List all the files that ever existed in a Git repository

Question

Do you have a clean way to list all the files that ever existed in specified branch?

"Ever exist"? Does it include the files that exist in a commit\version several months ago and they may be deleted at current commit\version? — John, Mar 10 '22 at 03:23

score 171 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:02

171

This is a simplified variation of Strager's solution:

git log --pretty=format: --name-status | cut -f2- | sort -u

Edit: Thanks to Jakub for teaching me a bit more in the comments, this version has a shorter pipeline and gives git more opportunity to get things right.

git log --pretty=format: --name-only --diff-filter=A | sort -u

edited May 23 '17 at 12:02

Community

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answered Feb 12 '09 at 21:39

Dustin

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@Dustlin: Add --diff-filter=A option (list only added files). Current version (without sed filtering only added files) would fail if you have enabled rename detection and have renames in history. I think you can then use --name-only instead of --name-status and remove 'cut -f2-' from pipeline. – Jakub Narębski Feb 13 '09 at 12:39
In one of my repos, I get quite a few duplicate lines (including a number of blank lines at the beginning of the output) with the second command that aren't dupes with the first. – Slipp D. Thompson May 08 '12 at 16:19
If you need a bit more info than the file name: $ git log --pretty=format:"%h %an [%cd]: %s" --name-only | cut -f2- | sort -u | grep Filename.ext – Nitay Apr 06 '14 at 11:13
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*Note: `--all` is something you will need if you have more than a single orphaned tip. Eg, multiple separate histories in one repo.* – ThorSummoner Apr 27 '15 at 05:50
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`--diff-filter=A` ignores files that were created by copying an already existing file, so adding it may not _always_ be what you want. – cmbuckley May 31 '18 at 14:21
@Dustin "**Ever** exist", does it include the files that exist in a commit\version several months ago and they **may be deleted** at current commit\version? – John Mar 10 '22 at 03:22

score 17 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 23 '12 at 11:45

17

This does the right thing for checking if a filename was ever present in the repo not just on the current branch.

git log --all --pretty=format: --name-only --diff-filter=A | sort - | grep fubar

answered Aug 23 '12 at 11:45

dch

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score 4 · Answer 3 · edited Jul 21 '23 at 09:36

Here is two useful alias: FindFile ff and FindFilewithCopies ffc:

# Find if one file ever had into repository
ff = "!git log --pretty=format: --name-status --all -M -B | sort -u | grep $1   #"
# The same as above but showing copied files
ffc = "!git log --pretty=format: --name-status --all -C -M -B | sort -u | grep $1 #"

You get information about file names and operations with them.

Sample use:

$ git ff create
A       database/migrations/2014_10_12_000000_create_users_table.php
A       database/migrations/2014_10_12_100000_create_password_resets_table.php
A       database/migrations/2015_05_11_200932_create_boletin_table.php
A       database/migrations/2015_05_15_133500_create_usuarios_table.php
D       database/migrations/2015_05_12_000000_create_users_table.php
M       database/migrations/2015_05_11_200932_create_boletin_table.php
R051    database/migrations/2014_10_12_000000_create_users_table.php    database/migrations/2015_05_12_000000_create_users_table.php

$ git ffc create
A       database/migrations/2014_10_12_000000_create_users_table.php
A       database/migrations/2014_10_12_100000_create_password_resets_table.php
A       database/migrations/2015_05_11_200932_create_boletin_table.php
A       database/migrations/2015_05_15_133500_create_usuarios_table.php
C052    database/migrations/2014_10_12_000000_create_users_table.php    database/migrations/2015_05_11_210246_create_boletin_nosend_table.php
D       database/migrations/2015_05_12_000000_create_users_table.php
M       database/migrations/2015_05_11_200932_create_boletin_table.php
R051    database/migrations/2014_10_12_000000_create_users_table.php    database/migrations/2015_05_12_000000_create_users_table.php

strager · Answer 4 · 2009-02-12T21:43:14.540

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You can run git-log --name-status, which echoes something like:

commit afdbbaf52ab24ef7ce1daaf75f3aaf18c4d2fee0
Author: Your Name <your@email.com>
Date:   Tue Aug 12 13:28:34 2008 -0700

    Added test file.

A       test

Then extract files added:

git-log --name-status | sed -ne 's/^A[^u]//p' | sort -u

edited Feb 12 '09 at 21:43

answered Feb 12 '09 at 21:29

strager

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List all the files that ever existed in a Git repository

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