Pretty git branch graphs

Question

I\'ve seen some books and articles have some really pretty looking graphs of git branches and commits. How can I make high-quality printable images of git history?

Answer 1

A nice and clean looking table-like git graph output for shells

with hashes as usally besides the graph tree

or in an extra column

EDIT: You want to start right away without reading all explanations? Jump to EDIT 6.

INFO: For a more branch-like colored version for shells, see also my second answer (https://stackoverflow.com/a/63253135/).

In all the answers to this question none showed a clean table-like looking output for shells so far. The closest was this answer from gospes where I started from.

The core point in my approach is to count only the tree characters shown to the user. Then fill them to a personal length with whitespaces.

Other than git you need these tools

• grep
• paste
• printf
• sed
• seq
• tr
• wc

mostly on board with any linux distribution.

The code snippet is

while IFS=+ read -r graph hash time branch message;do
  
  # count needed amount of whitespaces and create them
  whitespaces=$((9-$(sed -nl1000 'l' <<< "$graph" | grep -Eo '\\\\|\||\/|\ |\*|_' | wc -l)))
  whitespaces=$(seq -s' ' $whitespaces|tr -d '[:digit:]')
  
  # show hashes besides the tree ...
  #graph_all="$graph_all$graph$(printf '%7s' "$hash")$whitespaces \n"
  
  # ... or in an own column
  graph_all="$graph_all$graph$whitespaces\n"
  hash_all="$hash_all$(printf '%7s' "$hash")  \n"
  
  # format all other columns
  time_all="$time_all$(printf '%12s' "$time") \n"
  branch_all="$branch_all$(printf '%15s' "$branch")\n"
  message_all="$message_all$message\n"
done < <(git log --all --graph --decorate=short --color --pretty=format:'+%C(bold 214)%<(7,trunc)%h%C(reset)+%C(dim white)%>(12,trunc)%cr%C(reset)+%C(214)%>(15,trunc)%d%C(reset)+%C(white)%s%C(reset)' && echo);

# paste the columns together and show the table-like output
paste -d' ' <(echo -e "$time_all") <(echo -e "$branch_all") <(echo -e "$graph_all") <(echo -e "$hash_all") <(echo -e "$message_all")

To calculate the needed whitespaces we use

  sed -nl1000 'l' <<< "$graph"

to get all characters (till 1000 per line) than select only the tree characters: * | / \ _ and whitespaces with

  grep -Eo '\\\\|\||\/|\ |\*|_'

finally count them and substract the result from our choosen length value, which is 9 in the example.

To produce the calculated amount of whitespaces we use

  seq -s' ' $whitespaces

and truncate the position numbers with

  tr -d '[:digit:]'

than add them to the end of our graph line. That's it!

Git has the nice option to format the length of the output specifiers already with the syntax '%><(amount_of_characters,truncate_option)', which adds whitespaces from the left '>' or right '<' side and can truncate characters from the start 'ltrunc', middle 'mtrunc' or end 'trunc'.

It is important that printf cmd's above use the same length values for the corresponding git column.

Have fun to style your own clean table-like looking output to your needs.

Extra:

To get the right length value you can use the following snippet

while read -r graph;do
    chars=$(sed -nl1000 'l' <<< "$graph" | grep -Eo '\\\\|\||\/|\ |\*|_' | wc -l)
    [[ $chars -gt ${max_chars:-0} ]] && max_chars=$chars
done < <(git log --all --graph --pretty=format:' ')

and use $max_chars as the right length value above.

EDIT 1: Just noticed that the underline charater is also used in the git tree and edit the code snippets above accordingly. If there are other characters missing, please leave a comment.

EDIT 2: If you want to get rid of the brackets around branch and tag entries, just use "%D" instead of "%d" in the git command, like in EDIT 3.

EDIT 3: Maybe the "auto" color option is the one you prefer most for branch and tag entries?

Change this part of the git command (color 214)

%C(214)%>(15,trunc)%D%C(reset)

to auto

%C(auto)%>(15,trunc)%D%C(reset)

EDIT 4: Or you like your own color mix for that part, a fancy output with blinking head?

To be able to style the head, branch names and tags first we need the "auto" color option in our git command like in EDIT 3.

Then we can replace the know color values with our own by adding these 3 lines

 # branch name styling
 branch=${branch//1;32m/38;5;214m}
 # head styling
 branch=${branch//1;36m/3;5;1;38;5;196m}
 # tag styling
 branch=${branch//1;33m/1;38;5;222m}

just before line

 branch_all="$branch_all$(printf '%15s' "$branch")\n"

in our code snippet. The replacement values produce the colors above.

For example the replacement value for head is

3;5;1;38;5;196

where 3; stands for italic, 5; for blinking and 1;38;5;196 for the color. For more infos start here. Note: This behavior depends on your favorite terminal and may therefore not be usable.

BUT you can choose any color value you prefer.

OVERVIEW of the git color values and ANSI equivalents

You find a list with git color/style option here.

If you need the output on your console for accurate colors (the picture above is scaled down by stackoverflow) you can produce the output with

for ((i=0;i<=255;i++));do
  while IFS='+' read -r tree hash;do 
    echo -e "$(printf '%-10s' "(bold $i)") $hash  $(sed -nl500 'l' <<< "$hash"|grep -Eom 1 '[0-9;]*[0-9]m'|tr -d 'm')"
  done < <(git log --all --graph --decorate=short --color --pretty=format:'+%C(bold '$i')%h%C(reset)'|head -n 1)
done

in your git project path which uses the first commit from your git log output.

EDIT 5: As member "Andras Deak" mentioned, there are some ways how to use this code:

1) as an alias:

alias does not accept parameters but a function can, therefore just define in your .bashrc

   function git_tably () {
     unset branch_all graph_all hash_all message_all time_all max_chars

     ### add here the same code as under "2) as a shell-script" ###

   }

and call the function git_tably (derived from table-like) directly under your git project path or from wherever you want with your git project path as first parameter.

2) as a shell-script:

I use it with the option to pass a git project directory as first parameter to it or if empty, take the working directory like the normal behavior. In it's entirety we have

# edit your color/style preferences here or use empty values for git auto style
tag_style="1;38;5;222"
head_style="1;3;5;1;38;5;196"
branch_style="38;5;214"

# determine the max character length of your git tree
while IFS=+ read -r graph;do
  chars_count=$(sed -nl1000 'l' <<< "$graph" | grep -Eo '\\\\|\||\/|\ |\*|_' | wc -l)
  [[ $chars_count -gt ${max_chars:-0} ]] && max_chars=$chars_count
done < <(cd "${1:-"$PWD"}" && git log --all --graph --pretty=format:' ')

# create the columns for your prefered table-like git graph output
while IFS=+ read -r graph hash time branch message;do

  # count needed amount of whitespaces and create them
  whitespaces=$(($max_chars-$(sed -nl1000 'l' <<< "$graph" | grep -Eo '\\\\|\||\/|\ |\*|_' | wc -l)))
  whitespaces=$(seq -s' ' $whitespaces|tr -d '[:digit:]')

  # show hashes besides the tree ...
  #graph_all="$graph_all$graph$(printf '%7s' "$hash")$whitespaces \n"

  # ... or in an own column
  graph_all="$graph_all$graph$whitespaces\n"
  hash_all="$hash_all$(printf '%7s' "$hash")  \n"

  # format all other columns
  time_all="$time_all$(printf '%12s' "$time") \n"
  branch=${branch//1;32m/${branch_style:-1;32}m}
  branch=${branch//1;36m/${head_style:-1;36}m}
  branch=${branch//1;33m/${tag_style:-1;33}m}
  branch_all="$branch_all$(printf '%15s' "$branch")\n"
  message_all="$message_all$message\n"

done < <(cd "${1:-"$PWD"}" && git log --all --graph --decorate=short --color --pretty=format:'+%C(bold 214)%<(7,trunc)%h%C(reset)+%C(dim white)%>(12,trunc)%cr%C(reset)+%C(auto)%>(15,trunc)%D%C(reset)+%C(white)%s%C(reset)' && echo);

# paste the columns together and show the table-like output
paste -d' ' <(echo -e "$time_all") <(echo -e "$branch_all") <(echo -e "$graph_all") <(echo -e "$hash_all") <(echo -e "$message_all")

3) as an git alias:

Maybe the most comfortable way is to add a git alias in your .gitconfig

[color "decorate"]
    HEAD = bold blink italic 196
    branch = 214
    tag = bold 222
    
[alias]
    count-log = log --all --graph --pretty=format:' '
    tably-log = log --all --graph --decorate=short --color --pretty=format:'+%C(bold 214)%<(7,trunc)%h%C(reset)+%C(dim white)%>(12,trunc)%cr%C(reset)+%C(auto)%>(15,trunc)%D%C(reset)+%C(white)%s%C(reset)'
    tably     = !bash -c '"                                                                                                    \
                  while IFS=+ read -r graph;do                                                                                 \
                    chars_count=$(sed -nl1000 \"l\" <<< \"$graph\" | grep -Eo \"\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\|\\||\\/|\\ |\\*|_\" | wc -l); \
                    [[ $chars_count -gt ${max_chars:-0} ]] && max_chars=$chars_count;                                          \
                  done < <(git count-log && echo);                                                                             \
                  while IFS=+ read -r graph hash time branch message;do                                                        \
                    chars=$(sed -nl1000 \"l\" <<< \"$graph\" | grep -Eo \"\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\|\\||\\/|\\ |\\*|_\" | wc -l);       \
                    whitespaces=$(($max_chars-$chars));                                                                        \
                    whitespaces=$(seq -s\" \" $whitespaces|tr -d \"[:digit:]\");                                               \
                    graph_all=\"$graph_all$graph$whitespaces\n\";                                                              \
                    hash_all=\"$hash_all$(printf \"%7s\" \"$hash\")  \n\";                                                     \
                    time_all=\"$time_all$(printf \"%12s\" \"$time\") \n\";                                                     \
                    branch_all=\"$branch_all$(printf \"%15s\" \"$branch\")\n\";                                                \
                    message_all=\"$message_all$message\n\";                                                                    \
                  done < <(git tably-log && echo);                                                                             \
                  paste -d\" \" <(echo -e \"$time_all\") <(echo -e \"$branch_all\") <(echo -e \"$graph_all\")                  \
                                <(echo -e \"$hash_all\") <(echo -e \"$message_all\");                                          \
                '"

Than just call git tably under any project path.

Git is so powerful that you can change head, tags, ... directly as shown above and taken from here.

Another fancy option is to select tree colors you prefer the most with

[log]
    graphColors = bold 160, blink 231 bold 239, bold 166, bold black 214, bold green, bold 24, cyan

that gives you crazy looking but always table-like git log outputs

Too much blinking! Just to demonstrate what is possible. Too few specified colors leads to color repetitions.

A complete .gitconfig reference is just one click away.

EDIT 6: Due to your positive votes I improved the snippet. Now you can feed it with almost any git log command and don't have to adapt the code anymore. Try it!

How it works?

• define your git log commands in your .gitconfig as always (formatted like below)
• define a positive tree column number, where the git graph is shown (optional)

Then just call

    git tably YourLogAlias

under any git project path or

    git tably YourLogAlias TreeColNumber

where TreeColNumber overwrites an always defined value from above.

    git tably YourLogAlias | less -r

will pipe the output into less which is useful for huge histories.

Your git log alias must follow these format rules:

• each column has to be indicated by a column delimiter which you have to choose and may cause problems if not unique

  i.e. ^ in ...format:'^%h^%cr^%s' results in a tree, a hash, a time and a commit column

• before every commit placeholder in your log command you have to use
  %><([,ltrunc|mtrunc|trunc]) , with one of the trunc options

  (for syntax explanations see https://git-scm.com/docs/pretty-formats),

  however the last commit placeholder of any newline can be used without it

  i.e. ...format:'^%<(7,trunc)%h^%<(12,trunc)%cr^%s'

• if extra characters are needed for decoration like (committer: , < and >) in

  ...%C(dim white)(committer: %cn% <%ce>)%C(reset)...

  to get a table-like output they must be written directly before and after the commit placeholder

  i.e. ...%C(dim white)%<(25,trunc)(committer: %cn%<(25,trunc) <%ce>)%C(reset)...

• using column colors like %C(white)...%C(rest) needs the --color option for a colored output

  i.e. ...--color...format:'^%C(white)%<(7,trunc)%h%C(rest)...

• if you use the --stat option or similar, add a newline %n at the end

  i.e. ...--stat...format:'...%n'...

• you can place the git graph at every column as long as you use no newline or only empty ones format:'...%n'

  for non-empty newlines ...%n%CommitPlaceholder... you can place the git graph at every column n+1 only if all n-th columns of each line exist and use the same width

• the name of your defined tree column number for a specific log alias have to be YourLogAlias-col

Compared to normal git log output this one is slow but nice.

Now the improved snippet to add to your .gitconfig

[color "decorate"]
    HEAD   = bold blink italic 196
    branch = 214
    tag    = bold 222
    
[alias]

    # delimiter used in every mylog alias as column seperator
    delim     = ^
    
    # short overview about the last hashes without graph
    mylog     = log --all --decorate=short --color --pretty=format:'^%C(dim white)%>(12,trunc)%cr%C(reset)^%C(bold 214)%<(7,trunc)%h%C(reset)' -5
    
    # log with hashes besides graph tree
    mylog2    = log --all --graph --decorate=short --color --pretty=format:'%C(bold 214)%<(7,trunc)%h%C(reset)^%C(dim white)%>(12,trunc)%cr%C(reset)^%C(auto)%>(15,trunc)%D%C(reset)^%C(white)%<(80,trunc)%s%C(reset)'
    mylog2-col= 3
    
    # log with hashes in an own column and more time data
    mylog3    = log --all --graph --decorate=short --color --pretty=format:'^%C(dim white)%>(12,trunc)%cr%C(reset)^%C(cyan)%<(10,trunc)%cs%C(reset)^%C(bold 214)%<(7,trunc)%h%C(reset)^%C(auto)%<(15,trunc)%D%C(reset)^%C(white)%s%C(reset)'
    mylog3-col= 4
    
    tably     = !bash -c '" \
                \
                \
                declare -A col_length; \
                apost=$(echo -e \"\\u0027\"); \
                delim=$(git config alias.delim); \
                git_log_cmd=$(git config alias.$1); \
                git_tre_col=${2:-$(git config alias.$1-col)}; \
                [[ -z "$git_tre_col" ]] && git_tre_col=1; \
                [[ -z "$git_log_cmd" ]] && { git $1;exit; }; \
                \
                \
                i=0; \
                n=0; \
                while IFS= read -r line;do \
                  ((n++)); \
                  while read -d\"$delim\" -r col_info;do \
                    ((i++)); \
                    [[ -z \"$col_info\" ]] && col_length[\"$n:$i\"]=${col_length[\"${last[$i]:-1}:$i\"]} && ((i--)) && continue; \
                    [[ $i -gt ${i_max:-0} ]] && i_max=$i; \
                    col_length[\"$n:$i\"]=$(grep -Eo \"\\([0-9]*,[lm]*trunc\\)\" <<< \"$col_info\" | grep -Eo \"[0-9]*\" | head -n 1); \
                    [[ -n \"${col_length[\"$n:$i\"]}\" ]] && last[$i]=$n; \
                    chars_extra=$(grep -Eo \"trunc\\).*\" <<< \"$col_info\"); \
                    chars_extra=${chars_extra#trunc)}; \
                    chars_begin=${chars_extra%%\\%*}; \
                    chars_extra=${chars_extra%$apost*}; \
                    chars_extra=${chars_extra#*\\%}; \
                    case \" ad aD ae aE ai aI al aL an aN ar as at b B cd cD ce cE ci cI cl cL cn cN cr \
                            cs ct d D e f G? gd gD ge gE GF GG GK gn gN GP gs GS GT h H N p P s S t T \" in \
                      *\" ${chars_extra:0:2} \"*) \
                        chars_extra=${chars_extra:2}; \
                        chars_after=${chars_extra%%\\%*}; \
                        ;; \
                      *\" ${chars_extra:0:1} \"*) \
                        chars_extra=${chars_extra:1}; \
                        chars_after=${chars_extra%%\\%*}; \
                        ;; \
                      *) \
                        echo \"No Placeholder found. Probably no tablelike output.\"; \
                        continue; \
                        ;; \
                    esac; \
                    if [[ -n \"$chars_begin$chars_after\" ]];then \
                      len_extra=$(echo \"$chars_begin$chars_after\" | wc -m); \
                      col_length["$n:$i"]=$((${col_length["$n:$i"]}+$len_extra-1)); \
                    fi; \
                  done <<< \"${line#*=format:}$delim\"; \
                  i=1; \
                done <<< \"$(echo -e \"${git_log_cmd//\\%n/\\\\n}\")\"; \
                \
                \
                git_log_fst_part=\"${git_log_cmd%%\"$apost\"*}\"; \
                git_log_lst_part=\"${git_log_cmd##*\"$apost\"}\"; \
                git_log_tre_part=\"${git_log_cmd%%\"$delim\"*}\"; \
                git_log_tre_part=\"${git_log_tre_part##*\"$apost\"}\"; \
                git_log_cmd_count=\"$git_log_fst_part$apost $git_log_tre_part$apost$git_log_lst_part\"; \
                col_length[\"1:1\"]=$(eval git \"${git_log_cmd_count// --color}\" | wc -L); \
                \
                \
                i=0; \
                while IFS=\"$delim\" read -r graph rest;do \
                  ((i++)); \
                  graph_line[$i]=\"$graph\"; \
                done < <(eval git \"${git_log_cmd/ --color}\" && echo); \
                \
                \
                i=0; \
                l=0; \
                while IFS= read -r line;do \
                  c=0; \
                  ((i++)); \
                  ((l++)); \
                  [[ $l -gt $n ]] && l=1; \
                  while IFS= read -d\"$delim\" -r col_content;do \
                    ((c++)); \
                    [[ $c -le $git_tre_col ]] && c_corr=-1 || c_corr=0; \
                    if [[ $c -eq 1 ]];then \
                      [[ \"${col_content/\\*}\" = \"$col_content\" ]] && [[ $l -eq 1 ]] && l=$n; \
                      count=$(wc -L <<< \"${graph_line[$i]}\"); \
                      whitespaces=$(seq -s\" \" $((${col_length[\"1:1\"]}-$count))|tr -d \"[:digit:]\"); \
                      col_content[$git_tre_col]=\"${col_content}$whitespaces\"; \
                    else \
                      col_content[$c+$c_corr]=\"$(printf \"%-${col_length[\"$l:$c\"]}s\" \"${col_content:-\"\"}\")\"; \
                    fi; \
                  done <<< \"$line$delim\"; \
                  for ((k=$c+1;k<=$i_max;k++));do \
                    [[ $k -le $git_tre_col ]] && c_corr=-1 || c_corr=0; \
                    col_content[$k+$c_corr]=\"$(printf \"%-${col_length[\"$l:$k\"]:-${col_length[\"${last[$k]:-1}:$k\"]:-0}}s\" \"\")\"; \
                  done; \
                  unset col_content[0]; \
                  echo -e \"${col_content[*]}\"; \
                  unset col_content[*]; \
                done < <(eval git \"$git_log_cmd\" && echo); \
                "' "git-tably"

where in tably

• the first paragraph loads the delim(iter), YourLogAlias and YourLogAlias-col into shell variables
• the second reads out the length for each column
• the third counts the max. length of the tree
• the fourth loads the tree into an array
• the fifth organizes and print the table-like output

Results:

or with new TreeColNumber on the fly

AGAIN: Have fun to style your own clean table-like looking output to your needs.

You can also share your prefered formatted git log alias in the comments. From time to time I will include the most rated ones in the text above and add images too.