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This article explains how to view the commit history associated with a specific file in Git.

Git is a version control system; we use Git to track changes made to our files.

Often we need to browse and view the changes made to a particular file. Git provides commands to view the history of commits associated with a file along with complete details such as the specific changes made in the file.

We will now illustrate this with an example.

gitkUse and git logto view the commit history associated with a file in Git

In a collaborative development environment, we often want to view the changes made to a specific file in the commit history of that file in the Git repository.

We want to find out what specific changes were made to a specific file in a given commit.

Let's say we have a README.txtfile called . We might use this file to save information about the project since the project started.

Now, suppose we want to view the commit history of that particular file. To do this, we can use the tools provided by Git gitk.

Gitk is a graphical repository browser. It is used to explore and visualize the history of a repository.

The syntax for gitkviewing the commit history of a specific file is gitk <filename>.

Therefore, to view README.txtthe history of the file, we will execute the following command.

$ gitk README.txt

It launches the Gitk graphical user interface (GUI) as shown below.

The upper-left pane shows README.txtcommits to the files in the repository, with the most recent commit at the top.

The lower right corner shows a list of files affected by the selected commit, which displays README.txtthe paths to the file names.

The lower left pane shows README.txtthe commit details and the full diff for the file.

Therefore, the Gitk tool is very suitable for viewing the commit history related to a specific file in Git.

You can also use the command git logfor similar purposes. The command syntax for viewing the commit history of a specific file isgit log -p <filename>

So, in our case, we will execute the command as follows.

$ git log -p README.txt
commit 8f2aa9af1a34ba8d57f60edcb6a29dfa23401e39 (HEAD -> main, origin/main)
Author: John Doe <johndoe@xyz.com>
Date:   Mon Dec 27 12:52:13 2021 +0530

    updated Readme.txt

diff --git a/project-path/README.txt b/project-path/README.txt
index 870c0a8..d09182c 100644
--- a/project-path/README.txt     
+++ b/project-path/README.txt     
@@ -1 +1,3 @@
-Initial project commit
+Further changes done
+1. This change
+2. That change

commit d25da7f49fae88a50bbc144df2429748077a2063
Author: John Doe <johndoe@xyz.com>
Date:   Mon Dec 27 12:50:53 2021 +0530

    Inital Readme.txt

diff --git a/project-path/README.txt b/project-path/README.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..870c0a8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/project-path/README.txt     
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Initial project commit

The command with -pthe -p option git logdisplays the commit history of a file and the differences between each commit.

The Gitk tool can be thought of as git loga GUI wrapper for the command.

So, we have detailed how to view the history of commits associated with a specific file in Git.

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