 375
 376* In `A`, `foo` contains just ``foo''.
 377
 378* `B` contains the same change as `A`.  Its merge `M` is trivial and
 379  hence TREESAME to all parents.
 380
 381* `C` does not change `foo`, but its merge `N` changes it to ``foobar'',
 382  so it is not TREESAME to any parent.
 383
 384* `D` sets `foo` to ``baz''. Its merge `O` combines the strings from
 385  `N` and `D` to ``foobarbaz''; i.e., it is not TREESAME to any parent.
 386
 387* `E` changes `quux` to ``xyzzy'', and its merge `P` combines the
 388  strings to ``quux xyzzy''. `P` is TREESAME to `O`, but not to `E`.
 389
 390* `X` is an independent root commit that added a new file `side`, and `Y`
 391  modified it. `Y` is TREESAME to `X`. Its merge `Q` added `side` to `P`, and
 392  `Q` is TREESAME to `P`, but not to `Y`.
 393
 394`rev-list` walks backwards through history, including or excluding
 395commits based on whether `--full-history` and/or parent rewriting
 396(via `--parents` or `--children`) are used. The following settings
 397are available.
 398
 399Default mode::
 400        Commits are included if they are not TREESAME to any parent
 401        (though this can be changed, see `--sparse` below).  If the
 402        commit was a merge, and it was TREESAME to one parent, follow
 403        only that parent.  (Even if there are several TREESAME
 404        parents, follow only one of them.)  Otherwise, follow all
 405        parents.
 406+
 407This results in:
 408+
 409-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 410          .-A---N---O
 411         /     /   /
 412        I---------D
 413-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 414+
 415Note how the rule to only follow the TREESAME parent, if one is
 416available, removed `B` from consideration entirely.  `C` was
 417considered via `N`, but is TREESAME.  Root commits are compared to an
 418empty tree, so `I` is !TREESAME.
 419+
 420Parent/child relations are only visible with `--parents`, but that does
 421not affect the commits selected in default mode, so we have shown the
 422parent lines.
 423
 424--full-history without parent rewriting::
 425        This mode differs from the default in one point: always follow
 426        all parents of a merge, even if it is TREESAME to one of them.
 427        Even if more than one side of the merge has commits that are
 428        included, this does not imply that the merge itself is!  In
 429        the example, we get
 430+
 431-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 432        I  A  B  N  D  O  P  Q
 433-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 434+
 435`M` was excluded because it is TREESAME to both parents.  `E`,
 436`C` and `B` were all walked, but only `B` was !TREESAME, so the others
 437do not appear.
 438+
 439Note that without parent rewriting, it is not really possible to talk
 440about the parent/child relationships between the commits, so we show
 441them disconnected.
 442
 443--full-history with parent rewriting::
 444        Ordinary commits are only included if they are !TREESAME
 445        (though this can be changed, see `--sparse` below).
 446+
 447Merges are always included.  However, their parent list is rewritten:
 448Along each parent, prune away commits that are not included
 449themselves.  This results in
 450+
 451-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 452          .-A---M---N---O---P---Q
 453         /     /   /   /   /
 454        I     B   /   D   /
 455         \   /   /   /   /
 456          `-------------'
 457-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 458+
 459Compare to `--full-history` without rewriting above.  Note that `E`
 460was pruned away because it is TREESAME, but the parent list of P was
 461rewritten to contain `E`'s parent `I`.  The same happened for `C` and
 462`N`, and `X`, `Y` and `Q`.
 463
 464In addition to the above settings, you can change whether TREESAME
 465affects inclusion:
 466
 467--dense::
 468        Commits that are walked are included if they are not TREESAME
 469        to any parent.
 470
 471--sparse::
 472        All commits that are walked are included.
 473+
 474Note that without `--full-history`, this still simplifies merges: if
 475one of the parents is TREESAME, we follow only that one, so the other
 476sides of the merge are never walked.
 477
 478--simplify-merges::
 479        First, build a history graph in the same way that
 480        `--full-history` with parent rewriting does (see above).
 481+
 482Then simplify each commit `C` to its replacement `C'` in the final
 483history according to the following rules:
 484+
 485--
 486* Set `C'` to `C`.
 487+
 488* Replace each parent `P` of `C'` with its simplification `P'`.  In
 489  the process, drop parents that are ancestors of other parents or that are
 490  root commits TREESAME to an empty tree, and remove duplicates, but take care
 491  to never drop all parents that we are TREESAME to.
 492+
 493* If after this parent rewriting, `C'` is a root or merge commit (has
 494  zero or >1 parents), a boundary commit, or !TREESAME, it remains.
 495  Otherwise, it is replaced with its only parent.
 496--
 497+
 498The effect of this is best shown by way of comparing to
 499`--full-history` with parent rewriting.  The example turns into:
 500+
 501-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 502          .-A---M---N---O
 503         /     /       /
 504        I     B       D
 505         \   /       /
 506          `---------'
 507-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 508+
 509Note the major differences in `N`, `P`, and `Q` over `--full-history`:
 510+
 511--
 512* `N`'s parent list had `I` removed, because it is an ancestor of the
 513  other parent `M`.  Still, `N` remained because it is !TREESAME.
 514+
 515* `P`'s parent list similarly had `I` removed.  `P` was then
 516  removed completely, because it had one parent and is TREESAME.
 517+
 518* `Q`'s parent list had `Y` simplified to `X`. `X` was then removed, because it
 519  was a TREESAME root. `Q` was then removed completely, because it had one
 520  parent and is TREESAME.
 521--
 522
 523Finally, there is a fifth simplification mode available:
 524
 525--ancestry-path::
 526        Limit the displayed commits to those directly on the ancestry
 527        chain between the ``from'' and ``to'' commits in the given commit
 528        range. I.e. only display commits that are ancestor of the ``to''
 529        commit and descendants of the ``from'' commit.
 530+
 531As an example use case, consider the following commit history:
 532+
 533-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 534            D---E-------F
 535           /     \       \
 536          B---C---G---H---I---J
 537         /                     \
 538        A-------K---------------L--M
 539-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 540+
 541A regular 'D..M' computes the set of commits that are ancestors of `M`,
 542but excludes the ones that are ancestors of `D`. This is useful to see
 543what happened to the history leading to `M` since `D`, in the sense
 544that ``what does `M` have that did not exist in `D`''. The result in this
 545example would be all the commits, except `A` and `B` (and `D` itself,
 546of course).
 547+
 548When we want to find out what commits in `M` are contaminated with the
 549bug introduced by `D` and need fixing, however, we might want to view
 550only the subset of 'D..M' that are actually descendants of `D`, i.e.
 551excluding `C` and `K`. This is exactly what the `--ancestry-path`
 552option does. Applied to the 'D..M' range, it results in:
 553+
 554-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 555                E-------F
 556                 \       \
 557                  G---H---I---J
 558                               \
 559                                L--M
 560-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 561
 562The `--simplify-by-decoration` option allows you to view only the
 563big picture of the topology of the history, by omitting commits
 564that are not referenced by tags.  Commits are marked as !TREESAME
 565(in other words, kept after history simplification rules described
 566above) if (1) they are referenced by tags, or (2) they change the
 567contents of the paths given on the command line.  All other
 568commits are marked as TREESAME (subject to be simplified away).
 569
 570ifdef::git-rev-list[]
 571Bisection Helpers
 572~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 573
 574--bisect::
 575        Limit output to the one commit object which is roughly halfway between
 576        included and excluded commits. Note that the bad bisection ref
 577        `refs/bisect/bad` is added to the included commits (if it
 578        exists) and the good bisection refs `refs/bisect/good-*` are
 579        added to the excluded commits (if they exist). Thus, supposing there
 580        are no refs in `refs/bisect/`, if
 581+
 582-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 583        $ git rev-list --bisect foo ^bar ^baz
 584-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 585+
 586outputs 'midpoint', the output of the two commands
 587+
 588-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 589        $ git rev-list foo ^midpoint
 590        $ git rev-list midpoint ^bar ^baz
 591-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 592+
 593would be of roughly the same length.  Finding the change which
 594introduces a regression is thus reduced to a binary search: repeatedly
 595generate and test new 'midpoint's until the commit chain is of length
 596one. Cannot be combined with --first-parent.
 597
 598--bisect-vars::
 599        This calculates the same as `--bisect`, except that refs in
 600        `refs/bisect/` are not used, and except that this outputs
 601        text ready to be eval'ed by the shell. These lines will assign the
 602        name of the midpoint revision to the variable `bisect_rev`, and the
 603        expected number of commits to be tested after `bisect_rev` is tested
 604        to `bisect_nr`, the expected number of commits to be tested if
 605        `bisect_rev` turns out to be good to `bisect_good`, the expected
 606        number of commits to be tested if `bisect_rev` turns out to be bad to
 607        `bisect_bad`, and the number of commits we are bisecting right now to
 608        `bisect_all`.
 609
 610--bisect-all::
 611        This outputs all the commit objects between the included and excluded
 612        commits, ordered by their distance to the included and excluded
 613        commits. Refs in `refs/bisect/` are not used. The farthest
 614        from them is displayed first. (This is the only one displayed by
 615        `--bisect`.)
 616+
 617This is useful because it makes it easy to choose a good commit to
 618test when you want to avoid to test some of them for some reason (they
 619may not compile for example).
 620+
 621This option can be used along with `--bisect-vars`, in this case,
 622after all the sorted commit objects, there will be the same text as if
 623`--bisect-vars` had been used alone.
 624endif::git-rev-list[]
 625
 626
 627Commit Ordering
 628~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 629
 630By default, the commits are shown in reverse chronological order.
 631
 632--date-order::
 633        Show no parents before all of its children are shown, but
 634        otherwise show commits in the commit timestamp order.
 635
 636--author-date-order::
 637        Show no parents before all of its children are shown, but
 638        otherwise show commits in the author timestamp order.
 639
 640--topo-order::
 641        Show no parents before all of its children are shown, and
 642        avoid showing commits on multiple lines of history
 643        intermixed.
 644+
 645For example, in a commit history like this:
 646+
 647----------------------------------------------------------------
 648
 649    ---1----2----4----7
 650        \              \
 651         3----5----6----8---
 652
 653----------------------------------------------------------------
 654+
 655where the numbers denote the order of commit timestamps, `git
 656rev-list` and friends with `--date-order` show the commits in the
 657timestamp order: 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1.
 658+
 659With `--topo-order`, they would show 8 6 5 3 7 4 2 1 (or 8 7 4 2 6 5
 6603 1); some older commits are shown before newer ones in order to
 661avoid showing the commits from two parallel development track mixed
 662together.
 663
 664--reverse::
 665        Output the commits chosen to be shown (see Commit Limiting
 666        section above) in reverse order. Cannot be combined with
 667        `--walk-reflogs`.
 668
 669Object Traversal
 670~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 671
 672These options are mostly targeted for packing of Git repositories.
 673
 674ifdef::git-rev-list[]
 675--objects::
 676        Print the object IDs of any object referenced by the listed
 677        commits.  `--objects foo ^bar` thus means ``send me
 678        all object IDs which I need to download if I have the commit
 679        object _bar_ but not _foo_''.
 680
 681--objects-edge::
 682        Similar to `--objects`, but also print the IDs of excluded
 683        commits prefixed with a ``-'' character.  This is used by
 684        linkgit:git-pack-objects[1] to build a ``thin'' pack, which records
 685        objects in deltified form based on objects contained in these
 686        excluded commits to reduce network traffic.
 687
 688--objects-edge-aggressive::
 689        Similar to `--objects-edge`, but it tries harder to find excluded
 690        commits at the cost of increased time.  This is used instead of
 691        `--objects-edge` to build ``thin'' packs for shallow repositories.
 692
 693--indexed-objects::
 694        Pretend as if all trees and blobs used by the index are listed
 695        on the command line.  Note that you probably want to use
 696        `--objects`, too.
 697
 698--unpacked::
 699        Only useful with `--objects`; print the object IDs that are not
 700        in packs.
 701endif::git-rev-list[]
 702
 703--no-walk[=(sorted|unsorted)]::
 704        Only show the given commits, but do not traverse their ancestors.
 705        This has no effect if a range is specified. If the argument
 706        `unsorted` is given, the commits are shown in the order they were
 707        given on the command line. Otherwise (if `sorted` or no argument
 708        was given), the commits are shown in reverse chronological order
 709        by commit time.
 710        Cannot be combined with `--graph`.
 711
 712--do-walk::
 713        Overrides a previous `--no-walk`.
 714
 715Commit Formatting
 716~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 717
 718ifdef::git-rev-list[]
 719Using these options, linkgit:git-rev-list[1] will act similar to the
 720more specialized family of commit log tools: linkgit:git-log[1],
 721linkgit:git-show[1], and linkgit:git-whatchanged[1]
 722endif::git-rev-list[]
 723
 724include::pretty-options.txt[]
 725
 726--relative-date::
 727        Synonym for `--date=relative`.
 728
 729--date=<format>::
 730        Only takes effect for dates shown in human-readable format, such
 731        as when using `--pretty`. `log.date` config variable sets a default
 732        value for the log command's `--date` option. By default, dates
 733        are shown in the original time zone (either committer's or
 734        author's). If `-local` is appended to the format (e.g.,
 735        `iso-local`), the user's local time zone is used instead.
 736+
 737`--date=relative` shows dates relative to the current time,
 738e.g. ``2 hours ago''. The `-local` option has no effect for
 739`--date=relative`.
 740+
 741`--date=local` is an alias for `--date=default-local`.
 742+
 743`--date=iso` (or `--date=iso8601`) shows timestamps in a ISO 8601-like format.
 744The differences to the strict ISO 8601 format are:
 745
 746        - a space instead of the `T` date/time delimiter
 747        - a space between time and time zone
 748        - no colon between hours and minutes of the time zone
 749
 750+
 751`--date=iso-strict` (or `--date=iso8601-strict`) shows timestamps in strict
 752ISO 8601 format.
 753+
 754`--date=rfc` (or `--date=rfc2822`) shows timestamps in RFC 2822
 755format, often found in email messages.
 756+
 757`--date=short` shows only the date, but not the time, in `YYYY-MM-DD` format.
 758+
 759`--date=raw` shows the date as seconds since the epoch (1970-01-01
 76000:00:00 UTC), followed by a space, and then the timezone as an offset
 761from UTC (a `+` or `-` with four digits; the first two are hours, and
 762the second two are minutes). I.e., as if the timestamp were formatted
 763with `strftime("%s %z")`).
 764Note that the `-local` option does not affect the seconds-since-epoch
 765value (which is always measured in UTC), but does switch the accompanying
 766timezone value.
 767+
 768`--date=unix` shows the date as a Unix epoch timestamp (seconds since
 7691970).  As with `--raw`, this is always in UTC and therefore `-local`
 770has no effect.
 771+
 772`--date=format:...` feeds the format `...` to your system `strftime`,
 773except for %z and %Z, which are handled internally.
 774Use `--date=format:%c` to show the date in your system locale's
 775preferred format.  See the `strftime` manual for a complete list of
 776format placeholders. When using `-local`, the correct syntax is
 777`--date=format-local:...`.
 778+
 779`--date=default` is the default format, and is similar to
 780`--date=rfc2822`, with a few exceptions:
 781
 782        - there is no comma after the day-of-week
 783
 784        - the time zone is omitted when the local time zone is used
 785
 786ifdef::git-rev-list[]
 787--header::
 788        Print the contents of the commit in raw-format; each record is
 789        separated with a NUL character.
 790endif::git-rev-list[]
 791
 792--parents::
 793        Print also the parents of the commit (in the form "commit parent...").
 794        Also enables parent rewriting, see 'History Simplification' below.
 795
 796--children::
 797        Print also the children of the commit (in the form "commit child...").
 798        Also enables parent rewriting, see 'History Simplification' below.
 799
 800ifdef::git-rev-list[]
 801--timestamp::
 802        Print the raw commit timestamp.
 803endif::git-rev-list[]
 804
 805--left-right::
 806        Mark which side of a symmetric difference a commit is reachable from.
 807        Commits from the left side are prefixed with `<` and those from
 808        the right with `>`.  If combined with `--boundary`, those
 809        commits are prefixed with `-`.
 810+
 811For example, if you have this topology:
 812+
 813-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 814             y---b---b  branch B
 815            / \ /
 816           /   .
 817          /   / \
 818         o---x---a---a  branch A
 819-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 820+
 821you would get an output like this:
 822+
 823-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 824        $ git rev-list --left-right --boundary --pretty=oneline A...B
 825
 826        >bbbbbbb... 3rd on b
 827        >bbbbbbb... 2nd on b
 828        <aaaaaaa... 3rd on a
 829        <aaaaaaa... 2nd on a
 830        -yyyyyyy... 1st on b
 831        -xxxxxxx... 1st on a
 832-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 833
 834--graph::
 835        Draw a text-based graphical representation of the commit history
 836        on the left hand side of the output.  This may cause extra lines
 837        to be printed in between commits, in order for the graph history
 838        to be drawn properly.
 839        Cannot be combined with `--no-walk`.
 840+
 841This enables parent rewriting, see 'History Simplification' below.
 842+
 843This implies the `--topo-order` option by default, but the
 844`--date-order` option may also be specified.
 845
 846--show-linear-break[=<barrier>]::
 847        When --graph is not used, all history branches are flattened
 848        which can make it hard to see that the two consecutive commits
 849        do not belong to a linear branch. This option puts a barrier
 850        in between them in that case. If `<barrier>` is specified, it
 851        is the string that will be shown instead of the default one.
 852
 853ifdef::git-rev-list[]
 854--count::
 855        Print a number stating how many commits would have been
 856        listed, and suppress all other output.  When used together
 857        with `--left-right`, instead print the counts for left and
 858        right commits, separated by a tab. When used together with
 859        `--cherry-mark`, omit patch equivalent commits from these
 860        counts and print the count for equivalent commits separated
 861        by a tab.
 862endif::git-rev-list[]
 863
 864ifndef::git-rev-list[]
 865Diff Formatting
 866~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 867
 868Listed below are options that control the formatting of diff output.
 869Some of them are specific to linkgit:git-rev-list[1], however other diff
 870options may be given. See linkgit:git-diff-files[1] for more options.
 871
 872-c::
 873        With this option, diff output for a merge commit
 874        shows the differences from each of the parents to the merge result
 875        simultaneously instead of showing pairwise diff between a parent
 876        and the result one at a time. Furthermore, it lists only files
 877        which were modified from all parents.
 878
 879--cc::
 880        This flag implies the `-c` option and further compresses the
 881        patch output by omitting uninteresting hunks whose contents in
 882        the parents have only two variants and the merge result picks
 883        one of them without modification.
 884
 885-m::
 886        This flag makes the merge commits show the full diff like
 887        regular commits; for each merge parent, a separate log entry
 888        and diff is generated. An exception is that only diff against
 889        the first parent is shown when `--first-parent` option is given;
 890        in that case, the output represents the changes the merge
 891        brought _into_ the then-current branch.
 892
 893-r::
 894        Show recursive diffs.
 895
 896-t::
 897        Show the tree objects in the diff output. This implies `-r`.
 898endif::git-rev-list[]