path: root/Documentation/rev-list-options.txt

Commit Limiting
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Besides specifying a range of commits that should be listed using the
special notations explained in the description, additional commit
limiting may be applied.

Using more options generally further limits the output (e.g.
`--since=<date1>` limits to commits newer than `<date1>`, and using it
with `--grep=<pattern>` further limits to commits whose log message
has a line that matches `<pattern>`), unless otherwise noted.

Note that these are applied before commit
ordering and formatting options, such as `--reverse`.

-<number>::
-n <number>::
--max-count=<number>::
	Limit the number of commits to output.

--skip=<number>::
	Skip 'number' commits before starting to show the commit output.

--since=<date>::
--after=<date>::
	Show commits more recent than a specific date.

--until=<date>::
--before=<date>::
	Show commits older than a specific date.

ifdef::git-rev-list[]
--max-age=<timestamp>::
--min-age=<timestamp>::
	Limit the commits output to specified time range.
endif::git-rev-list[]

--author=<pattern>::
--committer=<pattern>::
	Limit the commits output to ones with author/committer
	header lines that match the specified pattern (regular
	expression).  With more than one `--author=<pattern>`,
	commits whose author matches any of the given patterns are
	chosen (similarly for multiple `--committer=<pattern>`).

--grep-reflog=<pattern>::
	Limit the commits output to ones with reflog entries that
	match the specified pattern (regular expression). With
	more than one `--grep-reflog`, commits whose reflog message
	matches any of the given patterns are chosen.  It is an
	error to use this option unless `--walk-reflogs` is in use.

--grep=<pattern>::
	Limit the commits output to ones with log message that
	matches the specified pattern (regular expression).  With
	more than one `--grep=<pattern>`, commits whose message
	matches any of the given patterns are chosen (but see
	`--all-match`).
ifndef::git-rev-list[]
+
When `--show-notes` is in effect, the message from the notes is
matched as if it were part of the log message.
endif::git-rev-list[]

--all-match::
	Limit the commits output to ones that match all given `--grep`,
	instead of ones that match at least one.

--invert-grep::
	Limit the commits output to ones with log message that do not
	match the pattern specified with `--grep=<pattern>`.

-i::
--regexp-ignore-case::
	Match the regular expression limiting patterns without regard to letter
	case.

--basic-regexp::
	Consider the limiting patterns to be basic regular expressions;
	this is the default.

-E::
--extended-regexp::
	Consider the limiting patterns to be extended regular expressions
	instead of the default basic regular expressions.

-F::
--fixed-strings::
	Consider the limiting patterns to be fixed strings (don't interpret
	pattern as a regular expression).

-P::
--perl-regexp::
	Consider the limiting patterns to be Perl-compatible regular
	expressions.
+
Support for these types of regular expressions is an optional
compile-time dependency. If Git wasn't compiled with support for them
providing this option will cause it to die.

--remove-empty::
	Stop when a given path disappears from the tree.

--merges::
	Print only merge commits. This is exactly the same as `--min-parents=2`.

--no-merges::
	Do not print commits with more than one parent. This is
	exactly the same as `--max-parents=1`.

--min-parents=<number>::
--max-parents=<number>::
--no-min-parents::
--no-max-parents::
	Show only commits which have at least (or at most) that many parent
	commits. In particular, `--max-parents=1` is the same as `--no-merges`,
	`--min-parents=2` is the same as `--merges`.  `--max-parents=0`
	gives all root commits and `--min-parents=3` all octopus merges.
+
`--no-min-parents` and `--no-max-parents` reset these limits (to no limit)
again.  Equivalent forms are `--min-parents=0` (any commit has 0 or more
parents) and `--max-parents=-1` (negative numbers denote no upper limit).

--first-parent::
	Follow only the first parent commit upon seeing a merge
	commit.  This option can give a better overview when
	viewing the evolution of a particular topic branch,
	because merges into a topic branch tend to be only about
	adjusting to updated upstream from time to time, and
	this option allows you to ignore the individual commits
	brought in to your history by such a merge. Cannot be
	combined with --bisect.

--not::
	Reverses the meaning of the '{caret}' prefix (or lack thereof)
	for all following revision specifiers, up to the next `--not`.

--all::
	Pretend as if all the refs in `refs/`, along with `HEAD`, are
	listed on the command line as '<commit>'.

--branches[=<pattern>]::
	Pretend as if all the refs in `refs/heads` are listed
	on the command line as '<commit>'. If '<pattern>' is given, limit
	branches to ones matching given shell glob. If pattern lacks '?',
	'{asterisk}', or '[', '/{asterisk}' at the end is implied.

--tags[=<pattern>]::
	Pretend as if all the refs in `refs/tags` are listed
	on the command line as '<commit>'. If '<pattern>' is given, limit
	tags to ones matching given shell glob. If pattern lacks '?', '{asterisk}',
	or '[', '/{asterisk}' at the end is implied.

--remotes[=<pattern>]::
	Pretend as if all the refs in `refs/remotes` are listed
	on the command line as '<commit>'. If '<pattern>' is given, limit
	remote-tracking branches to ones matching given shell glob.
	If pattern lacks '?', '{asterisk}', or '[', '/{asterisk}' at the end is implied.

--glob=<glob-pattern>::
	Pretend as if all the refs matching shell glob '<glob-pattern>'
	are listed on the command line as '<commit>'. Leading 'refs/',
	is automatically prepended if missing. If pattern lacks '?', '{asterisk}',
	or '[', '/{asterisk}' at the end is implied.

--exclude=<glob-pattern>::

	Do not include refs matching '<glob-pattern>' that the next `--all`,
	`--branches`, `--tags`, `--remotes`, or `--glob` would otherwise
	consider. Repetitions of this option accumulate exclusion patterns
	up to the next `--all`, `--branches`, `--tags`, `--remotes`, or
	`--glob` option (other options or arguments do not clear
	accumulated patterns).
+
The patterns given should not begin with `refs/heads`, `refs/tags`, or
`refs/remotes` when applied to `--branches`, `--tags`, or `--remotes`,
respectively, and they must begin with `refs/` when applied to `--glob`
or `--all`. If a trailing '/{asterisk}' is intended, it must be given
explicitly.

--reflog::
	Pretend as if all objects mentioned by reflogs are listed on the
	command line as `<commit>`.

--single-worktree::
	By default, all working trees will be examined by the
	following options when there are more than one (see
	linkgit:git-worktree[1]): `--all`, `--reflog` and
	`--indexed-objects`.
	This option forces them to examine the current working tree
	only.

--ignore-missing::
	Upon seeing an invalid object name in the input, pretend as if
	the bad input was not given.

ifndef::git-rev-list[]
--bisect::
	Pretend as if the bad bisection ref `refs/bisect/bad`
	was listed and as if it was followed by `--not` and the good
	bisection refs `refs/bisect/good-*` on the command
	line. Cannot be combined with --first-parent.
endif::git-rev-list[]

--stdin::
	In addition to the '<commit>' listed on the command
	line, read them from the standard input. If a `--` separator is
	seen, stop reading commits and start reading paths to limit the
	result.

ifdef::git-rev-list[]
--quiet::
	Don't print anything to standard output.  This form
	is primarily meant to allow the caller to
	test the exit status to see if a range of objects is fully
	connected (or not).  It is faster than redirecting stdout
	to `/dev/null` as the output does not have to be formatted.
endif::git-rev-list[]

--cherry-mark::
	Like `--cherry-pick` (see below) but mark equivalent commits
	with `=` rather than omitting them, and inequivalent ones with `+`.

--cherry-pick::
	Omit any commit that introduces the same change as
	another commit on the ``other side'' when the set of
	commits are limited with symmetric difference.
+
For example, if you have two branches, `A` and `B`, a usual way
to list all commits on only one side of them is with
`--left-right` (see the example below in the description of
the `--left-right` option). However, it shows the commits that were
cherry-picked from the other branch (for example, ``3rd on b'' may be
cherry-picked from branch A). With this option, such pairs of commits are
excluded from the output.

--left-only::
--right-only::
	List only commits on the respective side of a symmetric difference,
	i.e. only those which would be marked `<` resp. `>` by
	`--left-right`.
+
For example, `--cherry-pick --right-only A...B` omits those
commits from `B` which are in `A` or are patch-equivalent to a commit in
`A`. In other words, this lists the `+` commits from `git cherry A B`.
More precisely, `--cherry-pick --right-only --no-merges` gives the exact
list.

--cherry::
	A synonym for `--right-only --cherry-mark --no-merges`; useful to
	limit the output to the commits on our side and mark those that
	have been applied to the other side of a forked history with
	`git log --cherry upstream...mybranch`, similar to
	`git cherry upstream mybranch`.

-g::
--walk-reflogs::
	Instead of walking the commit ancestry chain, walk
	reflog entries from the most recent one to older ones.
	When this option is used you cannot specify commits to
	exclude (that is, '{caret}commit', 'commit1..commit2',
	and 'commit1\...commit2' notations cannot be used).
+
With `--pretty` format other than `oneline` (for obvious reasons),
this causes the output to have two extra lines of information
taken from the reflog.  The reflog designator in the output may be shown
as `ref@{Nth}` (where `Nth` is the reverse-chronological index in the
reflog) or as `ref@{timestamp}` (with the timestamp for that entry),
depending on a few rules:
+
--
1. If the starting point is specified as `ref@{Nth}`, show the index
   format.
+
2. If the starting point was specified as `ref@{now}`, show the
   timestamp format.
+
3. If neither was used, but `--date` was given on the command line, show
   the timestamp in the format requested by `--date`.
+
4. Otherwise, show the index format.
--
+
Under `--pretty=oneline`, the commit message is
prefixed with this information on the same line.
This option cannot be combined with `--reverse`.
See also linkgit:git-reflog[1].

--merge::
	After a failed merge, show refs that touch files having a
	conflict and don't exist on all heads to merge.

--boundary::
	Output excluded boundary commits. Boundary commits are
	prefixed with `-`.

ifdef::git-rev-list[]
--use-bitmap-index::

	Try to speed up the traversal using the pack bitmap index (if
	one is available). Note that when traversing with `--objects`,
	trees and blobs will not have their associated path printed.

--progress=<header>::
	Show progress reports on stderr as objects are considered. The
	`<header>` text will be printed with each progress update.
endif::git-rev-list[]

History Simplification
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sometimes you are only interested in parts of the history, for example the
commits modifying a particular <path>. But there are two parts of
'History Simplification', one part is selecting the commits and the other
is how to do it, as there are various strategies to simplify the history.

The following options select the commits to be shown:

<paths>::
	Commits modifying the given <paths> are selected.

--simplify-by-decoration::
	Commits that are referred by some branch or tag are selected.

Note that extra commits can be shown to give a meaningful history.

The following options affect the way the simplification is performed:

Default mode::
	Simplifies the history to the simplest history explaining the
	final state of the tree. Simplest because it prunes some side
	branches if the end result is the same (i.e. merging branches
	with the same content)

--full-history::
	Same as the default mode, but does not prune some history.

--dense::
	Only the selected commits are shown, plus some to have a