Inspect commits and history
History commands answer different questions: what changed, which files changed, and which commits belong to a branch.
Read the commit list
# Compact history for the current branch.
git log --oneline
# Include branches and a graph of relationships.
git log --oneline --decorate --graph --all
# Show the latest five commits.
git log --oneline -n 5
Useful options:
| Option | Meaning |
|---|---|
--oneline |
Abbreviated commit ID and subject |
--decorate |
Show branch and tag names |
--graph |
Draw parent relationships |
--all |
Include all local refs |
-n <count> |
Limit the number of commits |
Inspect one commit
# Show the commit message and patch.
git show <commit>
# Show only the changed-file summary.
git show --stat <commit>
Compare snapshots
# Compare the working tree with the last commit.
git diff HEAD
# Compare two commits.
git diff <older-commit>..<newer-commit>
Use IDs from the history
Copy a short commit ID from git log --oneline. Git accepts an unambiguous abbreviated ID, but a full ID is safest in scripts.