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Important Git commands to view logs

Here are some common and important Git commands for viewing logs:

git log

Show the commit history for the current branch.


Press Q to return

git log -n

Show the last n commits.

git log --oneline

Show the commit history in a single line format.

git log --decorate

Shows the commit history with reference labels such as branches and tags that point to specific commits.

git log --graph

Show the commit history in a graphical format.


Combination of different options:

git log --decorate --oneline --graph


Alias can be created for long query.

git config --global alias.logDetail "log --decorate --oneline --graph"

git logDetail 

git log -p or git log --patch

Show the commit history with changes made in each commit (Show changes lines).

git log -1 --stat

Show the commit history with statistics about changes (Show committed files) and 1 displays latest one commit only. 

git show <commit-id>

Shows detailed information about a specific commit, including the commit message, author, date, and changes made in the commit.


cat <file name>

“cat” is not a git command. It is a basic Unix/Linux command used to concatenate and display the contents of one or more files in the terminal.



These are basic options, and there are many more options and configurations available with the git log command.

I trust that this information has been useful for you. Appreciate you taking the time to read the blog.

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