The git show command is a versatile tool in Git that allows you to display various types of Git objects, such as commits, tags, trees, and blobs. It provides a detailed view of the content and metadata associated with these objects. Here’s a more detailed explanation of how git show works:
- Displaying Git Objects: The primary purpose of git show is to display the content and metadata of Git objects. These objects include commits, tags, trees (directory structures), and blobs (file content).
- Viewing Commits: When you provide a commit hash to git show, it displays detailed information about that commit. This includes the commit message, author, date, and the changes introduced in that commit.
- Viewing Tags: For annotated tags, git show displays the tag message, tagger information, and the commit associated with the tag. It’s useful for understanding why a tag was created and the corresponding commit.
- Viewing Trees: Trees represent directory structures in Git repositories. git show can display the contents of a tree, showing the filenames, modes, and the hashes of the objects (either other trees or blobs) within the tree.
- Viewing Blobs: Blobs represent file content in Git repositories. When you provide the hash of a blob to git show, it displays the actual content of the file.
- Showing Changes: For commits, git show displays the differences introduced in that commit. This helps you understand what changes were made, line by line.
- Visualizing Object Contents: git show provides a convenient way to inspect the contents of different Git objects, allowing you to see the details and history of specific objects.
- Paging Output: If the output of git show is lengthy, it is typically displayed using a pager, such as less, to make it easier to read through the information.
- Commit Metadata: For commits, git show provides information about the author, committer, commit date, and the commit message.
- Customizing Output: You can use various options with git show to customize the output, such as specifying a different date format or showing only specific information.
- Viewing Annotated Tags: git show is often used to view the details of annotated tags, which are tags that have additional metadata, including tagger information and a message.
“git show” Command Examples
1. Show information about the latest commit (hash, message, changes, and other metadata):
# git show
2. Show information about a given commit:
# git show commit
3. Show information about the commit associated with a given tag:
# git show tag
4. Show information about the 3rd commit from the HEAD of a branch:
# git show branch~3
5. Show a commit’s message in a single line, suppressing the diff output:
# git show --oneline -s commit
6. Show only statistics (added/removed characters) about the changed files:
# git show --stat commit
7. Show only the list of added, renamed or deleted files:
# git show --summary commit
8. Show the contents of a file as it was at a given revision (e.g. branch, tag or commit):
# git show revision:/path/to/file
Summary
In summary, git show is a versatile command that allows you to view the details and content of various types of Git objects, including commits, tags, trees, and blobs. It's a valuable tool for inspecting the history, changes, and metadata associated with different objects in your Git repository.