From: René Scharfe Date: Sat, 25 Oct 2025 17:00:52 GMT Subject: Re: git log format documentation/manpage Message-ID: <5c5c37b6-c3eb-45fc-901a-0f8e7f6d7d0e@web.de> In-Reply-To: On 10/24/25 10:06 AM, David Moberg wrote: > Hi I'm trying to replicate the "oneline" log format and add notes to > it. What I can't figure out: > > 1. What is the format string that corresponds to pretty format > "oneline"? --oneline on terminal: %C(auto)%h%(decorate) %s --oneline otherwise: %C(auto)%h %s --format=oneline on terminal: %C(auto)%H%(decorate) %s --format=oneline otherwise: %C(auto)%H %s The %(decorate) part also depends on the config setting log.decorate. > 2. What is the placeholder for the title-line? By searching for > "title-line" in `man git log` I couldn't find anything. Surely this > is in here somewhere? Searching for `full-commit-message` also left > me empty-handed. %s for subject, %b for body, %B for the whole commit message (subject and body). Email terms because Git was developed for Linux and commits were exchanged on a mailing list, like we do here for Git. > 3. How can I display notes (%N from `git notes add`) as in-line > information (stripping away newlines at the end)? I don't think that's currently possible. You might assume that %w (wrap) with a huge width would do it, but it doesn't. > How do I figure out the placeholders? > > Suggestion for manpage improvements: > 1. the pretty formats (oneline, short, ...) should come with a > (t)format string that it corresponds to. They will act as great > examples. Good idea. I would also prefer the named formats actually being implemented as these format strings instead of being hand-coded -- for clarity, simplicity and for proving that the placeholders are powerful enough. > 2. Make sure the descriptions of the pretty formats ("", > "", ...) are searchable. Expanding the current one-word descriptions, e.g., with synonyms, seems like a good idea. Care to send a doc patch? René