git log and git show

Viewing History with git log and git show

git log walks the commit graph backward from HEAD along the parent links of Commits:

Three views of BookNest's historyShell

git log -1
git log --oneline
git log --oneline --stat -- db

Output

commit e3e1df1917aa5641f6f825080c5cefe9171262dc
Author: Sam Rivera <sam@example.com>
Date:   Tue Sep 22 10:20:00 2026 +0800
    Add integration tests, local PostgreSQL and a README
e3e1df1 Add integration tests, local PostgreSQL and a README
15a2012 Add the Express API, PostgreSQL layer and front end
31681b8 Add npm manifest, lockfile and repository settings
15a2012 Add the Express API, PostgreSQL layer and front end
 db/index.js   | 60 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 db/schema.sql | 12 ++++++++++++
 db/seed.json  | 24 ++++++++++++++++++++++++
 3 files changed, 96 insertions(+)

-1 limits the count, --stat lists changed files, and a path after -- keeps only commits touching it. Other filters include --author=Sam, --since="2 weeks ago", --grep=PostgreSQL 1,289 , -S seed (commits adding or removing a string) and --graph (Branching and Merging); --format='%h %an %s' builds your own layout.

git show 15a2012 displays a commit with its diff, and git show HEAD~1:package.json a file as it was one commit back (HEAD~2 is two back).

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git log and git show