Re: 0-Based indexes for git log

From: Patrick Steinhardt <ps@pks.im>
Date: Sep 25, 2025, 05:46 UTC
Message-ID: <aNTXRRolcqn5sT6d@pks.im>
In-Reply-To: <95F22D6A-38D9-4F4D-B71E-59320B86B4E8@gmail.com>

On Wed, Sep 24, 2025 at 01:28:31PM -0400, Ben Knoble wrote:

Show 6 quoted lines

> > * merge parent numbers are 2-based (sanity of this statement is
> >   already questionable).  If HEAD is a merge, HEAD~2 is the
> >   "(first) side branch that was merged", HEAD~3 is the "(second)
> >   side brnach that was merged (in an octopus merge), and so on.
> 
> HEAD^2, 3, etc., rather? :)

Probably. I also always regarded this as the nth parent, not the nth merge parent. HEAD^1 returns the first parent even for non-merges, HEAD^2 the second and so on. So I'd claim these are also 1-based.

Patrick