Git Log Formatting: Custom Formats, Graphs, and Filters

Mastering Git Log Output

git log is far more powerful than its default output suggests. With formatting options and filters, you can build exactly the view you need.

Essential Log Formats

# One-line compact format
git log --oneline

# Graph view with branch visualization
git log --graph --oneline --all --decorate

# Show changed files per commit
git log --stat

# Show full diff per commit
git log -p

# Last N commits
git log -5

Custom Pretty Format

# Custom format with colors
git log --pretty=format:"%C(yellow)%h%C(reset) %C(blue)%ad%C(reset) %C(green)%an%C(reset) %s" --date=short

# Format tokens:
# %H  - full hash        %h  - short hash
# %an - author name      %ae - author email
# %ad - author date      %ar - relative date
# %cn - committer name   %s  - subject
# %b  - body             %d  - decorations

Filtering Commits

# By author
git log --author="Jane"

# By date range
git log --since="2025-01-01" --until="2025-06-30"

# By commit message
git log --grep="fix:" --oneline

# Commits that modified a specific file
git log -- src/auth.ts

# Commits that added or removed a string
git log -S "TODO" --oneline

Useful Aliases

# Beautiful graph log
git config --global alias.lg "log --graph --oneline --all --decorate"

# Recent commits by me
git config --global alias.my "log --author='$(git config user.name)' --oneline -20"

# Commits in the last week
git config --global alias.week "log --since='1 week ago' --oneline"

Comparing Branches

# Commits on feature not on main
git log main..feature --oneline

# Commits on either branch but not both
git log main...feature --oneline

# Commits on main since branching
git log feature..main --oneline