log

Git · Reference cheat sheet

📋 Overview

git log walks commit history with filters, formatting, and graphs. Use it to audit changes, find authors, and prepare release notes. Pair with git show for a single commit’s patch.

🔧 Core concepts

• Range — A..B, A...B (symmetric), path-limited history.
• Decorate — branch/tag names on commits (--decorate).
• Format — --oneline, --graph, pretty formats (%h %an %s).
• Filters — --author, --grep, --since / --until, -S / -G pickaxe.
• Follow — --follow for single-file renames (limited).

💡 Examples

git log --oneline --graph --decorate -20
git log main..HEAD --oneline
git log --since="2026-01-01" --author="Ada" --oneline

# Patch for each commit
git log -p -- path/to/file.ts

# Find commits that added/removed a string
git log -S "featureFlag" --oneline
git log -G "featureFlag\s*=" --oneline

# Custom format
git log --pretty=format:"%h %ad %an %s" --date=short

# First parent only (linearize merges)
git log --first-parent main

# Tags / merges
git log --merges --oneline
git log v1.0.0..v1.1.0 --oneline

⚠️ Pitfalls

• A..B means reachable from B not from A — order matters.
• --follow only works with a single path.
• Shallow clones truncate history — deepen with git fetch --unshallow.
• Default pager may hide output — GIT_PAGER=cat or --no-pager.
• Rewritten history (rebase/amend) changes hashes — don’t rely on old SHAs.

🔗 Related

• reflog.md
• blame.md
• diff.md
• tag.md
• bisect.md
• show via commit.md