git log command shows the commit logs. It provides many useful options to help you view and find the commit history.
Show commit history in default format
# Show the whole commit history
$ git log
commit 69c0b0bd7ff8cba857cae89a01c9da4a27b43632
Author: xxx <xxx@xxx.com>
Date: Sun Dec 9 21:30:11 2018 +0800
feat: add main php file
commit 9438770e0d9ba6d775a61d9b4d1d4030a7ee682b
Author: xxx <xxx@xxx.com>
Date: Sun Dec 9 19:34:45 2018 +0800
Initial commit
Show commit history in short format with one log in one line
$ git log --oneline
69c0b0b feat: add main php file
9438770 Initial commit
Show commits containing specified string
# Show only commits whose commit messages contain 'main menu'
$ git log --grep 'main menu'
Show commit history with limited number
# Show only the last two commit logs
$ git log -2
Show commit history of limited time period
# Show commit logs that are made in the last 2 weeks
# --after or --since works the same
$ git log --after=2.week
# Show commit logs that are made after 2018-12-01
$ git log --after=2018-12-01
# Show commit logs that are made before 2018-12-01
$ git log --before=2018-12-01
Show commits related to a string
# Show only those commits that changed the number of occurrences of update_post_meta,
# means the commits add or remove 'update_post_meta'
$ git log -S update_post_meta
Show commits that changed a file / files
# show commits that introduced changes to my-plugin.php
$ git log -- my-plugin.php
# show commits that introduced changes to files in inc/ directory
$ git log -- inc/
Show commit history with difference/changes
# Show commit logs with differemce introduced in each commit
$ git log -p
Show commits of specified author or committer
# Show only commits made by john
$ git log --author john
# Show only commits committed by john
$ git log --committer john
Show commits in graph displaying the commit structure
# Show all commits of branches in a graph structure
# --all,
# --graph,
# --oneline,
# --decorate,
$ git log --all --graph --oneline --decorate