Documentation / rev-list-options.txton commit rev-list: refuse --first-parent combined with --bisect (f88851c)
   1Commit Limiting
   2~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
   3
   4Besides specifying a range of commits that should be listed using the
   5special notations explained in the description, additional commit
   6limiting may be applied.
   7
   8Using more options generally further limits the output (e.g.
   9`--since=<date1>` limits to commits newer than `<date1>`, and using it
  10with `--grep=<pattern>` further limits to commits whose log message
  11has a line that matches `<pattern>`), unless otherwise noted.
  12
  13Note that these are applied before commit
  14ordering and formatting options, such as `--reverse`.
  15
  16--
  17
  18-<number>::
  19-n <number>::
  20--max-count=<number>::
  21        Limit the number of commits to output.
  22
  23--skip=<number>::
  24        Skip 'number' commits before starting to show the commit output.
  25
  26--since=<date>::
  27--after=<date>::
  28        Show commits more recent than a specific date.
  29
  30--until=<date>::
  31--before=<date>::
  32        Show commits older than a specific date.
  33
  34ifdef::git-rev-list[]
  35--max-age=<timestamp>::
  36--min-age=<timestamp>::
  37        Limit the commits output to specified time range.
  38endif::git-rev-list[]
  39
  40--author=<pattern>::
  41--committer=<pattern>::
  42        Limit the commits output to ones with author/committer
  43        header lines that match the specified pattern (regular
  44        expression).  With more than one `--author=<pattern>`,
  45        commits whose author matches any of the given patterns are
  46        chosen (similarly for multiple `--committer=<pattern>`).
  47
  48--grep-reflog=<pattern>::
  49        Limit the commits output to ones with reflog entries that
  50        match the specified pattern (regular expression). With
  51        more than one `--grep-reflog`, commits whose reflog message
  52        matches any of the given patterns are chosen.  It is an
  53        error to use this option unless `--walk-reflogs` is in use.
  54
  55--grep=<pattern>::
  56        Limit the commits output to ones with log message that
  57        matches the specified pattern (regular expression).  With
  58        more than one `--grep=<pattern>`, commits whose message
  59        matches any of the given patterns are chosen (but see
  60        `--all-match`).
  61+
  62When `--show-notes` is in effect, the message from the notes as
  63if it is part of the log message.
  64
  65--all-match::
  66        Limit the commits output to ones that match all given `--grep`,
  67        instead of ones that match at least one.
  68
  69-i::
  70--regexp-ignore-case::
  71        Match the regular expression limiting patterns without regard to letter
  72        case.
  73
  74--basic-regexp::
  75        Consider the limiting patterns to be basic regular expressions;
  76        this is the default.
  77
  78-E::
  79--extended-regexp::
  80        Consider the limiting patterns to be extended regular expressions
  81        instead of the default basic regular expressions.
  82
  83-F::
  84--fixed-strings::
  85        Consider the limiting patterns to be fixed strings (don't interpret
  86        pattern as a regular expression).
  87
  88--perl-regexp::
  89        Consider the limiting patterns to be Perl-compatible regular expressions.
  90        Requires libpcre to be compiled in.
  91
  92--remove-empty::
  93        Stop when a given path disappears from the tree.
  94
  95--merges::
  96        Print only merge commits. This is exactly the same as `--min-parents=2`.
  97
  98--no-merges::
  99        Do not print commits with more than one parent. This is
 100        exactly the same as `--max-parents=1`.
 101
 102--min-parents=<number>::
 103--max-parents=<number>::
 104--no-min-parents::
 105--no-max-parents::
 106        Show only commits which have at least (or at most) that many parent
 107        commits. In particular, `--max-parents=1` is the same as `--no-merges`,
 108        `--min-parents=2` is the same as `--merges`.  `--max-parents=0`
 109        gives all root commits and `--min-parents=3` all octopus merges.
 110+
 111`--no-min-parents` and `--no-max-parents` reset these limits (to no limit)
 112again.  Equivalent forms are `--min-parents=0` (any commit has 0 or more
 113parents) and `--max-parents=-1` (negative numbers denote no upper limit).
 114
 115--first-parent::
 116        Follow only the first parent commit upon seeing a merge
 117        commit.  This option can give a better overview when
 118        viewing the evolution of a particular topic branch,
 119        because merges into a topic branch tend to be only about
 120        adjusting to updated upstream from time to time, and
 121        this option allows you to ignore the individual commits
 122        brought in to your history by such a merge. Cannot be
 123        combined with --bisect.
 124
 125--not::
 126        Reverses the meaning of the '{caret}' prefix (or lack thereof)
 127        for all following revision specifiers, up to the next `--not`.
 128
 129--all::
 130        Pretend as if all the refs in `refs/` are listed on the
 131        command line as '<commit>'.
 132
 133--branches[=<pattern>]::
 134        Pretend as if all the refs in `refs/heads` are listed
 135        on the command line as '<commit>'. If '<pattern>' is given, limit
 136        branches to ones matching given shell glob. If pattern lacks '?',
 137        '{asterisk}', or '[', '/{asterisk}' at the end is implied.
 138
 139--tags[=<pattern>]::
 140        Pretend as if all the refs in `refs/tags` are listed
 141        on the command line as '<commit>'. If '<pattern>' is given, limit
 142        tags to ones matching given shell glob. If pattern lacks '?', '{asterisk}',
 143        or '[', '/{asterisk}' at the end is implied.
 144
 145--remotes[=<pattern>]::
 146        Pretend as if all the refs in `refs/remotes` are listed
 147        on the command line as '<commit>'. If '<pattern>' is given, limit
 148        remote-tracking branches to ones matching given shell glob.
 149        If pattern lacks '?', '{asterisk}', or '[', '/{asterisk}' at the end is implied.
 150
 151--glob=<glob-pattern>::
 152        Pretend as if all the refs matching shell glob '<glob-pattern>'
 153        are listed on the command line as '<commit>'. Leading 'refs/',
 154        is automatically prepended if missing. If pattern lacks '?', '{asterisk}',
 155        or '[', '/{asterisk}' at the end is implied.
 156
 157--exclude=<glob-pattern>::
 158
 159        Do not include refs matching '<glob-pattern>' that the next `--all`,
 160        `--branches`, `--tags`, `--remotes`, or `--glob` would otherwise
 161        consider. Repetitions of this option accumulate exclusion patterns
 162        up to the next `--all`, `--branches`, `--tags`, `--remotes`, or
 163        `--glob` option (other options or arguments do not clear
 164        accumlated patterns).
 165+
 166The patterns given should not begin with `refs/heads`, `refs/tags`, or
 167`refs/remotes` when applied to `--branches`, `--tags`, or `--remotes`,
 168respectively, and they must begin with `refs/` when applied to `--glob`
 169or `--all`. If a trailing '/{asterisk}' is intended, it must be given
 170explicitly.
 171
 172--ignore-missing::
 173        Upon seeing an invalid object name in the input, pretend as if
 174        the bad input was not given.
 175
 176ifndef::git-rev-list[]
 177--bisect::
 178        Pretend as if the bad bisection ref `refs/bisect/bad`
 179        was listed and as if it was followed by `--not` and the good
 180        bisection refs `refs/bisect/good-*` on the command
 181        line. Cannot be combined with --first-parent.
 182endif::git-rev-list[]
 183
 184--stdin::
 185        In addition to the '<commit>' listed on the command
 186        line, read them from the standard input. If a '--' separator is
 187        seen, stop reading commits and start reading paths to limit the
 188        result.
 189
 190ifdef::git-rev-list[]
 191--quiet::
 192        Don't print anything to standard output.  This form
 193        is primarily meant to allow the caller to
 194        test the exit status to see if a range of objects is fully
 195        connected (or not).  It is faster than redirecting stdout
 196        to `/dev/null` as the output does not have to be formatted.
 197endif::git-rev-list[]
 198
 199--cherry-mark::
 200        Like `--cherry-pick` (see below) but mark equivalent commits
 201        with `=` rather than omitting them, and inequivalent ones with `+`.
 202
 203--cherry-pick::
 204        Omit any commit that introduces the same change as
 205        another commit on the ``other side'' when the set of
 206        commits are limited with symmetric difference.
 207+
 208For example, if you have two branches, `A` and `B`, a usual way
 209to list all commits on only one side of them is with
 210`--left-right` (see the example below in the description of
 211the `--left-right` option). However, it shows the commits that were
 212cherry-picked from the other branch (for example, ``3rd on b'' may be
 213cherry-picked from branch A). With this option, such pairs of commits are
 214excluded from the output.
 215
 216--left-only::
 217--right-only::
 218        List only commits on the respective side of a symmetric range,
 219        i.e. only those which would be marked `<` resp. `>` by
 220        `--left-right`.
 221+
 222For example, `--cherry-pick --right-only A...B` omits those
 223commits from `B` which are in `A` or are patch-equivalent to a commit in
 224`A`. In other words, this lists the `+` commits from `git cherry A B`.
 225More precisely, `--cherry-pick --right-only --no-merges` gives the exact
 226list.
 227
 228--cherry::
 229        A synonym for `--right-only --cherry-mark --no-merges`; useful to
 230        limit the output to the commits on our side and mark those that
 231        have been applied to the other side of a forked history with
 232        `git log --cherry upstream...mybranch`, similar to
 233        `git cherry upstream mybranch`.
 234
 235-g::
 236--walk-reflogs::
 237        Instead of walking the commit ancestry chain, walk
 238        reflog entries from the most recent one to older ones.
 239        When this option is used you cannot specify commits to
 240        exclude (that is, '{caret}commit', 'commit1..commit2',
 241        and 'commit1\...commit2' notations cannot be used).
 242+
 243With `--pretty` format other than `oneline` (for obvious reasons),
 244this causes the output to have two extra lines of information
 245taken from the reflog.  By default, 'commit@\{Nth}' notation is
 246used in the output.  When the starting commit is specified as
 247'commit@\{now}', output also uses 'commit@\{timestamp}' notation
 248instead.  Under `--pretty=oneline`, the commit message is
 249prefixed with this information on the same line.
 250This option cannot be combined with `--reverse`.
 251See also linkgit:git-reflog[1].
 252
 253--merge::
 254        After a failed merge, show refs that touch files having a
 255        conflict and don't exist on all heads to merge.
 256
 257--boundary::
 258        Output excluded boundary commits. Boundary commits are
 259        prefixed with `-`.
 260
 261ifdef::git-rev-list[]
 262--use-bitmap-index::
 263
 264        Try to speed up the traversal using the pack bitmap index (if
 265        one is available). Note that when traversing with `--objects`,
 266        trees and blobs will not have their associated path printed.
 267endif::git-rev-list[]
 268
 269--
 270
 271History Simplification
 272~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 273
 274Sometimes you are only interested in parts of the history, for example the
 275commits modifying a particular <path>. But there are two parts of
 276'History Simplification', one part is selecting the commits and the other
 277is how to do it, as there are various strategies to simplify the history.
 278
 279The following options select the commits to be shown:
 280
 281<paths>::
 282        Commits modifying the given <paths> are selected.
 283
 284--simplify-by-decoration::
 285        Commits that are referred by some branch or tag are selected.
 286
 287Note that extra commits can be shown to give a meaningful history.
 288
 289The following options affect the way the simplification is performed:
 290
 291Default mode::
 292        Simplifies the history to the simplest history explaining the
 293        final state of the tree. Simplest because it prunes some side
 294        branches if the end result is the same (i.e. merging branches
 295        with the same content)
 296
 297--full-history::
 298        Same as the default mode, but does not prune some history.
 299
 300--dense::
 301        Only the selected commits are shown, plus some to have a
 302        meaningful history.
 303
 304--sparse::
 305        All commits in the simplified history are shown.
 306
 307--simplify-merges::
 308        Additional option to `--full-history` to remove some needless
 309        merges from the resulting history, as there are no selected
 310        commits contributing to this merge.
 311
 312--ancestry-path::
 313        When given a range of commits to display (e.g. 'commit1..commit2'
 314        or 'commit2 {caret}commit1'), only display commits that exist
 315        directly on the ancestry chain between the 'commit1' and
 316        'commit2', i.e. commits that are both descendants of 'commit1',
 317        and ancestors of 'commit2'.
 318
 319A more detailed explanation follows.
 320
 321Suppose you specified `foo` as the <paths>.  We shall call commits
 322that modify `foo` !TREESAME, and the rest TREESAME.  (In a diff
 323filtered for `foo`, they look different and equal, respectively.)
 324
 325In the following, we will always refer to the same example history to
 326illustrate the differences between simplification settings.  We assume
 327that you are filtering for a file `foo` in this commit graph:
 328-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 329          .-A---M---N---O---P---Q
 330         /     /   /   /   /   /
 331        I     B   C   D   E   Y
 332         \   /   /   /   /   /
 333          `-------------'   X
 334-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 335The horizontal line of history A---Q is taken to be the first parent of
 336each merge.  The commits are:
 337
 338* `I` is the initial commit, in which `foo` exists with contents
 339  ``asdf'', and a file `quux` exists with contents ``quux''. Initial
 340  commits are compared to an empty tree, so `I` is !TREESAME.
 341
 342* In `A`, `foo` contains just ``foo''.
 343
 344* `B` contains the same change as `A`.  Its merge `M` is trivial and
 345  hence TREESAME to all parents.
 346
 347* `C` does not change `foo`, but its merge `N` changes it to ``foobar'',
 348  so it is not TREESAME to any parent.
 349
 350* `D` sets `foo` to ``baz''. Its merge `O` combines the strings from
 351  `N` and `D` to ``foobarbaz''; i.e., it is not TREESAME to any parent.
 352
 353* `E` changes `quux` to ``xyzzy'', and its merge `P` combines the
 354  strings to ``quux xyzzy''. `P` is TREESAME to `O`, but not to `E`.
 355
 356* `X` is an independent root commit that added a new file `side`, and `Y`
 357  modified it. `Y` is TREESAME to `X`. Its merge `Q` added `side` to `P`, and
 358  `Q` is TREESAME to `P`, but not to `Y`.
 359
 360`rev-list` walks backwards through history, including or excluding
 361commits based on whether `--full-history` and/or parent rewriting
 362(via `--parents` or `--children`) are used. The following settings
 363are available.
 364
 365Default mode::
 366        Commits are included if they are not TREESAME to any parent
 367        (though this can be changed, see `--sparse` below).  If the
 368        commit was a merge, and it was TREESAME to one parent, follow
 369        only that parent.  (Even if there are several TREESAME
 370        parents, follow only one of them.)  Otherwise, follow all
 371        parents.
 372+
 373This results in:
 374+
 375-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 376          .-A---N---O
 377         /     /   /
 378        I---------D
 379-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 380+
 381Note how the rule to only follow the TREESAME parent, if one is
 382available, removed `B` from consideration entirely.  `C` was
 383considered via `N`, but is TREESAME.  Root commits are compared to an
 384empty tree, so `I` is !TREESAME.
 385+
 386Parent/child relations are only visible with `--parents`, but that does
 387not affect the commits selected in default mode, so we have shown the
 388parent lines.
 389
 390--full-history without parent rewriting::
 391        This mode differs from the default in one point: always follow
 392        all parents of a merge, even if it is TREESAME to one of them.
 393        Even if more than one side of the merge has commits that are
 394        included, this does not imply that the merge itself is!  In
 395        the example, we get
 396+
 397-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 398        I  A  B  N  D  O  P  Q
 399-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 400+
 401`M` was excluded because it is TREESAME to both parents.  `E`,
 402`C` and `B` were all walked, but only `B` was !TREESAME, so the others
 403do not appear.
 404+
 405Note that without parent rewriting, it is not really possible to talk
 406about the parent/child relationships between the commits, so we show
 407them disconnected.
 408
 409--full-history with parent rewriting::
 410        Ordinary commits are only included if they are !TREESAME
 411        (though this can be changed, see `--sparse` below).
 412+
 413Merges are always included.  However, their parent list is rewritten:
 414Along each parent, prune away commits that are not included
 415themselves.  This results in
 416+
 417-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 418          .-A---M---N---O---P---Q
 419         /     /   /   /   /
 420        I     B   /   D   /
 421         \   /   /   /   /
 422          `-------------'
 423-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 424+
 425Compare to `--full-history` without rewriting above.  Note that `E`
 426was pruned away because it is TREESAME, but the parent list of P was
 427rewritten to contain `E`'s parent `I`.  The same happened for `C` and
 428`N`, and `X`, `Y` and `Q`.
 429
 430In addition to the above settings, you can change whether TREESAME
 431affects inclusion:
 432
 433--dense::
 434        Commits that are walked are included if they are not TREESAME
 435        to any parent.
 436
 437--sparse::
 438        All commits that are walked are included.
 439+
 440Note that without `--full-history`, this still simplifies merges: if
 441one of the parents is TREESAME, we follow only that one, so the other
 442sides of the merge are never walked.
 443
 444--simplify-merges::
 445        First, build a history graph in the same way that
 446        `--full-history` with parent rewriting does (see above).
 447+
 448Then simplify each commit `C` to its replacement `C'` in the final
 449history according to the following rules:
 450+
 451--
 452* Set `C'` to `C`.
 453+
 454* Replace each parent `P` of `C'` with its simplification `P'`.  In
 455  the process, drop parents that are ancestors of other parents or that are
 456  root commits TREESAME to an empty tree, and remove duplicates, but take care
 457  to never drop all parents that we are TREESAME to.
 458+
 459* If after this parent rewriting, `C'` is a root or merge commit (has
 460  zero or >1 parents), a boundary commit, or !TREESAME, it remains.
 461  Otherwise, it is replaced with its only parent.
 462--
 463+
 464The effect of this is best shown by way of comparing to
 465`--full-history` with parent rewriting.  The example turns into:
 466+
 467-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 468          .-A---M---N---O
 469         /     /       /
 470        I     B       D
 471         \   /       /
 472          `---------'
 473-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 474+
 475Note the major differences in `N`, `P`, and `Q` over `--full-history`:
 476+
 477--
 478* `N`'s parent list had `I` removed, because it is an ancestor of the
 479  other parent `M`.  Still, `N` remained because it is !TREESAME.
 480+
 481* `P`'s parent list similarly had `I` removed.  `P` was then
 482  removed completely, because it had one parent and is TREESAME.
 483+
 484* `Q`'s parent list had `Y` simplified to `X`. `X` was then removed, because it
 485  was a TREESAME root. `Q` was then removed completely, because it had one
 486  parent and is TREESAME.
 487--
 488
 489Finally, there is a fifth simplification mode available:
 490
 491--ancestry-path::
 492        Limit the displayed commits to those directly on the ancestry
 493        chain between the ``from'' and ``to'' commits in the given commit
 494        range. I.e. only display commits that are ancestor of the ``to''
 495        commit and descendants of the ``from'' commit.
 496+
 497As an example use case, consider the following commit history:
 498+
 499-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 500            D---E-------F
 501           /     \       \
 502          B---C---G---H---I---J
 503         /                     \
 504        A-------K---------------L--M
 505-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 506+
 507A regular 'D..M' computes the set of commits that are ancestors of `M`,
 508but excludes the ones that are ancestors of `D`. This is useful to see
 509what happened to the history leading to `M` since `D`, in the sense
 510that ``what does `M` have that did not exist in `D`''. The result in this
 511example would be all the commits, except `A` and `B` (and `D` itself,
 512of course).
 513+
 514When we want to find out what commits in `M` are contaminated with the
 515bug introduced by `D` and need fixing, however, we might want to view
 516only the subset of 'D..M' that are actually descendants of `D`, i.e.
 517excluding `C` and `K`. This is exactly what the `--ancestry-path`
 518option does. Applied to the 'D..M' range, it results in:
 519+
 520-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 521                E-------F
 522                 \       \
 523                  G---H---I---J
 524                               \
 525                                L--M
 526-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 527
 528The `--simplify-by-decoration` option allows you to view only the
 529big picture of the topology of the history, by omitting commits
 530that are not referenced by tags.  Commits are marked as !TREESAME
 531(in other words, kept after history simplification rules described
 532above) if (1) they are referenced by tags, or (2) they change the
 533contents of the paths given on the command line.  All other
 534commits are marked as TREESAME (subject to be simplified away).
 535
 536ifdef::git-rev-list[]
 537Bisection Helpers
 538~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 539
 540--bisect::
 541        Limit output to the one commit object which is roughly halfway between
 542        included and excluded commits. Note that the bad bisection ref
 543        `refs/bisect/bad` is added to the included commits (if it
 544        exists) and the good bisection refs `refs/bisect/good-*` are
 545        added to the excluded commits (if they exist). Thus, supposing there
 546        are no refs in `refs/bisect/`, if
 547+
 548-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 549        $ git rev-list --bisect foo ^bar ^baz
 550-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 551+
 552outputs 'midpoint', the output of the two commands
 553+
 554-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 555        $ git rev-list foo ^midpoint
 556        $ git rev-list midpoint ^bar ^baz
 557-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 558+
 559would be of roughly the same length.  Finding the change which
 560introduces a regression is thus reduced to a binary search: repeatedly
 561generate and test new 'midpoint's until the commit chain is of length
 562one. Cannot be combined with --first-parent.
 563
 564--bisect-vars::
 565        This calculates the same as `--bisect`, except that refs in
 566        `refs/bisect/` are not used, and except that this outputs
 567        text ready to be eval'ed by the shell. These lines will assign the
 568        name of the midpoint revision to the variable `bisect_rev`, and the
 569        expected number of commits to be tested after `bisect_rev` is tested
 570        to `bisect_nr`, the expected number of commits to be tested if
 571        `bisect_rev` turns out to be good to `bisect_good`, the expected
 572        number of commits to be tested if `bisect_rev` turns out to be bad to
 573        `bisect_bad`, and the number of commits we are bisecting right now to
 574        `bisect_all`.
 575
 576--bisect-all::
 577        This outputs all the commit objects between the included and excluded
 578        commits, ordered by their distance to the included and excluded
 579        commits. Refs in `refs/bisect/` are not used. The farthest
 580        from them is displayed first. (This is the only one displayed by
 581        `--bisect`.)
 582+
 583This is useful because it makes it easy to choose a good commit to
 584test when you want to avoid to test some of them for some reason (they
 585may not compile for example).
 586+
 587This option can be used along with `--bisect-vars`, in this case,
 588after all the sorted commit objects, there will be the same text as if
 589`--bisect-vars` had been used alone.
 590endif::git-rev-list[]
 591
 592
 593Commit Ordering
 594~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 595
 596By default, the commits are shown in reverse chronological order.
 597
 598--date-order::
 599        Show no parents before all of its children are shown, but
 600        otherwise show commits in the commit timestamp order.
 601
 602--author-date-order::
 603        Show no parents before all of its children are shown, but
 604        otherwise show commits in the author timestamp order.
 605
 606--topo-order::
 607        Show no parents before all of its children are shown, and
 608        avoid showing commits on multiple lines of history
 609        intermixed.
 610+
 611For example, in a commit history like this:
 612+
 613----------------------------------------------------------------
 614
 615    ---1----2----4----7
 616        \              \
 617         3----5----6----8---
 618
 619----------------------------------------------------------------
 620+
 621where the numbers denote the order of commit timestamps, `git
 622rev-list` and friends with `--date-order` show the commits in the
 623timestamp order: 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1.
 624+
 625With `--topo-order`, they would show 8 6 5 3 7 4 2 1 (or 8 7 4 2 6 5
 6263 1); some older commits are shown before newer ones in order to
 627avoid showing the commits from two parallel development track mixed
 628together.
 629
 630--reverse::
 631        Output the commits in reverse order.
 632        Cannot be combined with `--walk-reflogs`.
 633
 634Object Traversal
 635~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 636
 637These options are mostly targeted for packing of Git repositories.
 638
 639--objects::
 640        Print the object IDs of any object referenced by the listed
 641        commits.  `--objects foo ^bar` thus means ``send me
 642        all object IDs which I need to download if I have the commit
 643        object _bar_ but not _foo_''.
 644
 645--objects-edge::
 646        Similar to `--objects`, but also print the IDs of excluded
 647        commits prefixed with a ``-'' character.  This is used by
 648        linkgit:git-pack-objects[1] to build ``thin'' pack, which records
 649        objects in deltified form based on objects contained in these
 650        excluded commits to reduce network traffic.
 651
 652--unpacked::
 653        Only useful with `--objects`; print the object IDs that are not
 654        in packs.
 655
 656--no-walk[=(sorted|unsorted)]::
 657        Only show the given commits, but do not traverse their ancestors.
 658        This has no effect if a range is specified. If the argument
 659        `unsorted` is given, the commits are shown in the order they were
 660        given on the command line. Otherwise (if `sorted` or no argument
 661        was given), the commits are shown in reverse chronological order
 662        by commit time.
 663
 664--do-walk::
 665        Overrides a previous `--no-walk`.
 666
 667Commit Formatting
 668~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 669
 670ifdef::git-rev-list[]
 671Using these options, linkgit:git-rev-list[1] will act similar to the
 672more specialized family of commit log tools: linkgit:git-log[1],
 673linkgit:git-show[1], and linkgit:git-whatchanged[1]
 674endif::git-rev-list[]
 675
 676include::pretty-options.txt[]
 677
 678--relative-date::
 679        Synonym for `--date=relative`.
 680
 681--date=(relative|local|default|iso|rfc|short|raw)::
 682        Only takes effect for dates shown in human-readable format, such
 683        as when using `--pretty`. `log.date` config variable sets a default
 684        value for the log command's `--date` option.
 685+
 686`--date=relative` shows dates relative to the current time,
 687e.g. ``2 hours ago''.
 688+
 689`--date=local` shows timestamps in user's local time zone.
 690+
 691`--date=iso` (or `--date=iso8601`) shows timestamps in ISO 8601 format.
 692+
 693`--date=rfc` (or `--date=rfc2822`) shows timestamps in RFC 2822
 694format, often found in email messages.
 695+
 696`--date=short` shows only the date, but not the time, in `YYYY-MM-DD` format.
 697+
 698`--date=raw` shows the date in the internal raw Git format `%s %z` format.
 699+
 700`--date=default` shows timestamps in the original time zone
 701(either committer's or author's).
 702
 703ifdef::git-rev-list[]
 704--header::
 705        Print the contents of the commit in raw-format; each record is
 706        separated with a NUL character.
 707endif::git-rev-list[]
 708
 709--parents::
 710        Print also the parents of the commit (in the form "commit parent...").
 711        Also enables parent rewriting, see 'History Simplification' below.
 712
 713--children::
 714        Print also the children of the commit (in the form "commit child...").
 715        Also enables parent rewriting, see 'History Simplification' below.
 716
 717ifdef::git-rev-list[]
 718--timestamp::
 719        Print the raw commit timestamp.
 720endif::git-rev-list[]
 721
 722--left-right::
 723        Mark which side of a symmetric diff a commit is reachable from.
 724        Commits from the left side are prefixed with `<` and those from
 725        the right with `>`.  If combined with `--boundary`, those
 726        commits are prefixed with `-`.
 727+
 728For example, if you have this topology:
 729+
 730-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 731             y---b---b  branch B
 732            / \ /
 733           /   .
 734          /   / \
 735         o---x---a---a  branch A
 736-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 737+
 738you would get an output like this:
 739+
 740-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 741        $ git rev-list --left-right --boundary --pretty=oneline A...B
 742
 743        >bbbbbbb... 3rd on b
 744        >bbbbbbb... 2nd on b
 745        <aaaaaaa... 3rd on a
 746        <aaaaaaa... 2nd on a
 747        -yyyyyyy... 1st on b
 748        -xxxxxxx... 1st on a
 749-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 750
 751--graph::
 752        Draw a text-based graphical representation of the commit history
 753        on the left hand side of the output.  This may cause extra lines
 754        to be printed in between commits, in order for the graph history
 755        to be drawn properly.
 756+
 757This enables parent rewriting, see 'History Simplification' below.
 758+
 759This implies the `--topo-order` option by default, but the
 760`--date-order` option may also be specified.
 761
 762--show-linear-break[=<barrier>]::
 763        When --graph is not used, all history branches are flattened
 764        which can make it hard to see that the two consecutive commits
 765        do not belong to a linear branch. This option puts a barrier
 766        in between them in that case. If `<barrier>` is specified, it
 767        is the string that will be shown instead of the default one.
 768
 769ifdef::git-rev-list[]
 770--count::
 771        Print a number stating how many commits would have been
 772        listed, and suppress all other output.  When used together
 773        with `--left-right`, instead print the counts for left and
 774        right commits, separated by a tab. When used together with
 775        `--cherry-mark`, omit patch equivalent commits from these
 776        counts and print the count for equivalent commits separated
 777        by a tab.
 778endif::git-rev-list[]
 779
 780ifndef::git-rev-list[]
 781Diff Formatting
 782~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 783
 784Listed below are options that control the formatting of diff output.
 785Some of them are specific to linkgit:git-rev-list[1], however other diff
 786options may be given. See linkgit:git-diff-files[1] for more options.
 787
 788-c::
 789        With this option, diff output for a merge commit
 790        shows the differences from each of the parents to the merge result
 791        simultaneously instead of showing pairwise diff between a parent
 792        and the result one at a time. Furthermore, it lists only files
 793        which were modified from all parents.
 794
 795--cc::
 796        This flag implies the `-c` option and further compresses the
 797        patch output by omitting uninteresting hunks whose contents in
 798        the parents have only two variants and the merge result picks
 799        one of them without modification.
 800
 801-m::
 802        This flag makes the merge commits show the full diff like
 803        regular commits; for each merge parent, a separate log entry
 804        and diff is generated. An exception is that only diff against
 805        the first parent is shown when `--first-parent` option is given;
 806        in that case, the output represents the changes the merge
 807        brought _into_ the then-current branch.
 808
 809-r::
 810        Show recursive diffs.
 811
 812-t::
 813        Show the tree objects in the diff output. This implies `-r`.
 814endif::git-rev-list[]