Bash function to find all Git commits in which a file (whose name matches a regex) has *changed*

Question

I have the following bash function, which searches for all files in a repository, whose filename matches a regular expression. It currently finds all commits in which a file

Answer 1

Use git diff-tree -r --name-only --no-commit-id (perhaps with --stdin) instead of git ls-tree -r --name-only. Use -m or -c if you are interested in merges, -M or -C if you want to take into account respectively, rename and copy detection.

Or better parse output of git diff-tree -r.

Nb. the code given in question is seriously suboptimal (among others you check multiple times the same commits).

Answer 2

You could go through and use git diff to look at what changed between each of the commits. Something like this:

for branch in `git for-each-ref --format="$ref" $LOC`;
do
    previous_commit=""
    for commit in `git rev-list $branch | grep -oP ^.\{7\}`;
    do
        if [ "$previous_commit" != "" ];
        then
            found=$(git diff --name-only $previous_commit $commit | grep "$param")
            if [ $? -eq 0 ];
            then
                echo "${branch#$LOC/}: $commit:"
                while read line;
                do
                    echo "  $line"
                done < <(echo "$found")
                echo
                wasFound="1";
            fi
        fi
        previous_commit="$commit"
    done
done

Answer 3

If you can live with a shell glob pattern rather than a full-blown regex, consider

git log -p --diff-filter=AMD --branches --tags -- "foo*bar.sh"

With -p, you see the deltas along with the commit message, author, SHA1, etc. The --diff-filter=AMD option selects only those commits in which the files in question were Added, Modified, or Deleted. To search remotes as well as local branches and tags, use --all rather than --branches --tags. Finally, note the -- that introduces path patterns, which you will want to quote to allow git to perform glob matching.

Answer 4

I came up with this function, which is based on Greg Bacon's answer. I originally wanted regex, but globs fit the bill nicely. I also expected that a looping function would be required, but the single git log line is all that's needed.

First, a utility function:

#https://stackoverflow.com/questions/369758/how-to-trim-whitespace-from-bash-variable#comment21953456_3232433
alias trim="sed -e 's/^[[:space:]]*//g' -e 's/[[:space:]]*\$//g'"

Documentation header:

:<<COMMENT
   Searches all commits in the current git repository containing a file
   that has *changed*, whose name matches a glob. If the glob does not
   contain any asterisks, then it is surrounded by them on both sides.


   Usage:
      gitf "05"     #Equivalent to "*05*"
      gitf "05_*"

   Parameter is required, and must be at least one non-whitespace character.

   See:
   - https://stackoverflow.com/questions/28119379/bash-function-to-find-all-git-commits-in-which-a-file-whose-name-matches-a-rege/28120305
   - https://stackoverflow.com/questions/28094136/bash-function-to-search-git-repository-for-a-filename-that-matches-regex/28095750
   - https://stackoverflow.com/questions/372506/how-can-i-search-git-branches-for-a-file-or-directory/372654#372654

   The main "git log" line is based on this answer
   - https://stackoverflow.com/a/28119940/2736496
   by Stack Overflow user Greg Bacon
   - https://stackoverflow.com/users/123109/greg-bacon

   With thanks to SwankSwashbucklers
   - https://stackoverflow.com/users/2615252/swankswashbucklers

   Short description: Stored in GITF_DESC
COMMENT
#GITF_DESC: For "aliaf" command (with an 'f'). Must end with a newline.
GITF_DESC="gitf [glob]: Searches all commits in the current git repository containing a file that has *changed*, whose name matches a glob.\n"

Body:

gitf()  {
   #Exit if no parameter is provided (if it's the empty string)
      param=$(echo "$1" | trim)
      echo "$param"
      if [ -z "$param" ]  #http://tldp.org/LDP/abs/html/comparison-ops.html
      then
        echo "Required parameter missing. Cancelled"; return
      fi

   #https://stackoverflow.com/questions/229551/string-contains-in-bash/229606#229606
   if [[ $param != *"*"* ]]
   then
     param="*$param*"
   fi

   echo "Searching for \"$param\"..."

   git log -p --name-only --oneline --diff-filter=AMD --branches --tags -- "$param"
}

Example output:

$ gitf 05_
05_
Searching for "*05_*"...
14e5cdd Quick save (no message): 01-21-2015__14_36_11
non_django_files/wordpress_posts/templates/05_login_remember_me.html
2efdeb1 Part four final. Changed auth/tests in post to auth/tests_login_basic.
non_django_files/wordpress_posts/templates/05_login_remember_me.html
526ca01 Part four final. Renamed auth/tests to test_basic_login, so Java doesn't need to parse the py file in future par
non_django_files/wordpress_posts/templates/05_login_remember_me.html
7c227f3 Escaped unescaped dollar-signs in initial_script_sh snippet, and added delete-all-but-.git command in comment at
non_django_files/wordpress_posts/templates/05_login_remember_me.html
e68a30a Part four final, moved post output folder into wordpress_posts.
non_django_files/wordpress_posts/templates/05_login_remember_me.html
3c5e4ec Part two final. Corrections/minor changes to all posts.
non_django_files/wordpress_posts/templates/05_login_remember_me.html
3a7dac9 Finished part one.
non_django_files/wordpress_posts/templates/05_login_remember_me.html
f87540e Initial commit
non_django_files/wordpress_posts/templates/05_login_remember_me.html