How can I count number of commits between two branches?

Question

Using the git diff --shortstat my_branch master is a great way to tell how many files changes and the insertions and deletions. I read the git diff documentation, but I couldn't find a way to tell the number of commits between my_branch and master. Does that exist?

are you asking for (#commits on master not on my_branch) + (#commits on my_branch not on master) ? — Andrew C, Oct 16 '14 at 20:56

score 43 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 16 '14 at 20:50

43

I think you could try:

git log --oneline mybranch ^master

For the exact count:

git log --oneline mybranch ^master | wc -l

Should give you the information you want.

answered Oct 16 '14 at 20:50

Daniel Williams

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what is up with the `^` sign? – JobaDiniz Sep 17 '17 at 19:08
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It means to select the log starting with mybranch and ending at and not including master. – Daniel Williams Sep 19 '17 at 19:05

score 38 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 04 '17 at 23:38

38

I found this to be much simpler:

git rev-list --count my-branch ^master

answered Jan 04 '17 at 23:38

etech

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missing .. between branches as of git version 2.13.5 (Apple Git-94) – Intel Nov 01 '17 at 07:03
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`..` not needed with git version 2.14.2 on Ubuntu Linux. – bovender Mar 28 '18 at 15:37
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If you're already on `my-branch` you can use `HEAD` instead: `git rev-list --count HEAD ^master` – David Jan 06 '21 at 09:20
`my-branch ^master` is the same as `^master my-branch` and `master..my-branch`. This notation lists all commits which are in `my-branch` but are not yet in `master`. You can also use `master...my-branch` (which is the same as `my-branch...master` or just `...master` if you're currently on `my-branch`) which lists commits unique to `my-branch` and `master`, i.e. how much the two branches diverged. – SnakE May 24 '22 at 13:21

score 25 · Answer 3 · answered May 15 '17 at 19:53

25

I could not get etech's answer to work, but this works for me on OS X:

git rev-list --count master..my-branch

my-branch can be omitted for changes on the current branch.

answered May 15 '17 at 19:53

mvr

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score 4 · Answer 4 · edited May 23 '17 at 10:31

Another option. The hashes/number are just examples

$ git checkout my_branch
$ git cherry master

+ 950b187c4b28844680df7008cfa3b348c1a46016
+ 109e427cbe84c3c8fc0ac2fbfb5120bcc2511933
+ 9bc217c0bcabbd6aa4ba88bbaaad23805994f90d
+ 74e054614a1bb1c442fbcf53926dcb910097321c
+ b34ae1ce8a58e0cbdbe1657ebca81a3036d7c72d

Will give a list of commit hashes that are in my_branch but not in master

$ git checkout my_branch
$ git cherry master | wc -l
5

Will give the number of commits that are in my_branch but not in master

How can I count number of commits between two branches?

5 Answers5