Re: Possible BUG in 'git log -z' last commit is not '\0' terminated

On Fri, 22 Jun 2007, Marco Costalba wrote:

It's not a bug - it's by design.

What the -z option does is to replace the normal "\n" that delineates commits from each other with a "\0".

And we only put that delimeter in *between* commits, not *after* commits. The reason? It's prettier. Do a

	git log -1

to get a single commit, and notice how we do *not* add an empty line at the end (or beginning), and compare that to

	git log -2

that shows two commits, and has an empty line in *between*.

Now, add the "-z" flag, and notice how that empty line is now replaced by a "\0" character instead.

So you should think of the "\0" as being a delimeter that goes between commits, not something that "ends" the commit. It's not a "end of record" thing, it's a "between records" thing.

		Linus