git log

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GIT Tutorials

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Git is a Distributed Version Control System (VCS) which is originally developed in 2005 by Linus Torvalds (Creator of Linux) and is open source, i.e. freely available to use. It is the most popular and most used version control tool right now. A staggering number of software projects rely on Git for version control, including commercial projects as well as open source. 

Chapter 1 How to install Git on Windows 10
Chapter 2 How to create a new Git Repository – git init Command
Chapter 3 How to clone a Git Repository – git clone – NEW
Chapter 4 How to stage changes in Git – git add Command
Chapter 5 How to unstage the changes in Git – git rm command
Chapter 6 How to commit changes in GIT – git commit command
Chapter 7 How to track commits in Git – git log command
Chapter 8 How to commit an empty folder in GIT – gitkeep
Chapter 9 How to ignore files in GIT – gitignore
Chapter 10 How to create a branch in GIT
Chapter 11 How to stash changes in GIT – git stash command
Chapter 12 How to push new local GIT Repository to GitLab
Chapter 13 How to change a remote repository’s URL using git?
Chapter 14 Git Cheat Sheet – NEW

Interview Questions

Git Multiple Choice Questions – MCQ1 – NEW
Git Multiple Choice Questions – MCQ2 – NEW
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How to track commits in Git – git log command

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The previous tutorial explains the process of staging and committing a change. But, to track all the commits that have occurred in the project, there is a command called git log.

What is git log command?

The git log command shows the snapshot of all the committed changes.  It is used for listing and filtering the project history, and searching for particular changes.

To explain the usage of the git log, let us follow a few steps.

Step 1 – Create an empty directory – GitTest.

Step 2 – Right-click and click on Git Bash Here to open GitBash at that place.

Step 3 – Type a git command as shown below. This command is used for the initial setup of a Git local Repository. To know how to create an empty directory, refer to this tutorial.

git init

Step 4 – Use the below command to display the state of the working directory and the staging area.

git status

Step 5 – Create 2 new files with some content – ReadMe.txt and Index.txt.

Step 6 – Use the below command to promote pending changes (new file or altered file) in the working directory, to the git Staging area.

git add ReadMe.txt

Step 7 – Use the below command to promote the changes from Staging Area to GIT local repository. This is our first commit.

git commit ReadMe.txt

Step 8 – Update ReadMe.txt file

Step 9 – Use the below command to promote both ReadMe.txt and Index.txt to the staging area, which means both files are staged.

git add .

Step 10 – Use the below command to commit both the files to GIT local Repository.

git commit -am "Second Commit with Index and ReadMe files"

Step 11 – Type the below command to see the snapshot of all the commits.

git log

By default, formatting, shows the whole commit history. 

There are various configurations of git log:-

1. git log –patch or git log -p

This command shows the patch for each commit as well as their full differences.

2. git log –stat

This command displays the number of insertions and deletions to each file altered by each commit (note that modifying a line is represented as 1 insertion and 1 deletion). This is useful when you want a brief summary of the changes introduced by each commit. 

3. git log –pretty

git log --pretty=format:"%cn committed %h on %cd"

This command display each commit using printf-style placeholders. The %cn, %h and %cd characters in the command are replaced with the committer name, abbreviated commit hash, and the committer date, respectively.

4. git log -n where n is the limit

git log -1

This command limits the number of commits to be displayed.

5. git log –author

git log --author ="Singh"

This command displays all commits for the specified author. If there is no match for the author, nothing will be displayed.

6. git log — fileName

git log -- Index.txt

This command displays those commits that include the specified file, which makes it easier to see the file’s history.

7. git log –after

git log --after="yesterday"
git log --after="2022-02-15"

This command displays a commit from a specific time frame. We can use both –after or –before.

Congratulations!! We have learned about the git log, which is very useful for tracking the changes. Happy Learning!!