Query git reflog for all commits to a specific file

Question

Is it possible to check the git reflog for all commits to a specific file.

I made a commit to file foo.txt and now it no longer shows in the git history via

git log foo.txt

I want to search the reflog to find all commits to this file so I can find my "lost" commit.

Arkadiy Kukarkin · Answer 1 · 2018-12-20T22:17:33.270

75

Came across this while searching for an answer, which is simple: git reflog -- $PATH, which will include amends and other actions that will not be visible otherwise (though beware, reflog will be pruned by gc)

edited Dec 20 '18 at 22:17

answered Mar 12 '15 at 21:14

Arkadiy Kukarkin

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Wow -- so the rev-list didn't find my file, but reflog had it! Even had rev-list with `--all` but that still didn't find it. Thanks you just saved me a few hours. – Saad Malik Jun 05 '17 at 00:07
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to avoid confusion, it might be more proper to use the form `git reflog -- ` the double dash explicitly denotes you're passing it a file rather than a potential reference – LightBender Jan 14 '18 at 21:02
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This should clearly be the accepted answer. Especially since the OP does mention reflog. – Arnaud P Oct 10 '18 at 12:22
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One answer to rule them all, one answer to find them, One answer to bring them all and in the darkness cherry-pick them. @ArnaudP is right, this answer should be the accepted one, thanks so much! – Matt d' Dec 18 '18 at 17:29
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This is definitely the most useful command, also the most recent one as well. Helped me to get the changes back which I lost :) – Harry12345 Jan 21 '19 at 10:36
Would like to add, that if you have no idea what that path could have been, you can do `git reflog -- **/FILENAME` to get all commits where the file showed up (helped me on git version 2.21.0.windows.1) – OliverE Feb 18 '21 at 12:00

score 63 · Accepted Answer · edited Aug 22 '17 at 12:59

63

Try:

git rev-list --all -- foo.txt

This will give you a list of all commits containing foo.txt.

edited Aug 22 '17 at 12:59

Kyle Decot

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answered Jun 10 '11 at 19:43

rtn

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I had to add an extra `--`, like so: git rev-list --all -- foo.txt – Idris Mokhtarzada Feb 09 '15 at 21:00
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I used: `git rev-list --all -- foo.html | xargs git show --name-status --oneline` – jherax Jul 08 '19 at 17:17
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This does not search the reflog – Jeff Walker Code Ranger Jan 07 '20 at 19:47
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this won't actually find lost commits, see my answer below – Arkadiy Kukarkin Aug 31 '20 at 05:44

score 21 · Answer 3 · edited Apr 18 '13 at 05:39

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I'd use:

git rev-list --all --remotes --pretty=oneline foo.txt

The --remotes option lets you use also your remotes, the --pretty=oneline makes it display also the commit message. Very useful when you're looking for a modification pushed to remote in a branch you don't know the name of.

edited Apr 18 '13 at 05:39

Jouni K. Seppänen

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answered Jul 05 '12 at 13:13

wdev

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I had to use `git rev-list --all --remotes --pretty=oneline -- foo.txt` (notice the `--`) – hakunin May 19 '17 at 07:48
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While this answers your own use case, `rev-list` doesn't search "the reflog", and won't find commits that are "lost", e.g. due to a reset of a branch. – Christian Davén May 24 '21 at 05:37

score 3 · Answer 4 · answered Mar 15 '20 at 18:11

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I lost a change when I was cleaning up my history with rebase. I used something like this to search the reflogs:

for r in $(git reflog -- ${file} | cut -d ' ' -f1); do git show ${r}:${file}; done

answered Mar 15 '20 at 18:11

glevand

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Query git reflog for all commits to a specific file

4 Answers4

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