Can Git show history for selected lines?

Question

I have a large file where, somewhere in the middle, there is a function that I know has been modified several times. git annotate or blame will show the most recent commit for each line but if I'm right, it will show only the most recent one, not a list of other commits that affected that line before.

So is there a command in Git where I could say something like show me commits that affected lines 250..260 in file XYZ?

not line, but git log … - show only commits that affect the specified paths. maybe it helps — 0xAX, May 30 '12 at 12:49
Possible duplicate of [how do I view the change history of a method/function?](http://stackoverflow.com/q/4781405/11343) — CharlesB, May 30 '12 at 12:52
Thanks @CharlesB, I found some good advice there and posted it as an answer here. — Borek Bernard, May 30 '12 at 13:07
possible duplicate of [Retrieve the commit log for a specific line in a file?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/8435343/retrieve-the-commit-log-for-a-specific-line-in-a-file) — László Papp, Oct 10 '14 at 08:25

score 18 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 10:30

18

As suggested in one of the comments in Git - how do I view the change history of a method/function?, doing

git gui blame <file>

and then right-clicking a line and selecting Blame Parent Commit does what I need.

edited May 23 '17 at 10:30

Community

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answered May 30 '12 at 13:06

Borek Bernard

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score 18 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 21 '13 at 06:25

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phpStorm can do this. Select the lines -> right-click -> Git -> Show History for Selection

answered Mar 21 '13 at 06:25

Richard Feraro

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what an awesome feature! Thanks for bringing it to my attention!! – pymarco Mar 25 '14 at 21:22
intellij does it too – David Mann Feb 04 '16 at 19:52

score 7 · Answer 3 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:34

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git show $(git blame XYZ -L 250,260 | awk '{print $1}')

Every line of code is always documented. via @mislav

edited May 23 '17 at 12:34

Community

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answered Feb 28 '14 at 08:10

Snger

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If only the results were chronological. – David Winiecki Nov 24 '14 at 22:22

score 2 · Answer 4 · answered May 30 '12 at 12:50

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I think that's not possible. You will need to write a script around git blame. You can find a bash example of such a script on GitHub.

answered May 30 '12 at 12:50

Sebi

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score 2 · Answer 5 · answered Mar 21 '14 at 07:55

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Select line -> Right-click->Git->Annotate

answered Mar 21 '14 at 07:55

konradwww

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this doesnt answer the question as it will only show the most recent commit to affect a single line. – David Mann Feb 04 '16 at 19:56

score 1 · Answer 6 · answered Apr 19 '22 at 15:11

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this fonctionnality made me switch to IntelliJ Idea. With IntelliJ you can select lines, right clic -> git -> Show history for selection

answered Apr 19 '22 at 15:11

soung

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Can Git show history for selected lines?

6 Answers6

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