How do I list all the files in a commit?

Asked 2023-09-20 20:16:22 View 792,898

How can I print a plain list of all files that were part of a given commit?

Although the following lists the files, it also includes unwanted diff information for each:

git show a303aa90779efdd2f6b9d90693e2cbbbe4613c1d
  • I came here looking for something a bit different. I want to see all files modified for a set of commits and wound up using git log --until 2013-05-21 --pretty="short" --name-only with a good effect. - anyone
  • Use this command to get all changes from previous n commits till master: git diff-tree --name-status -r @{3} master - anyone
  • git diff --name-only master - To list ALL changed files on current branch, comparing to master branch. - anyone
  • You can check this answer out: stackoverflow.com/questions/17563726/… - anyone

Answers

Preferred Way (because it's a plumbing command; meant to be programmatic):

$ git diff-tree --no-commit-id --name-only bd61ad98 -r
index.html
javascript/application.js
javascript/ie6.js

Another Way (less preferred for scripts, because it's a porcelain command; meant to be user-facing)

$ git show --pretty="" --name-only bd61ad98    
index.html
javascript/application.js
javascript/ie6.js

  • The --no-commit-id suppresses the commit ID output.
  • The --pretty argument specifies an empty format string to avoid the cruft at the beginning.
  • The --name-only argument shows only the file names that were affected (Thanks Hank). Use --name-status instead, if you want to see what happened to each file (Deleted, Modified, Added)
  • The -r argument is to recurse into sub-trees

Answered   2023-09-20 20:16:22

  • It should be noted that diff-tree won't work when looking at the root commit. - anyone
  • Replacing the --name-only option with --name-status will give more clear summary. - anyone
  • If you want it to work on the root commit, use the --root flag. From the man page: "When --root is specified the initial commit will be shown as a big creation event. This is equivalent to a diff against the NULL tree." - anyone
  • git log --name-only -n 1 <hash> The last commit would be: git log --name-only -n 1 HEAD~1..HEAD - anyone
  • If anyone is wondering (like I was) why the first way is "preferred," it goes back to @drizzt 's comment; git show is "porcelain" (meant to be user facing) and git diff-tree is "plumbing" (meant to be used programmatically, e.g. from scripts). The interface for the former may change over time (so the git maintainers could drop --name-only although I don't imagine they would) for useability reasons, whereas the interface for the latter will be kept as stable as possible for compatibility reasons. - anyone

If you want to get the list of changed files:

git diff-tree --no-commit-id --name-only -r <commit-ish>

If you want to get the list of all files in a commit, you can use

git ls-tree --name-only -r <commit-ish>

Answered   2023-09-20 20:16:22

  • The ls-tree with --name-only does not seem to work on 1.6.4.4 or 1.6.3.3. Do you think this is a bug ? - anyone
  • It turns out the ordering of the parameters is significant here. The one in your post does not work, while the one in your response does work - at least until you update your post ;) - anyone
  • Pass --no-commit-id to avoid printing the SHA1, like so: git diff-tree --no-commit-id --name-only -r <commit-ish> - anyone
  • diff-tree doesn't return anything, possibly because the commit I refer to added files, but not changed any existing. ls-tree gives me a list of all files in the repo, not just the files added/altered in the last commit. I wonder if there's a 3rd command to just list all new files (i.e. added in that given commit)? - anyone
  • @CoDEmanX : You didn't miss adding -r / -t option, did you? Because diff-tree handles both modified and added files. If you want to list all new (added) files, use git diff-tree -r --name-only --no-commit-id --diff-filter=A <commit-ish> - anyone

I'll just assume that gitk is not desired for this. In that case, try git show --name-only <sha>.

Answered   2023-09-20 20:16:22

  • --name-only is plenty in most cases where i needed it; Therefore, upvoted the shortest solution (and the only one that i'd remember in 1 try). - anyone
  • As someone who really likes CLI git, gitk is actually a decent way of reviewing the files and displaying the file that the diff is on. e.g. Code reviewing a monster commit from a peer. - anyone

I personally use the combination of --stat and --oneline with the show command:

git show --stat --oneline HEAD
git show --stat --oneline b24f5fb
git show --stat --oneline HEAD^^..HEAD

If you do not like/want the addition/removal stats, you can replace --stat with --name-only

git show --name-only --oneline HEAD
git show --name-only --oneline b24f5fb
git show --name-only --oneline HEAD^^..HEAD

Answered   2023-09-20 20:16:22

  • Very nice. To define an alias: alias gits='git show --stat --oneline', then gits by itself shows the latest changes (in HEAD), while gits b24f5fb can be used to show any revision's changes. - anyone
  • One could also create a git alias... e.g. perhaps git config --global alias.changes 'show --stat --oneline'. Then you can type git changes (with an optional commit-ish) and get the output from the first examples above. - anyone
  • Git for Windows requires double quotes: git config --global alias.changes "show --stat --oneline" - anyone
  • Nice. And unlike the accepted answer, git show also works for reviewing stashed changes: e.g. git show --stat --oneline stash@{1} - anyone
  • this is what I've really needed ! unlike " git diff-tree --name-status -r <commit_id>", with this command I may see affected files in the merge too ! thanks ! - anyone

You can also do

git log --name-only

and you can browse through various commits, commit messages and the changed files.

Type q to get your prompt back.

Answered   2023-09-20 20:16:22

  • Thanks, it helps. BTW: use git show 5944ad2a8b5 --name-only to list the name of a specific commit - anyone
  • What is the difference compared to leaving --name-only out? Or in other words, what is it supposed to do and how does it answer the question? - anyone

Recently I needed to list all changed files between two commits. So I used this (also *nix specific) command

git show --pretty="format:" --name-only START_COMMIT..END_COMMIT | sort | uniq

Or as Ethan points out:

git diff --name-only START_COMMIT..END_COMMIT

Using --name-status will also include the change (added, modified, deleted, etc.) next to each file:

git diff --name-status START_COMMIT..END_COMMIT

Answered   2023-09-20 20:16:22

  • If you use git diff --name-status START_COMMIT..END_COMMIT then you don't need the trailing |sort | uniq. - anyone
  • Correction to above comment: git diff --name-only START_COMMIT..END_COMMIT - anyone
  • This is what I was looking for. How I used it: git diff --name-only START_COMMIT..END_COMMIT | grep -v -e '**.png' -e '**.xml'. I wanted a list of code changes only for a huge PR that had added thousands of PNGs and XML layouts. - anyone

Simplest form:

git show --stat (hash)

That's easier to remember and it will give you all the information you need.

If you really want only the names of the files you could add the --name-only option.

git show --stat --name-only (hash)

Answered   2023-09-20 20:16:22

  • --name-only will still include a couple of header lines containing information such as the author, date and the commit message. - anyone

I use the changed alias quite often. To set it up:

git config --global alias.changed 'show --pretty="format:" --name-only'

Then:

git changed (lists files modified in last commit)
git changed bAda55 (lists files modified in this commit)
git changed bAda55..ff0021 (lists files modified between those commits)

Similar commands that may be useful:

git log --name-status --oneline (very similar, but shows what actually happened M/C/D)
git show --name-only

Answered   2023-09-20 20:16:22

  • It is there anything special about "changed"? Is it an arbitrary choice of a word? A convention? Something built-in? - anyone

Use

git log --name-status

This will show you the commit id, message, the files changed and whether it was modified, created, added, or deleted. Somewhat of an all-in-one command.

Answered   2023-09-20 20:16:22

  • this brings up a huge list of every recent commit, I have to hold down the ENTER button to see everything, then it locks my cmd. no thanks. - anyone

Try this command for name and changes number of lines

git show --stat <commit-hash>

Only show file names

git show --stat --name-only  <commit-hash>

For getting the last commit hash, try this command:

git log -1

Last commit with show files name and file status modify, create, or delete:

 git log -1 --oneline --name-status <commit-hash>

Or for all

git log

For more advanced git log information, read these articles:

Answered   2023-09-20 20:16:22

  • @DanFare "fatal: unrecognized argument: --names-only" from 2.20.1.windows.1 - anyone
  • "for all"... just git log doesn't give you the filenames... - anyone

Using the standard git diff command (also good for scripting):

git diff --name-only <sha>^ <sha>

If you also want the status of the changed files:

git diff --name-status <sha>^ <sha>

This works well with merge commits.

Answered   2023-09-20 20:16:22

To list the files changed on a particular commit:

git show --pretty=%gd --stat <commit_id>

To list the files changed on recent commit:

git show --pretty=%gd --stat

Answered   2023-09-20 20:16:22

$ git log 88ee8^..88ee8 --name-only --pretty="format:"

Answered   2023-09-20 20:16:22

  • An explanation would be in order. - anyone

OK, there are a couple of ways to show all files in a particular commit...

To reduce the information and show only names of the files which committed, you simply can add --name-only or --name-status flag... These flags just show you the file names which are different from previous commits as you want...

So you can do git diff followed by --name-only, with two commit hashes after <sha0> <sha1>. Something like below:

git diff --name-only 5f12f15 kag9f02

I also created the below image to show all steps to go through in these situations:

git diff --name-only 5f12f15 kag9f02

Answered   2023-09-20 20:16:22

git show --name-only a303aa90779efdd2f6b9d90693e2cbbbe4613c1d

Answered   2023-09-20 20:16:22

Use a simple one-line command, if you just want the list of files changed in the last commit:

git diff HEAD~1 --name-only

Answered   2023-09-20 20:16:22

There's also git whatchanged, which is more low level than git log

NAME
       git-whatchanged - Show logs with difference each commit introduces

It outputs the commit summary with a list of files beneath it with their modes and if they were added(A), deleted(D), or modified(M);

$ git whatchanged f31a441398fb7834fde24c5b0c2974182a431363

Would give something like:

commit f31a441398fb7834fde24c5b0c2974182a431363
Author: xx <xx@xx.nl>
Date:   Tue Sep 29 17:23:22 2015 +0200

    added fb skd and XLForm

:000000 100644 0000000... 90a20d7... A  Pods/Bolts/Bolts/Common/BFCancellationToken.h
:000000 100644 0000000... b5006d0... A  Pods/Bolts/Bolts/Common/BFCancellationToken.m
:000000 100644 0000000... 3e7b711... A  Pods/Bolts/Bolts/Common/BFCancellationTokenRegistration.h
:000000 100644 0000000... 9c8a7ae... A  Pods/Bolts/Bolts/Common/BFCancellationTokenRegistration.m
:000000 100644 0000000... bd6e7a1... A  Pods/Bolts/Bolts/Common/BFCancellationTokenSource.h
:000000 100644 0000000... 947f725... A  Pods/Bolts/Bolts/Common/BFCancellationTokenSource.m
:000000 100644 0000000... cf7dcdf... A  Pods/Bolts/Bolts/Common/BFDefines.h
:000000 100644 0000000... 02af9ba... A  Pods/Bolts/Bolts/Common/BFExecutor.h
:000000 100644 0000000... 292e27c... A  Pods/Bolts/Bolts/Common/BFExecutor.m
:000000 100644 0000000... 827071d... A  Pods/Bolts/Bolts/Common/BFTask.h
...

I know this answer doesn't really match "with no extraneous information.", but I still think this list is more useful than just the filenames.

Answered   2023-09-20 20:16:22

  • Plus, just one command whatchanged instead of supplying parameters. - anyone

I use this to get the list of changed files in a merge commit

λ git log -m -1 --name-only --pretty="format:"
configs/anotherconfig.xml
configs/configsInRepo.xml

or

λ git log -m -1 --name-status --pretty="format:"
A       configs/anotherconfig.xml
M       configs/configsInRepo.xml

Answered   2023-09-20 20:16:22

I use this to get the list of modified files between two changesets:

git diff --name-status <SHA1> <SHA2> | cut -f2

Answered   2023-09-20 20:16:22

  • Yeah but the status can be quite handy at well (for isntance, you might want to grep to display all files except those that have been deleted with something like git diff --name-status .. | grep ^[^D] | cut -f2 - anyone

I like to use

git show --stat <SHA1>^..<SHA2>

Answered   2023-09-20 20:16:22

I found a perfect answer to this:

git show --name-status --oneline <commit-hash>

So that I can know

  • which files were just modified (M)

  • Which files were newly added (A)

  • Which files were deleted (D)

Answered   2023-09-20 20:16:22

I like this:

git diff --name-status <SHA1> <SHA1>^

Answered   2023-09-20 20:16:22

  • I think this gets the A & D (add and delete) file statuses backwards, because it's showing the diff from the specified commit to the previous commit, instead of the other way around. It should be git diff --name-status <SHA1>^ <SHA1>. - anyone

Display the log.

COMMIT can be blank (""), the SHA-1 hash, or a shortened version of the SHA-1 hash.

git log COMMIT -1 --name-only

This will list just the files and is very useful for further processing.

git log COMMIT -1 --name-only --pretty=format:"" | grep "[^\s]"

Answered   2023-09-20 20:16:22

List the files that changed in a commit:

git diff --name-only SHA1^ SHA1

This doesn't show log messages, extra newlines, or any other clutter. This works for any commit, not just the current one.

Answered   2023-09-20 20:16:22

  • This two looks the same: git diff SHA1^ SHA1 and git show SHA1. - anyone
  • @mrW Those commands produce similar output, but git show also shows the commit message - anyone

Only the file list (not even commit message):

git show --name-only --pretty=format:

E.g. open all changed files in your editor:

git show --name-only --pretty=format: | xargs "$EDITOR"

Answered   2023-09-20 20:16:22

  • This works perfectly however it only shows the last commit. If you want to target a specific commit see answer by @Ryan McGeary - anyone
  • @Hamfri: No, it doesn't only work for the last commit. It's just the default of git show. - anyone

There is a simple trick to view as a file listing. Just add : after the hash:

git show 9d3a52c474:

You can then drill in,

git show 9d3a52c474:someDir/someOtherDir

If you hit a file, you'll get the raw version of the file; which sometimes is what you want if you're only looking for a nice reference or key pieces of code (diffs can make everything a mess),

git show 9d3a52c474:someDir/someOtherDir/somefile

The only drawback of this method is that it doesn't easily show a tree of files.

Answered   2023-09-20 20:16:22

  • It will not only find files changed in a commit, but all files that are in the tree of that commit. Great if you want that, but not so great if you want to see which files changed. - anyone

Perhaps I missed it did anyone mention if you want to augment the log x previous commits using the 'log' command to include the names of the files effected then add --name-only on the end.

so:

git log -n3

to see the last comments of the last 3 commits.

git log -n3 --name-only

to see the comments and files effected in the last 3 commits.

Answered   2023-09-20 20:16:22

A combination of git show --stat and a couple of sed commands should trim the data down for you:

git show --stat <SHA1> | sed -n "/ [\w]\*|/p" | sed "s/|.\*$//"

That will produce just the list of modified files.

Answered   2023-09-20 20:16:22

List all files in a commit tree:

git ls-tree --name-only --full-tree a21e610

Answered   2023-09-20 20:16:22

If your commit happens to be at the initial HEAD position

git show HEAD@{0}

this should work fine.

Answered   2023-09-20 20:16:22

  • All: An explanation would be in order. Why and how does it work? - anyone