Git log tips & tricks

Remove Merge Commits

To view commit history without merge commit we can use the option --no-merges.

git log --no-merges

Formatting

The commit logs can be formatted using the option --format.

Here are some of the examples how you can format your commit history logs.

git log --pretty=oneline

git log --pretty=format:"%h - %s %an, %cr"

This one if my favorite of all the ways to format my git logs. You'll know why when you try this out.

git log --pretty=format:'%Cred%h%Creset - %s [%C(yellow)%an%Creset] %Cgreen(%cr)%Creset'

To learn more about using colors with git logs check Git commit history- Customize the output with colors

Comparing Branches or Tags

Often one can find oneself in dire need of getting comparision git logs between two branches, or a branch and tag or simply two different tags.

Here's some of the example to achieve that goal.

git log --pretty=format:"%h - %s %an, %cr" production..main --

Will compare the branches production & master.

git log --pretty=format:"%h - %s %an, %cr" $(git describe --tags --abbrev=0)..HEAD --

To compare your current local branch's head against the latest tag.

You might want to pull all the remote tags to your local before running the above command using:

git fetch --tags

Filter By Author

It can be achieved simply by using the --author option.

git log --pretty=format:"%h - %s %an, %cr" --author=thealchemist

NOTE: thealchemist in above command is the github username of the author, and the command works even when you provide it partial string like thealche.

Bonus

You can use git shortlog instead of git log to group all the commits by authors, usint the --group option. The option does not work with git log.

git shortlog --pretty=format:"%h - %s %an, %cr" --group=author

Learn more about Git Shortlog.

Limiting

The most easiest way to limit logs is to use the -<n> option, which is a placeholder or a template for -5.

git log -5

Will only show you only five recent commits.

Other than that you can also limit the logs using dates or a grep string using the option --grep.

git log --pretty=format:"%h - %s %an, %cr" --since="2022-12-31" --before="2023-01-31"

Will show you logs for the month of January 2023.

git log --pretty=format:"%h - %s %an, %cr" --since=4.weeks

Can be used to get logs for last four weeks.

git log --pretty=format:"%h - %s %an, %cr" --grep="bump"

It will show only those commits which have the string bump in them.

Bonus

If you've ever noticed, by default git pipes all output through a pager so one can only see one page of log output at a time.

If you want to view all the logs at once and skip the pagination you can use:

git --no-pager log --pretty=format:"%h - %s %an, %cr

NOTE: The --no-pager goes before the log in your command.

And, if you want to navigate between the pages when viewing the logs you can use Space key for the next page & b to go back one page.

For more in depth understanding of the git log visit the link below: Git Basics: Viewing the Commit History

Hope it helps. Thank you.