How to search a Git repository by commit message?

Question

I checked some source code into GIT with the commit message "Build 0051".

However, I can't seem to find that source code any more - how do I extract this source from the GIT repository, using the command line?

Update

1. Checked in versions 0043, 0044, 0045 and 0046 using SmartGIT.
2. Checked out 0043, and checked in versions up to 0051 on a different branch.
3. Checked out 0043 again.
4. Now, 0051 has disappeared.

Update

The source code is definitely there, now its a matter of checking it out:

C:\Source>git log -g --grep="0052"
commit 77b1f718d19e5cf46e2fab8405a9a0859c9c2889
Reflog: HEAD@{10} (unknown <Mike@.(none)>)
Reflog message: commit: 20110819 - 1724 - GL: Intermediate version. File version:  v0.5.0 build 0052.
Author: unknown <Mike@.(none)>
Date:   Fri Aug 19 17:24:51 2011 +0100

    20110819 - 1724 - GL: Intermediate version. File version: v0.5.0 build 0052.

C:\Source>

Escudo

See also: How to search through all commits in the repository? – Pavlov

See also stackoverflow.com/questions/18122628/… – Bevatron

possible duplicate of How to grep git commits for a certain word – Aurore

Answer 1

To search the commit log (across all branches) for the given text:

git log --all --grep='Build 0051'

To do so while ignoring case in the grep search:

git log --all -i --grep='Build 0051'

To search the actual content of commits through a repo's history, use:

git grep 'Build 0051' $(git rev-list --all)

to show all instances of the given text, the containing file name, and the commit sha1.

And to do this while ignoring case, use:

git grep -i 'Build 0051' $(git rev-list --all)

Note that this searches the entire content of the commit at each stage, and not just the diff changes. To search just the diff changes, use one of the following:

git log -S[searchTerm]
git log -G[searchTerm]

Finally, as a last resort in case your commit is dangling and not connected to history at all, you can search the reflog itself with the -g flag (short for --walk-reflogs:

git log -g --grep='Build 0051'

EDIT: if you seem to have lost your history, check the reflog as your safety net. Look for Build 0051 in one of the commits listed by

git reflog

You may have simply set your HEAD to a part of history in which the 'Build 0051' commit is not visible, or you may have actually blown it away. The git-ready reflog article may be of help.

To recover your commit from the reflog: do a git checkout of the commit you found (and optionally make a new branch or tag of it for reference)

git checkout 77b1f718d19e5cf46e2fab8405a9a0859c9c2889
# alternative, using reflog (see git-ready link provided)
# git checkout HEAD@{10}
git checkout -b build_0051 # make a new branch with the build_0051 as the tip

Takahashi

with git grep 'Build 0051' $(git rev-list --all) I get sh.exe": /bin/git: Bad file number has the way to do this changed maybe? – Maun

git log -i -grep – Ganley

@JensSchauder If you run into an error with git grep 'search' $(git rev-list --all), try git rev-list --all | xargs git grep 'search' – Valverde

On Windows I had to use double-quotes instead of single-quotes to get this to work. – Bolo

@Takahashi What's the difference between git log --all --grep='Build 0051' and git grep 'Build 0051' $(git rev-list --all)? – Inviolable

Use --fixed-strings to interpret commit message as literal strings and not regex, which is usually the intended usage. – Peg

Answer 2

I put this in my ~/.gitconfig:

[alias]
    find = log --pretty=\"format:%Cgreen%H %Cblue%s\" --name-status --grep

Then I can type "git find string" and I get a list of all the commits containing that string in the message. For example, to find all commits referencing ticket #33:

029a641667d6d92e16deccae7ebdeef792d8336b Added isAttachmentEditable() and isAttachmentViewable() methods. (references #33)
M       library/Dbs/Db/Row/Login.php

a1bccdcd29ed29573d2fb799e2a564b5419af2e2 Add permissions checks for attachments of custom strategies. (references #33).
M       application/controllers/AttachmentController.php

38c8db557e5ec0963a7292aef0220ad1088f518d Fix permissions. (references #33)
M       application/views/scripts/attachment/_row.phtml

041db110859e7259caeffd3fed7a3d7b18a3d564 Fix permissions. (references #33)
M       application/views/scripts/attachment/index.phtml

388df3b4faae50f8a8d8beb85750dd0aa67736ed Added getStrategy() method. (references #33)
M       library/Dbs/Db/Row/Attachment.php

Seclusion

Nice, but perhaps missing a colour reset? --pretty=\"format:%Cgreen%H %Cblue%s%Creset\" – Propitiate

I prefer to print the full git message (grep may be happened there, not in the title), so I ended up with: find = log --all --pretty=\"format:%Cgreen%H %Cblue%s\n%b%Creset\" --name-status --grep. Note the --all and %b chars. Thx @AshleyCoolman for the reset tip. – Reverberate

Thanks. I found the alias very useful. I didn't like the coloring and found the oneline format perfect for this. Also adding -i to make it case-insensitive was helpful. e.g. find = log --oneline --name-status -i --grep – Brianbriana

Answer 3

Though a bit late, there is :/ which is the dedicated notation to specify a commit (or revision) based on the commit message, just prefix the search string with :/, e.g.:

git show :/keyword(s)

Here <keywords> can be a single word, or a complex regex pattern consisting of whitespaces, so please make sure to quote/escape when necessary, e.g.:

git log -1 -p ":/a few words"

Alternatively, a start point can be specified, to find the closest commit reachable from a specific point, e.g.:

git show 'HEAD^{/fix nasty bug}'

See: git revisions manual.

Sandpaper

Cool, didn't know that! Now how can I get the parent commit using this notation? The usual ^ doesn't seem to work. – Chesna

Easy :-) you just do it with two git commands, like git rev-parse $(git rev-parse :/keyword)~ @AndreiToroplean – Sandpaper

@Sandpaper actually @^{/fix nasty bug} (never write HEAD, @ is enough) is a commit in it its own right, so @^{/fix nasty bug}^ just works – Coast

@Coast yes that's right, @ alone is just a shorthand for HEAD, see git-scm.com/docs/revisions#Documentation/revisions.txt-emem – Sandpaper

Answer 4

git log --grep="Build 0051"

should do the trick

Muldon

Have to use double quotes (") instead of single quotes ('). – Mclellan

Answer 5

git log --grep=<pattern>
            Limit the commits output to ones with log message that matches the
            specified pattern (regular expression).

Meadows

Answer 6

Try this!

git log | grep -b3 "Build 0051"

Photomap

Thanks - but its not finding it. How do I search across all possible branches? – Escudo

You want to use git grep instead of normal grep, and provide the --all flag to search multiple branches. – Takahashi

Hmm - are the other answers finding it either? If not, you might have a bigger problem. I'd try git log --all --grep='Build 0051' (@shelhamer's answer) – Photomap

I tried "git log --all", and it only lists versions to 0046. Version 0051 was on a different branch. I rolled back to 0043, and 0051 disappeared. – Escudo

Sounds like you may have lost your history when you rolled back? – Photomap

Version 0051 was branched off 0043. Is it possible for GIT to just randomly delete source code? – Escudo

@Gravitas, try my example that uses the reflog: the one with git log -g. You may have lost history in a reset, but you can still check the reflog if it hasn't been garbage collected. – Takahashi

Answer 7

Just a small addition to the git log --all --grep command: In my case I had to escape the brackets inside the message:

git log --all --grep="\[C\] Ticket-1001: Fix nasty things"

Domeniga

After finding the commit, you may want to find it's branch: git branch -a --contains <hash> (Credit to https://mcmap.net/q/12569/-finding-what-branch-a-git-commit-came-from) – Remind

Answer 8

first to list the commits use

git log --oneline

then find the SHA of the commit (Message), then I used

 git log --stat 8zad24d

(8zad24d) is the SHA assosiated with the commit you are intrested in (the first couples sha example (8zad24d) you can select 4 char or 6 or 8 or the entire sha) to find the right info

Dockhand

Answer 9

To search across all the branches

git log --all --grep='Build 0051'

Once you know which commit you want to get to

git checkout <the commit hash>

Australia

Answer 10

For anyone who wants to pass in arbitrary strings which are exact matches (And not worry about escaping regex special characters), git log takes a --fixed-strings option

git log --fixed-strings --grep "$SEARCH_TERM" 

Sewellel

Doesn't work. Shows all previous commits. – Inerrable

Answer 11

If the change is not too old, you can do,

git reflog

and then checkout the commit id

Milli

Answer 12

This:

git log --oneline --grep='Searched phrase'

or this:

git log --oneline --name-status --grep='Searched phrase'

commands work best for me.

Acevedo

Answer 13

in gitk you can search by commit message:

You can install gitk by command sudo apt install gitk

Campbell