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?

Homophone

not line, but git log <paths>… - show only commits that affect the specified paths. maybe it helps – Marybelle

Possible duplicate of how do I view the change history of a method/function? – Bibliofilm

Thanks @CharlesB, I found some good advice there and posted it as an answer here. – Homophone

possible duplicate of Retrieve the commit log for a specific line in a file? – Higgledypiggledy

Answer 1

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.

Homophone

Answer 2

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

Maharaja

what an awesome feature! Thanks for bringing it to my attention!! – Enjambement

intellij does it too – Adne

Answer 3

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

Every line of code is always documented. via @mislav

Miler

If only the results were chronological. – Instrumentalism

Answer 4

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.

Beaty

Answer 5

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

Clemens

this doesnt answer the question as it will only show the most recent commit to affect a single line. – Adne

Answer 6

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

Castaneda