How to See Commit History in Git: Simple Commands Explained

To see commit history in Git, use the git log command in your terminal. This shows a list of commits with details like commit ID, author, date, and message.

Syntax

The basic command to view commit history is git log. You can add options to customize the output:

• git log: Shows full commit details.
• git log --oneline: Shows each commit in one line with short ID and message.
• git log -n 5: Shows the last 5 commits.

bash

git log

git log --oneline

git log -n 5

Example

This example shows how to use git log --oneline to see a simple list of recent commits.

bash

git log --oneline

Output

a1b2c3d Fix typo in README
4e5f6g7 Add new feature
8h9i0j1 Update dependencies
2k3l4m5 Initial commit

Common Pitfalls

Beginners often forget to run git log inside a Git repository folder, which causes errors. Also, the output can be overwhelming if you have many commits, so using options like --oneline or limiting the number of commits with -n helps.

Another mistake is expecting git log to show changes; it only shows commit info. To see changes, use git show <commit-id>.

bash

cd /path/to/non-git-folder

git log

# Wrong: running outside a git repo causes error

# Right: run inside a git repo folder
cd /path/to/git-repo

git log --oneline -n 3

Quick Reference

Command	Description
git log	Show full commit history with details
git log --oneline	Show each commit in one line
git log -n 5	Show last 5 commits
git show	Show details and changes of a specific commit

Key Takeaways

Use git log to view commit history in your Git repository.

Add --oneline to see a concise list of commits.

Limit output with -n to avoid too much information.

Always run Git commands inside a Git repository folder.

Use git show <commit-id> to see changes in a specific commit.