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How can I configure git log to show commit date instead of author date?

jarlh
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michael
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    @Colleen Each commit has two dates associated - AuthorDate and CommitDate (`git show --pretty=fuller HEAD` to se an example). For local development, these are usually the same, but for patches added via e-mail or other mechanisms, they can differ, where the AuthorDate is the date the patch was generated, and the CommitDate being when it was actually applied to the repository. – twalberg Jan 09 '13 at 18:55
  • Kind of related: [How to make `git log` show only the commit date, nothing else](https://stackoverflow.com/q/71384830/4561887) – Gabriel Staples Mar 07 '22 at 17:18

4 Answers4

222

There are several options to pretty print the date. Probably the easiest is to just use one of the pre-baked --pretty formats, like git log --pretty=fuller - this will show both dates. If you want to see only one date, but make it the commit date, you can use git log --format=<some stuff>. All the allowable codes for defining the format are documented in git help log. The commit date is one of %cd, %cD, %cr, %ct or %ci, depending on what format you prefer it in.

If it's something you want to do often, put it in an alias or write an auxiliary script to save on typing.

Dave Jarvis
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twalberg
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You can use --pretty=format and use %cr for commit date relative.

For example:

$ git log --graph --pretty=format:'%C(auto)%h%d (%cr) %cn <%ce> %s'

You can define an alias in git to make this easier to use. I have the following in my .gitconfig:

[alias]
# see `git help log` for detailed help.
#   %h: abbreviated commit hash
#   %d: ref names, like the --decorate option of git-log(1)
#   %cn: commiter name
#   %ce: committer email
#   %cr: committer date, relative
#   %ci: committer date, ISO 8601-like format
#   %an: author name
#   %ae: author email
#   %ar: author date, relative
#   %ai: author date, ISO 8601-like format
#   %s: subject
# my awesome git log replacement
lol  = log --graph --pretty=format:\"%C(auto)%h%d%Creset %C(cyan)(%cr)%Creset %C(green)%cn <%ce>%Creset %s\"
# same as above, but ISO date
lold = log --graph --pretty=format:\"%C(auto)%h%d%Creset %C(cyan)(%ci)%Creset %C(green)%cn <%ce>%Creset %s\"
# using build-in standards
lol2 = log --oneline --graph --decorate
# shows branches and their last commits
lol3 = log --all --graph --decorate --oneline --simplify-by-decoration

On Linux or similar systems, you can use single-quotes ' instead of double-quotes ":

[alias]
lol = log --graph --pretty=format:'%C(auto)%h%d%Creset %C(cyan)(%cr)%Creset %C(green)%cn <%ce>%Creset %s'

With this, simply run git lol, or the other variants to see the pretty output.

Here's the output of git lol --simplify-by-decoration:

git lol output

  • It looks good. :)
  • lol is easier to type than log, and sounds better too.
    • Also gives you access to the regular git log if you ever need it.
  • Your eyes can scan contents quickly by the different colors.
  • Names and e-mails are very useful for large projects/org with many contributors.
  • Using default coloring for hash/ref as it is already pretty good.

Here's the output of git lold with dates in ISO format. Useful to see the exact date/time a commit is made, with the bonus of being able to see the contributor's timezone easily.

enter image description here

Edit 2020-06: Added screenshots. Updated to use %C(auto) (auto/default coloring) for %h (commit hash) and %d (ref names). Added %cn (commiter name) in addition to email.

raychi
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    I get a parsing error: `git log --graph --pretty=format:\"%C(yellow)%h%Creset%C(cyan)%C(bold)%d%Creset %C(cyan)(%cr)%Creset %C(green)%ce%Creset %s\"` bash: syntax error near unexpected token `(' – Frak Mar 31 '16 at 00:22
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    @frakman1 — you need to un-escape the "s for the above line to run in the terminal – stites Apr 29 '16 at 20:04
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    Corrected line: git log --graph --pretty=format:"%C(yellow)%h%Creset%C(cyan)%C(bold)%d%Creset %C(cyan)(%cr)%Creset %C(green)%ce%Creset %s" – RedSands Nov 07 '16 at 14:39
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I prefer this format, doesn't include author name and includes actual date for commit.

git log --graph --pretty=format:"%C(yellow)%h%x09%Creset%C(cyan)%C(bold)%ad%Creset  %C(green)%Creset %s" --date=short
Patrick Steil
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  • 'actual date' that the _author_ created the first version of that commit content. If it had since been rebased or otherwise re-committed, the final commit date for what you see there is found with the '%c' format stem. The '--short-date' option is synonymous with the 'iso' date format output of %ai and %ci –  Jul 21 '21 at 13:01
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Might be useful to someone. I was looking for date and time stamps with the author name.

enter image description here

git log --graph --pretty=format:"%C(yellow)%h%x09%Creset%C(cyan)%C(bold)%ad%Creset %C(yellow)%cn%Creset  %C(green)%Creset %s" --date=default
Francois
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  • Since the question is about showing commit-date, you will need to change `%ad%` with `%cd%` to view commit-date. `ad` is for author date. – rupinderjeet Nov 23 '22 at 06:09