---
title: Log
date: 2023-11-07T12:34:39+00:00
tags: git
identifier: 20231107T123439
---

# `git log`

## Find a deleted file in history

If you don't know the full path
[Source](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/7203515/how-to-find-a-deleted-file-in-the-project-commit-history)

```
git log --all --full-history -- "**/name.*"
```

If you know the path

```
git log --all --full-history -- <filepath>
```

## List all commits in a given time range

```
git log --after="2013-11-01" --before="2013-12-01"
```

If the desired range is a day or less, specify the time also
[Source](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/19987099/how-do-i-view-all-commits-for-a-specific-day)

```
git log --after="2013-11-12 00:00" --before="2013-11-12 23:59"
```


## List all commits affecting a specific file

```
git log --follow -- <filename>
```
Here `—follow` instructs git to also track renames.

To also include the diff with each commit
```
git log -p -- <filename>
```

[Stack Overflow](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/3701404/how-to-list-all-commits-that-changed-a-specific-file)
## List all the files that ever existed

```
git log --pretty=format: --name-only --diff-filter=A | sort -u
```

[Stack Overflow](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/543346/list-all-the-files-that-ever-existed-in-a-git-repository)
## Trace the evolution of a function

```
git log -L :func_name:path/to/file.py
```

This relies on the same mechanism that {denote:link}`20231107T123925` uses to determine a patch's hunk header.
See {ref}`20231107T123925-hunk-header` for more details.


## Trace the evolution of a region

Even more exciting is the ability to trace the evolution of an arbitrary region of text in a file! This is super useful say for watching the evolution of a CND namespace within an NVUD file

```
git log -L/Design_Mission/,/Design_Misson/:tests/data.nvud
```

Other, perhaps less useful forms of this include using absolute line numbers and offsets

```
git log -L10,100:path/to/file.txt    # Trace lines 10-100
git log -L10,+100:path/to/file.txt   # Trace line 10 and the following 100 lines
git log -L10,-20:path/to/file.txt    # Trace line 10 and the preceeding 20
```

Or you can use a combination of the two approaches