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See the content of a commit

git show <commit>

git show <commit> displays everything you need to know about a commit: its author, its date, its message and the full diff of its changes. With no argument, it shows the last commit.

By , author of Merathon · published on

What it does

Shows the message, the author and the files changed by a commit.

A use case

You want to understand what a commit really changed before taking it elsewhere.

On the command line

git show
Last commit.
git show <commit>
A specific commit, given by its hash (the first 7 characters are enough).
git show --stat <commit>
Only the list of changed files.
git show <commit>:<file>
The file as it was at this commit.
git show HEAD~2
The commit two before the last one.

In Merathon

  1. Click the commit in the graph: its details and files appear on the right.
  2. Click a file to see its diff in the center.
  3. Right-click the commit → "Copy full hash", "Copy short hash" or "Copy message".

Frequently asked questions

How do I get a file as it was in an old commit?

git restore --source=<commit> <file> puts it back in the working copy; git show <commit>:<file> only displays it.

See also