CHAPTER 7 · 1 lesson · 13 exercises
Viewing History and Differences
Inspect history with git log, view commit details with show, compare changes with diff, and trace lines with blame.
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Now that you know how to commit and share, this chapter is about inspecting and reading history.
The question that comes up most in real development:
> When was this line written, by whom, and why?
Git provides four primary tools to answer this:
git log… display commit history (with options like--oneline,--graph,-n,--stat)git show… inspect the exact diff and details of a single commitgit diff… compare changes line by line between working tree, staging area, and commitsgit blame… show which commit and author last modified each line of a file
git diff compares different snapshots depending on its arguments. Understanding these comparisons clarifies the true purpose of the staging area.
All inspection commands are completely read-only and safe. Run them freely whenever you need to explore.
Lessons in this chapter
log and diff
- 07Inspecting history and diffs (log / show / diff / blame)Master git log, show, diff, and blame to inspect commit histories, analyze code differences across areas, and trace causes of bugs.Go to the exercises