Documentation / rev-list-options.txton commit Merge branch 'jc/post-c89-rules-doc' (fe9dc6b)
   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-<number>::
  17-n <number>::
  18--max-count=<number>::
  19        Limit the number of commits to output.
  20
  21--skip=<number>::
  22        Skip 'number' commits before starting to show the commit output.
  23
  24--since=<date>::
  25--after=<date>::
  26        Show commits more recent than a specific date.
  27
  28--until=<date>::
  29--before=<date>::
  30        Show commits older than a specific date.
  31
  32ifdef::git-rev-list[]
  33--max-age=<timestamp>::
  34--min-age=<timestamp>::
  35        Limit the commits output to specified time range.
  36endif::git-rev-list[]
  37
  38--author=<pattern>::
  39--committer=<pattern>::
  40        Limit the commits output to ones with author/committer
  41        header lines that match the specified pattern (regular
  42        expression).  With more than one `--author=<pattern>`,
  43        commits whose author matches any of the given patterns are
  44        chosen (similarly for multiple `--committer=<pattern>`).
  45
  46--grep-reflog=<pattern>::
  47        Limit the commits output to ones with reflog entries that
  48        match the specified pattern (regular expression). With
  49        more than one `--grep-reflog`, commits whose reflog message
  50        matches any of the given patterns are chosen.  It is an
  51        error to use this option unless `--walk-reflogs` is in use.
  52
  53--grep=<pattern>::
  54        Limit the commits output to ones with log message that
  55        matches the specified pattern (regular expression).  With
  56        more than one `--grep=<pattern>`, commits whose message
  57        matches any of the given patterns are chosen (but see
  58        `--all-match`).
  59ifndef::git-rev-list[]
  60+
  61When `--show-notes` is in effect, the message from the notes is
  62matched as if it were part of the log message.
  63endif::git-rev-list[]
  64
  65--all-match::
  66        Limit the commits output to ones that match all given `--grep`,
  67        instead of ones that match at least one.
  68
  69--invert-grep::
  70        Limit the commits output to ones with log message that do not
  71        match the pattern specified with `--grep=<pattern>`.
  72
  73-i::
  74--regexp-ignore-case::
  75        Match the regular expression limiting patterns without regard to letter
  76        case.
  77
  78--basic-regexp::
  79        Consider the limiting patterns to be basic regular expressions;
  80        this is the default.
  81
  82-E::
  83--extended-regexp::
  84        Consider the limiting patterns to be extended regular expressions
  85        instead of the default basic regular expressions.
  86
  87-F::
  88--fixed-strings::
  89        Consider the limiting patterns to be fixed strings (don't interpret
  90        pattern as a regular expression).
  91
  92-P::
  93--perl-regexp::
  94        Consider the limiting patterns to be Perl-compatible regular
  95        expressions.
  96+
  97Support for these types of regular expressions is an optional
  98compile-time dependency. If Git wasn't compiled with support for them
  99providing this option will cause it to die.
 100
 101--remove-empty::
 102        Stop when a given path disappears from the tree.
 103
 104--merges::
 105        Print only merge commits. This is exactly the same as `--min-parents=2`.
 106
 107--no-merges::
 108        Do not print commits with more than one parent. This is
 109        exactly the same as `--max-parents=1`.
 110
 111--min-parents=<number>::
 112--max-parents=<number>::
 113--no-min-parents::
 114--no-max-parents::
 115        Show only commits which have at least (or at most) that many parent
 116        commits. In particular, `--max-parents=1` is the same as `--no-merges`,
 117        `--min-parents=2` is the same as `--merges`.  `--max-parents=0`
 118        gives all root commits and `--min-parents=3` all octopus merges.
 119+
 120`--no-min-parents` and `--no-max-parents` reset these limits (to no limit)
 121again.  Equivalent forms are `--min-parents=0` (any commit has 0 or more
 122parents) and `--max-parents=-1` (negative numbers denote no upper limit).
 123
 124--first-parent::
 125        Follow only the first parent commit upon seeing a merge
 126        commit.  This option can give a better overview when
 127        viewing the evolution of a particular topic branch,
 128        because merges into a topic branch tend to be only about
 129        adjusting to updated upstream from time to time, and
 130        this option allows you to ignore the individual commits
 131        brought in to your history by such a merge. Cannot be
 132        combined with --bisect.
 133
 134--not::
 135        Reverses the meaning of the '{caret}' prefix (or lack thereof)
 136        for all following revision specifiers, up to the next `--not`.
 137
 138--all::
 139        Pretend as if all the refs in `refs/`, along with `HEAD`, are
 140        listed on the command line as '<commit>'.
 141
 142--branches[=<pattern>]::
 143        Pretend as if all the refs in `refs/heads` are listed
 144        on the command line as '<commit>'. If '<pattern>' is given, limit
 145        branches to ones matching given shell glob. If pattern lacks '?',
 146        '{asterisk}', or '[', '/{asterisk}' at the end is implied.
 147
 148--tags[=<pattern>]::
 149        Pretend as if all the refs in `refs/tags` are listed
 150        on the command line as '<commit>'. If '<pattern>' is given, limit
 151        tags to ones matching given shell glob. If pattern lacks '?', '{asterisk}',
 152        or '[', '/{asterisk}' at the end is implied.
 153
 154--remotes[=<pattern>]::
 155        Pretend as if all the refs in `refs/remotes` are listed
 156        on the command line as '<commit>'. If '<pattern>' is given, limit
 157        remote-tracking branches to ones matching given shell glob.
 158        If pattern lacks '?', '{asterisk}', or '[', '/{asterisk}' at the end is implied.
 159
 160--glob=<glob-pattern>::
 161        Pretend as if all the refs matching shell glob '<glob-pattern>'
 162        are listed on the command line as '<commit>'. Leading 'refs/',
 163        is automatically prepended if missing. If pattern lacks '?', '{asterisk}',
 164        or '[', '/{asterisk}' at the end is implied.
 165
 166--exclude=<glob-pattern>::
 167
 168        Do not include refs matching '<glob-pattern>' that the next `--all`,
 169        `--branches`, `--tags`, `--remotes`, or `--glob` would otherwise
 170        consider. Repetitions of this option accumulate exclusion patterns
 171        up to the next `--all`, `--branches`, `--tags`, `--remotes`, or
 172        `--glob` option (other options or arguments do not clear
 173        accumulated patterns).
 174+
 175The patterns given should not begin with `refs/heads`, `refs/tags`, or
 176`refs/remotes` when applied to `--branches`, `--tags`, or `--remotes`,
 177respectively, and they must begin with `refs/` when applied to `--glob`
 178or `--all`. If a trailing '/{asterisk}' is intended, it must be given
 179explicitly.
 180
 181--reflog::
 182        Pretend as if all objects mentioned by reflogs are listed on the
 183        command line as `<commit>`.
 184
 185--alternate-refs::
 186        Pretend as if all objects mentioned as ref tips of alternate
 187        repositories were listed on the command line. An alternate
 188        repository is any repository whose object directory is specified
 189        in `objects/info/alternates`.  The set of included objects may
 190        be modified by `core.alternateRefsCommand`, etc. See
 191        linkgit:git-config[1].
 192
 193--single-worktree::
 194        By default, all working trees will be examined by the
 195        following options when there are more than one (see
 196        linkgit:git-worktree[1]): `--all`, `--reflog` and
 197        `--indexed-objects`.
 198        This option forces them to examine the current working tree
 199        only.
 200
 201--ignore-missing::
 202        Upon seeing an invalid object name in the input, pretend as if
 203        the bad input was not given.
 204
 205ifndef::git-rev-list[]
 206--bisect::
 207        Pretend as if the bad bisection ref `refs/bisect/bad`
 208        was listed and as if it was followed by `--not` and the good
 209        bisection refs `refs/bisect/good-*` on the command
 210        line. Cannot be combined with --first-parent.
 211endif::git-rev-list[]
 212
 213--stdin::
 214        In addition to the '<commit>' listed on the command
 215        line, read them from the standard input. If a `--` separator is
 216        seen, stop reading commits and start reading paths to limit the
 217        result.
 218
 219ifdef::git-rev-list[]
 220--quiet::
 221        Don't print anything to standard output.  This form
 222        is primarily meant to allow the caller to
 223        test the exit status to see if a range of objects is fully
 224        connected (or not).  It is faster than redirecting stdout
 225        to `/dev/null` as the output does not have to be formatted.
 226endif::git-rev-list[]
 227
 228--cherry-mark::
 229        Like `--cherry-pick` (see below) but mark equivalent commits
 230        with `=` rather than omitting them, and inequivalent ones with `+`.
 231
 232--cherry-pick::
 233        Omit any commit that introduces the same change as
 234        another commit on the ``other side'' when the set of
 235        commits are limited with symmetric difference.
 236+
 237For example, if you have two branches, `A` and `B`, a usual way
 238to list all commits on only one side of them is with
 239`--left-right` (see the example below in the description of
 240the `--left-right` option). However, it shows the commits that were
 241cherry-picked from the other branch (for example, ``3rd on b'' may be
 242cherry-picked from branch A). With this option, such pairs of commits are
 243excluded from the output.
 244
 245--left-only::
 246--right-only::
 247        List only commits on the respective side of a symmetric difference,
 248        i.e. only those which would be marked `<` resp. `>` by
 249        `--left-right`.
 250+
 251For example, `--cherry-pick --right-only A...B` omits those
 252commits from `B` which are in `A` or are patch-equivalent to a commit in
 253`A`. In other words, this lists the `+` commits from `git cherry A B`.
 254More precisely, `--cherry-pick --right-only --no-merges` gives the exact
 255list.
 256
 257--cherry::
 258        A synonym for `--right-only --cherry-mark --no-merges`; useful to
 259        limit the output to the commits on our side and mark those that
 260        have been applied to the other side of a forked history with
 261        `git log --cherry upstream...mybranch`, similar to
 262        `git cherry upstream mybranch`.
 263
 264-g::
 265--walk-reflogs::
 266        Instead of walking the commit ancestry chain, walk
 267        reflog entries from the most recent one to older ones.
 268        When this option is used you cannot specify commits to
 269        exclude (that is, '{caret}commit', 'commit1..commit2',
 270        and 'commit1\...commit2' notations cannot be used).
 271+
 272With `--pretty` format other than `oneline` (for obvious reasons),
 273this causes the output to have two extra lines of information
 274taken from the reflog.  The reflog designator in the output may be shown
 275as `ref@{Nth}` (where `Nth` is the reverse-chronological index in the
 276reflog) or as `ref@{timestamp}` (with the timestamp for that entry),
 277depending on a few rules:
 278+
 279--
 2801. If the starting point is specified as `ref@{Nth}`, show the index
 281   format.
 282+
 2832. If the starting point was specified as `ref@{now}`, show the
 284   timestamp format.
 285+
 2863. If neither was used, but `--date` was given on the command line, show
 287   the timestamp in the format requested by `--date`.
 288+
 2894. Otherwise, show the index format.
 290--
 291+
 292Under `--pretty=oneline`, the commit message is
 293prefixed with this information on the same line.
 294This option cannot be combined with `--reverse`.
 295See also linkgit:git-reflog[1].
 296
 297--merge::
 298        After a failed merge, show refs that touch files having a
 299        conflict and don't exist on all heads to merge.
 300
 301--boundary::
 302        Output excluded boundary commits. Boundary commits are
 303        prefixed with `-`.
 304
 305ifdef::git-rev-list[]
 306--use-bitmap-index::
 307
 308        Try to speed up the traversal using the pack bitmap index (if
 309        one is available). Note that when traversing with `--objects`,
 310        trees and blobs will not have their associated path printed.
 311
 312--progress=<header>::
 313        Show progress reports on stderr as objects are considered. The
 314        `<header>` text will be printed with each progress update.
 315endif::git-rev-list[]
 316
 317History Simplification
 318~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 319
 320Sometimes you are only interested in parts of the history, for example the
 321commits modifying a particular <path>. But there are two parts of
 322'History Simplification', one part is selecting the commits and the other
 323is how to do it, as there are various strategies to simplify the history.
 324
 325The following options select the commits to be shown:
 326
 327<paths>::
 328        Commits modifying the given <paths> are selected.
 329
 330--simplify-by-decoration::
 331        Commits that are referred by some branch or tag are selected.
 332
 333Note that extra commits can be shown to give a meaningful history.
 334
 335The following options affect the way the simplification is performed:
 336
 337Default mode::
 338        Simplifies the history to the simplest history explaining the
 339        final state of the tree. Simplest because it prunes some side
 340        branches if the end result is the same (i.e. merging branches
 341        with the same content)
 342
 343--full-history::
 344        Same as the default mode, but does not prune some history.
 345
 346--dense::
 347        Only the selected commits are shown, plus some to have a
 348        meaningful history.
 349
 350--sparse::
 351        All commits in the simplified history are shown.
 352
 353--simplify-merges::
 354        Additional option to `--full-history` to remove some needless
 355        merges from the resulting history, as there are no selected
 356        commits contributing to this merge.
 357
 358--ancestry-path::
 359        When given a range of commits to display (e.g. 'commit1..commit2'
 360        or 'commit2 {caret}commit1'), only display commits that exist
 361        directly on the ancestry chain between the 'commit1' and
 362        'commit2', i.e. commits that are both descendants of 'commit1',
 363        and ancestors of 'commit2'.
 364
 365A more detailed explanation follows.
 366
 367Suppose you specified `foo` as the <paths>.  We shall call commits
 368that modify `foo` !TREESAME, and the rest TREESAME.  (In a diff
 369filtered for `foo`, they look different and equal, respectively.)
 370
 371In the following, we will always refer to the same example history to
 372illustrate the differences between simplification settings.  We assume
 373that you are filtering for a file `foo` in this commit graph:
 374-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 375          .-A---M---N---O---P---Q
 376         /     /   /   /   /   /
 377        I     B   C   D   E   Y
 378         \   /   /   /   /   /
 379          `-------------'   X
 380-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 381The horizontal line of history A---Q is taken to be the first parent of
 382each merge.  The commits are:
 383
 384* `I` is the initial commit, in which `foo` exists with contents
 385  ``asdf'', and a file `quux` exists with contents ``quux''. Initial
 386  commits are compared to an empty tree, so `I` is !TREESAME.
 387
 388* In `A`, `foo` contains just ``foo''.
 389
 390* `B` contains the same change as `A`.  Its merge `M` is trivial and
 391  hence TREESAME to all parents.
 392
 393* `C` does not change `foo`, but its merge `N` changes it to ``foobar'',
 394  so it is not TREESAME to any parent.
 395
 396* `D` sets `foo` to ``baz''. Its merge `O` combines the strings from
 397  `N` and `D` to ``foobarbaz''; i.e., it is not TREESAME to any parent.
 398
 399* `E` changes `quux` to ``xyzzy'', and its merge `P` combines the
 400  strings to ``quux xyzzy''. `P` is TREESAME to `O`, but not to `E`.
 401
 402* `X` is an independent root commit that added a new file `side`, and `Y`
 403  modified it. `Y` is TREESAME to `X`. Its merge `Q` added `side` to `P`, and
 404  `Q` is TREESAME to `P`, but not to `Y`.
 405
 406`rev-list` walks backwards through history, including or excluding
 407commits based on whether `--full-history` and/or parent rewriting
 408(via `--parents` or `--children`) are used. The following settings
 409are available.
 410
 411Default mode::
 412        Commits are included if they are not TREESAME to any parent
 413        (though this can be changed, see `--sparse` below).  If the
 414        commit was a merge, and it was TREESAME to one parent, follow
 415        only that parent.  (Even if there are several TREESAME
 416        parents, follow only one of them.)  Otherwise, follow all
 417        parents.
 418+
 419This results in:
 420+
 421-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 422          .-A---N---O
 423         /     /   /
 424        I---------D
 425-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 426+
 427Note how the rule to only follow the TREESAME parent, if one is
 428available, removed `B` from consideration entirely.  `C` was
 429considered via `N`, but is TREESAME.  Root commits are compared to an
 430empty tree, so `I` is !TREESAME.
 431+
 432Parent/child relations are only visible with `--parents`, but that does
 433not affect the commits selected in default mode, so we have shown the
 434parent lines.
 435
 436--full-history without parent rewriting::
 437        This mode differs from the default in one point: always follow
 438        all parents of a merge, even if it is TREESAME to one of them.
 439        Even if more than one side of the merge has commits that are
 440        included, this does not imply that the merge itself is!  In
 441        the example, we get
 442+
 443-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 444        I  A  B  N  D  O  P  Q
 445-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 446+
 447`M` was excluded because it is TREESAME to both parents.  `E`,
 448`C` and `B` were all walked, but only `B` was !TREESAME, so the others
 449do not appear.
 450+
 451Note that without parent rewriting, it is not really possible to talk
 452about the parent/child relationships between the commits, so we show
 453them disconnected.
 454
 455--full-history with parent rewriting::
 456        Ordinary commits are only included if they are !TREESAME
 457        (though this can be changed, see `--sparse` below).
 458+
 459Merges are always included.  However, their parent list is rewritten:
 460Along each parent, prune away commits that are not included
 461themselves.  This results in
 462+
 463-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 464          .-A---M---N---O---P---Q
 465         /     /   /   /   /
 466        I     B   /   D   /
 467         \   /   /   /   /
 468          `-------------'
 469-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 470+
 471Compare to `--full-history` without rewriting above.  Note that `E`
 472was pruned away because it is TREESAME, but the parent list of P was
 473rewritten to contain `E`'s parent `I`.  The same happened for `C` and
 474`N`, and `X`, `Y` and `Q`.
 475
 476In addition to the above settings, you can change whether TREESAME
 477affects inclusion:
 478
 479--dense::
 480        Commits that are walked are included if they are not TREESAME
 481        to any parent.
 482
 483--sparse::
 484        All commits that are walked are included.
 485+
 486Note that without `--full-history`, this still simplifies merges: if
 487one of the parents is TREESAME, we follow only that one, so the other
 488sides of the merge are never walked.
 489
 490--simplify-merges::
 491        First, build a history graph in the same way that
 492        `--full-history` with parent rewriting does (see above).
 493+
 494Then simplify each commit `C` to its replacement `C'` in the final
 495history according to the following rules:
 496+
 497--
 498* Set `C'` to `C`.
 499+
 500* Replace each parent `P` of `C'` with its simplification `P'`.  In
 501  the process, drop parents that are ancestors of other parents or that are
 502  root commits TREESAME to an empty tree, and remove duplicates, but take care
 503  to never drop all parents that we are TREESAME to.
 504+
 505* If after this parent rewriting, `C'` is a root or merge commit (has
 506  zero or >1 parents), a boundary commit, or !TREESAME, it remains.
 507  Otherwise, it is replaced with its only parent.
 508--
 509+
 510The effect of this is best shown by way of comparing to
 511`--full-history` with parent rewriting.  The example turns into:
 512+
 513-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 514          .-A---M---N---O
 515         /     /       /
 516        I     B       D
 517         \   /       /
 518          `---------'
 519-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 520+
 521Note the major differences in `N`, `P`, and `Q` over `--full-history`:
 522+
 523--
 524* `N`'s parent list had `I` removed, because it is an ancestor of the
 525  other parent `M`.  Still, `N` remained because it is !TREESAME.
 526+
 527* `P`'s parent list similarly had `I` removed.  `P` was then
 528  removed completely, because it had one parent and is TREESAME.
 529+
 530* `Q`'s parent list had `Y` simplified to `X`. `X` was then removed, because it
 531  was a TREESAME root. `Q` was then removed completely, because it had one
 532  parent and is TREESAME.
 533--
 534
 535Finally, there is a fifth simplification mode available:
 536
 537--ancestry-path::
 538        Limit the displayed commits to those directly on the ancestry
 539        chain between the ``from'' and ``to'' commits in the given commit
 540        range. I.e. only display commits that are ancestor of the ``to''
 541        commit and descendants of the ``from'' commit.
 542+
 543As an example use case, consider the following commit history:
 544+
 545-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 546            D---E-------F
 547           /     \       \
 548          B---C---G---H---I---J
 549         /                     \
 550        A-------K---------------L--M
 551-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 552+
 553A regular 'D..M' computes the set of commits that are ancestors of `M`,
 554but excludes the ones that are ancestors of `D`. This is useful to see
 555what happened to the history leading to `M` since `D`, in the sense
 556that ``what does `M` have that did not exist in `D`''. The result in this
 557example would be all the commits, except `A` and `B` (and `D` itself,
 558of course).
 559+
 560When we want to find out what commits in `M` are contaminated with the
 561bug introduced by `D` and need fixing, however, we might want to view
 562only the subset of 'D..M' that are actually descendants of `D`, i.e.
 563excluding `C` and `K`. This is exactly what the `--ancestry-path`
 564option does. Applied to the 'D..M' range, it results in:
 565+
 566-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 567                E-------F
 568                 \       \
 569                  G---H---I---J
 570                               \
 571                                L--M
 572-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 573
 574The `--simplify-by-decoration` option allows you to view only the
 575big picture of the topology of the history, by omitting commits
 576that are not referenced by tags.  Commits are marked as !TREESAME
 577(in other words, kept after history simplification rules described
 578above) if (1) they are referenced by tags, or (2) they change the
 579contents of the paths given on the command line.  All other
 580commits are marked as TREESAME (subject to be simplified away).
 581
 582ifdef::git-rev-list[]
 583Bisection Helpers
 584~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 585
 586--bisect::
 587        Limit output to the one commit object which is roughly halfway between
 588        included and excluded commits. Note that the bad bisection ref
 589        `refs/bisect/bad` is added to the included commits (if it
 590        exists) and the good bisection refs `refs/bisect/good-*` are
 591        added to the excluded commits (if they exist). Thus, supposing there
 592        are no refs in `refs/bisect/`, if
 593+
 594-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 595        $ git rev-list --bisect foo ^bar ^baz
 596-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 597+
 598outputs 'midpoint', the output of the two commands
 599+
 600-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 601        $ git rev-list foo ^midpoint
 602        $ git rev-list midpoint ^bar ^baz
 603-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 604+
 605would be of roughly the same length.  Finding the change which
 606introduces a regression is thus reduced to a binary search: repeatedly
 607generate and test new 'midpoint's until the commit chain is of length
 608one. Cannot be combined with --first-parent.
 609
 610--bisect-vars::
 611        This calculates the same as `--bisect`, except that refs in
 612        `refs/bisect/` are not used, and except that this outputs
 613        text ready to be eval'ed by the shell. These lines will assign the
 614        name of the midpoint revision to the variable `bisect_rev`, and the
 615        expected number of commits to be tested after `bisect_rev` is tested
 616        to `bisect_nr`, the expected number of commits to be tested if
 617        `bisect_rev` turns out to be good to `bisect_good`, the expected
 618        number of commits to be tested if `bisect_rev` turns out to be bad to
 619        `bisect_bad`, and the number of commits we are bisecting right now to
 620        `bisect_all`.
 621
 622--bisect-all::
 623        This outputs all the commit objects between the included and excluded
 624        commits, ordered by their distance to the included and excluded
 625        commits. Refs in `refs/bisect/` are not used. The farthest
 626        from them is displayed first. (This is the only one displayed by
 627        `--bisect`.)
 628+
 629This is useful because it makes it easy to choose a good commit to
 630test when you want to avoid to test some of them for some reason (they
 631may not compile for example).
 632+
 633This option can be used along with `--bisect-vars`, in this case,
 634after all the sorted commit objects, there will be the same text as if
 635`--bisect-vars` had been used alone.
 636endif::git-rev-list[]
 637
 638
 639Commit Ordering
 640~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 641
 642By default, the commits are shown in reverse chronological order.
 643
 644--date-order::
 645        Show no parents before all of its children are shown, but
 646        otherwise show commits in the commit timestamp order.
 647
 648--author-date-order::
 649        Show no parents before all of its children are shown, but
 650        otherwise show commits in the author timestamp order.
 651
 652--topo-order::
 653        Show no parents before all of its children are shown, and
 654        avoid showing commits on multiple lines of history
 655        intermixed.
 656+
 657For example, in a commit history like this:
 658+
 659----------------------------------------------------------------
 660
 661    ---1----2----4----7
 662        \              \
 663         3----5----6----8---
 664
 665----------------------------------------------------------------
 666+
 667where the numbers denote the order of commit timestamps, `git
 668rev-list` and friends with `--date-order` show the commits in the
 669timestamp order: 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1.
 670+
 671With `--topo-order`, they would show 8 6 5 3 7 4 2 1 (or 8 7 4 2 6 5
 6723 1); some older commits are shown before newer ones in order to
 673avoid showing the commits from two parallel development track mixed
 674together.
 675
 676--reverse::
 677        Output the commits chosen to be shown (see Commit Limiting
 678        section above) in reverse order. Cannot be combined with
 679        `--walk-reflogs`.
 680
 681Object Traversal
 682~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 683
 684These options are mostly targeted for packing of Git repositories.
 685
 686ifdef::git-rev-list[]
 687--objects::
 688        Print the object IDs of any object referenced by the listed
 689        commits.  `--objects foo ^bar` thus means ``send me
 690        all object IDs which I need to download if I have the commit
 691        object _bar_ but not _foo_''.
 692
 693--in-commit-order::
 694        Print tree and blob ids in order of the commits. The tree
 695        and blob ids are printed after they are first referenced
 696        by a commit.
 697
 698--objects-edge::
 699        Similar to `--objects`, but also print the IDs of excluded
 700        commits prefixed with a ``-'' character.  This is used by
 701        linkgit:git-pack-objects[1] to build a ``thin'' pack, which records
 702        objects in deltified form based on objects contained in these
 703        excluded commits to reduce network traffic.
 704
 705--objects-edge-aggressive::
 706        Similar to `--objects-edge`, but it tries harder to find excluded
 707        commits at the cost of increased time.  This is used instead of
 708        `--objects-edge` to build ``thin'' packs for shallow repositories.
 709
 710--indexed-objects::
 711        Pretend as if all trees and blobs used by the index are listed
 712        on the command line.  Note that you probably want to use
 713        `--objects`, too.
 714
 715--unpacked::
 716        Only useful with `--objects`; print the object IDs that are not
 717        in packs.
 718
 719--object-names::
 720        Only useful with `--objects`; print the names of the object IDs
 721        that are found. This is the default behavior.
 722
 723--no-object-names::
 724        Only useful with `--objects`; does not print the names of the object
 725        IDs that are found. This inverts `--object-names`. This flag allows
 726        the output to be more easily parsed by commands such as
 727        linkgit:git-cat-file[1].
 728
 729--filter=<filter-spec>::
 730        Only useful with one of the `--objects*`; omits objects (usually
 731        blobs) from the list of printed objects.  The '<filter-spec>'
 732        may be one of the following:
 733+
 734The form '--filter=blob:none' omits all blobs.
 735+
 736The form '--filter=blob:limit=<n>[kmg]' omits blobs larger than n bytes
 737or units.  n may be zero.  The suffixes k, m, and g can be used to name
 738units in KiB, MiB, or GiB.  For example, 'blob:limit=1k' is the same
 739as 'blob:limit=1024'.
 740+
 741The form '--filter=sparse:oid=<blob-ish>' uses a sparse-checkout
 742specification contained in the blob (or blob-expression) '<blob-ish>'
 743to omit blobs that would not be not required for a sparse checkout on
 744the requested refs.
 745+
 746The form '--filter=tree:<depth>' omits all blobs and trees whose depth
 747from the root tree is >= <depth> (minimum depth if an object is located
 748at multiple depths in the commits traversed). <depth>=0 will not include
 749any trees or blobs unless included explicitly in the command-line (or
 750standard input when --stdin is used). <depth>=1 will include only the
 751tree and blobs which are referenced directly by a commit reachable from
 752<commit> or an explicitly-given object. <depth>=2 is like <depth>=1
 753while also including trees and blobs one more level removed from an
 754explicitly-given commit or tree.
 755+
 756Note that the form '--filter=sparse:path=<path>' that wants to read
 757from an arbitrary path on the filesystem has been dropped for security
 758reasons.
 759
 760--no-filter::
 761        Turn off any previous `--filter=` argument.
 762
 763--filter-print-omitted::
 764        Only useful with `--filter=`; prints a list of the objects omitted
 765        by the filter.  Object IDs are prefixed with a ``~'' character.
 766
 767--missing=<missing-action>::
 768        A debug option to help with future "partial clone" development.
 769        This option specifies how missing objects are handled.
 770+
 771The form '--missing=error' requests that rev-list stop with an error if
 772a missing object is encountered.  This is the default action.
 773+
 774The form '--missing=allow-any' will allow object traversal to continue
 775if a missing object is encountered.  Missing objects will silently be
 776omitted from the results.
 777+
 778The form '--missing=allow-promisor' is like 'allow-any', but will only
 779allow object traversal to continue for EXPECTED promisor missing objects.
 780Unexpected missing objects will raise an error.
 781+
 782The form '--missing=print' is like 'allow-any', but will also print a
 783list of the missing objects.  Object IDs are prefixed with a ``?'' character.
 784
 785--exclude-promisor-objects::
 786        (For internal use only.)  Prefilter object traversal at
 787        promisor boundary.  This is used with partial clone.  This is
 788        stronger than `--missing=allow-promisor` because it limits the
 789        traversal, rather than just silencing errors about missing
 790        objects.
 791endif::git-rev-list[]
 792
 793--no-walk[=(sorted|unsorted)]::
 794        Only show the given commits, but do not traverse their ancestors.
 795        This has no effect if a range is specified. If the argument
 796        `unsorted` is given, the commits are shown in the order they were
 797        given on the command line. Otherwise (if `sorted` or no argument
 798        was given), the commits are shown in reverse chronological order
 799        by commit time.
 800        Cannot be combined with `--graph`.
 801
 802--do-walk::
 803        Overrides a previous `--no-walk`.
 804
 805Commit Formatting
 806~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 807
 808ifdef::git-rev-list[]
 809Using these options, linkgit:git-rev-list[1] will act similar to the
 810more specialized family of commit log tools: linkgit:git-log[1],
 811linkgit:git-show[1], and linkgit:git-whatchanged[1]
 812endif::git-rev-list[]
 813
 814include::pretty-options.txt[]
 815
 816--relative-date::
 817        Synonym for `--date=relative`.
 818
 819--date=<format>::
 820        Only takes effect for dates shown in human-readable format, such
 821        as when using `--pretty`. `log.date` config variable sets a default
 822        value for the log command's `--date` option. By default, dates
 823        are shown in the original time zone (either committer's or
 824        author's). If `-local` is appended to the format (e.g.,
 825        `iso-local`), the user's local time zone is used instead.
 826+
 827--
 828`--date=relative` shows dates relative to the current time,
 829e.g. ``2 hours ago''. The `-local` option has no effect for
 830`--date=relative`.
 831
 832`--date=local` is an alias for `--date=default-local`.
 833
 834`--date=iso` (or `--date=iso8601`) shows timestamps in a ISO 8601-like format.
 835The differences to the strict ISO 8601 format are:
 836
 837        - a space instead of the `T` date/time delimiter
 838        - a space between time and time zone
 839        - no colon between hours and minutes of the time zone
 840
 841`--date=iso-strict` (or `--date=iso8601-strict`) shows timestamps in strict
 842ISO 8601 format.
 843
 844`--date=rfc` (or `--date=rfc2822`) shows timestamps in RFC 2822
 845format, often found in email messages.
 846
 847`--date=short` shows only the date, but not the time, in `YYYY-MM-DD` format.
 848
 849`--date=raw` shows the date as seconds since the epoch (1970-01-01
 85000:00:00 UTC), followed by a space, and then the timezone as an offset
 851from UTC (a `+` or `-` with four digits; the first two are hours, and
 852the second two are minutes). I.e., as if the timestamp were formatted
 853with `strftime("%s %z")`).
 854Note that the `-local` option does not affect the seconds-since-epoch
 855value (which is always measured in UTC), but does switch the accompanying
 856timezone value.
 857
 858`--date=human` shows the timezone if the timezone does not match the
 859current time-zone, and doesn't print the whole date if that matches
 860(ie skip printing year for dates that are "this year", but also skip
 861the whole date itself if it's in the last few days and we can just say
 862what weekday it was).  For older dates the hour and minute is also
 863omitted.
 864
 865`--date=unix` shows the date as a Unix epoch timestamp (seconds since
 8661970).  As with `--raw`, this is always in UTC and therefore `-local`
 867has no effect.
 868
 869`--date=format:...` feeds the format `...` to your system `strftime`,
 870except for %z and %Z, which are handled internally.
 871Use `--date=format:%c` to show the date in your system locale's
 872preferred format.  See the `strftime` manual for a complete list of
 873format placeholders. When using `-local`, the correct syntax is
 874`--date=format-local:...`.
 875
 876`--date=default` is the default format, and is similar to
 877`--date=rfc2822`, with a few exceptions:
 878--
 879        - there is no comma after the day-of-week
 880
 881        - the time zone is omitted when the local time zone is used
 882
 883ifdef::git-rev-list[]
 884--header::
 885        Print the contents of the commit in raw-format; each record is
 886        separated with a NUL character.
 887endif::git-rev-list[]
 888
 889--parents::
 890        Print also the parents of the commit (in the form "commit parent...").
 891        Also enables parent rewriting, see 'History Simplification' above.
 892
 893--children::
 894        Print also the children of the commit (in the form "commit child...").
 895        Also enables parent rewriting, see 'History Simplification' above.
 896
 897ifdef::git-rev-list[]
 898--timestamp::
 899        Print the raw commit timestamp.
 900endif::git-rev-list[]
 901
 902--left-right::
 903        Mark which side of a symmetric difference a commit is reachable from.
 904        Commits from the left side are prefixed with `<` and those from
 905        the right with `>`.  If combined with `--boundary`, those
 906        commits are prefixed with `-`.
 907+
 908For example, if you have this topology:
 909+
 910-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 911             y---b---b  branch B
 912            / \ /
 913           /   .
 914          /   / \
 915         o---x---a---a  branch A
 916-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 917+
 918you would get an output like this:
 919+
 920-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 921        $ git rev-list --left-right --boundary --pretty=oneline A...B
 922
 923        >bbbbbbb... 3rd on b
 924        >bbbbbbb... 2nd on b
 925        <aaaaaaa... 3rd on a
 926        <aaaaaaa... 2nd on a
 927        -yyyyyyy... 1st on b
 928        -xxxxxxx... 1st on a
 929-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 930
 931--graph::
 932        Draw a text-based graphical representation of the commit history
 933        on the left hand side of the output.  This may cause extra lines
 934        to be printed in between commits, in order for the graph history
 935        to be drawn properly.
 936        Cannot be combined with `--no-walk`.
 937+
 938This enables parent rewriting, see 'History Simplification' above.
 939+
 940This implies the `--topo-order` option by default, but the
 941`--date-order` option may also be specified.
 942
 943--show-linear-break[=<barrier>]::
 944        When --graph is not used, all history branches are flattened
 945        which can make it hard to see that the two consecutive commits
 946        do not belong to a linear branch. This option puts a barrier
 947        in between them in that case. If `<barrier>` is specified, it
 948        is the string that will be shown instead of the default one.
 949
 950ifdef::git-rev-list[]
 951--count::
 952        Print a number stating how many commits would have been
 953        listed, and suppress all other output.  When used together
 954        with `--left-right`, instead print the counts for left and
 955        right commits, separated by a tab. When used together with
 956        `--cherry-mark`, omit patch equivalent commits from these
 957        counts and print the count for equivalent commits separated
 958        by a tab.
 959endif::git-rev-list[]
 960
 961ifndef::git-rev-list[]
 962Diff Formatting
 963~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 964
 965Listed below are options that control the formatting of diff output.
 966Some of them are specific to linkgit:git-rev-list[1], however other diff
 967options may be given. See linkgit:git-diff-files[1] for more options.
 968
 969-c::
 970        With this option, diff output for a merge commit
 971        shows the differences from each of the parents to the merge result
 972        simultaneously instead of showing pairwise diff between a parent
 973        and the result one at a time. Furthermore, it lists only files
 974        which were modified from all parents.
 975
 976--cc::
 977        This flag implies the `-c` option and further compresses the
 978        patch output by omitting uninteresting hunks whose contents in
 979        the parents have only two variants and the merge result picks
 980        one of them without modification.
 981
 982--combined-all-paths::
 983        This flag causes combined diffs (used for merge commits) to
 984        list the name of the file from all parents.  It thus only has
 985        effect when -c or --cc are specified, and is likely only
 986        useful if filename changes are detected (i.e. when either
 987        rename or copy detection have been requested).
 988
 989-m::
 990        This flag makes the merge commits show the full diff like
 991        regular commits; for each merge parent, a separate log entry
 992        and diff is generated. An exception is that only diff against
 993        the first parent is shown when `--first-parent` option is given;
 994        in that case, the output represents the changes the merge
 995        brought _into_ the then-current branch.
 996
 997-r::
 998        Show recursive diffs.
 999
1000-t::
1001        Show the tree objects in the diff output. This implies `-r`.
1002endif::git-rev-list[]