Search for string in one file in all branches

Question

Is it possible to Git grep a string in one file in all branches?

I know I made a change to a particular file; I just can't find which branch I did it on.

Possible duplicate of [Finding a Git commit that introduced a string in any branch](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5816134/finding-a-git-commit-that-introduced-a-string-in-any-branch) — , May 13 '16 at 15:29

score 7 · Accepted Answer · answered May 24 '16 at 14:37

7

Thanks to ElpieKay for providing this nice little gem:

git grep a_string $(git rev-parse --all -- target_file)

answered May 24 '16 at 14:37

Michael Arrison

score 1 · Answer 2 · edited Oct 30 '18 at 18:30

1

Use:

git stash
git branch | while read line
do
echo branch:$line
git checkout $line -- target_file
grep a_string target_file
done
git stash pop

Have a try.

edited Oct 30 '18 at 18:30

Peter Mortensen

answered May 13 '16 at 15:33

ElpieKay

While I can see this working, it feels inefficient. Anybody got anything better? I was hoping for a command line flag. – Michael Arrison May 13 '16 at 17:59
1

@MichaelArrison try `git grep a_string $(git rev-list --all -- target_file)` – ElpieKay May 14 '16 at 00:06
@MichaelArrison `git branch --merged blob_sha1` can list which branch(es) the blob_sha1 is from. – ElpieKay May 14 '16 at 00:22
I'm afraid that doesn't work. I tried: "git grep opacity $(git rev-list --all -- css/main.css)" for example and got a list back that included matches from other files. – Michael Arrison May 16 '16 at 15:22
1

Sorry, use `rev-parse` instead of `rev-list` please. – ElpieKay May 17 '16 at 01:10
That's better. rev-parse worked. Feel free to make this the answer and I'll give it a check. – Michael Arrison May 18 '16 at 15:09
What shell? [Bash](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bash_%28Unix_shell%29)? – Peter Mortensen Oct 25 '18 at 00:06

2 Answers2