man1/git-reflog.1

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.\"     Title: git-reflog
.\"    Author: [FIXME: author] [see http://www.docbook.org/tdg5/en/html/author]
.\" Generator: DocBook XSL Stylesheets v1.79.2 <http://docbook.sf.net/>
.\"      Date: 2025-10-02
.\"    Manual: Git Manual
.\"    Source: Git 2.51.0.414.g5099f64a82
.\"  Language: English
.\"
.TH "GIT\-REFLOG" "1" "2025-10-02" "Git 2\&.51\&.0\&.414\&.g5099f6" "Git Manual"
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.SH "NAME"
git-reflog \- Manage reflog information
.SH "SYNOPSIS"
.sp
.nf
\fBgit\fR \fBreflog\fR [\fBshow\fR] [\fI<log\-options>\fR] [\fI<ref>\fR]
\fBgit\fR \fBreflog\fR \fBlist\fR
\fBgit\fR \fBreflog\fR \fBexists\fR \fI<ref>\fR
\fBgit\fR \fBreflog\fR \fBwrite\fR \fI<ref>\fR \fI<old\-oid>\fR \fI<new\-oid>\fR \fI<message>\fR
\fBgit\fR \fBreflog\fR \fBdelete\fR [\fB\-\-rewrite\fR] [\fB\-\-updateref\fR]
	[\fB\-\-dry\-run\fR | \fB\-n\fR] [\fB\-\-verbose\fR] \fI<ref>\fR\fB@\fR{\fI<specifier>\fR}\&...\:
\fBgit\fR \fBreflog\fR \fBdrop\fR [\fB\-\-all\fR [\fB\-\-single\-worktree\fR] | \fI<refs>\fR\&...\:]
\fBgit\fR \fBreflog\fR \fBexpire\fR [\fB\-\-expire=\fR\fI<time>\fR] [\fB\-\-expire\-unreachable=\fR\fI<time>\fR]
	[\fB\-\-rewrite\fR] [\fB\-\-updateref\fR] [\fB\-\-stale\-fix\fR]
	[\fB\-\-dry\-run\fR | \fB\-n\fR] [\fB\-\-verbose\fR] [\fB\-\-all\fR [\fB\-\-single\-worktree\fR] | \fI<refs>\fR\&...\:]
.fi
.SH "DESCRIPTION"
.sp
This command manages the information recorded in the reflogs\&.
.sp
Reference logs, or "reflogs", record when the tips of branches and other references were updated in the local repository\&. Reflogs are useful in various Git commands, to specify the old value of a reference\&. For example, \fBHEAD@\fR{2} means "where HEAD used to be two moves ago", \fBmaster@\fR{one\&.\fBweek\&.ago\fR} means "where master used to point to one week ago in this local repository", and so on\&. See \fBgitrevisions\fR(7) for more details\&.
.sp
The command takes various subcommands, and different options depending on the subcommand:
.sp
The "show" subcommand (which is also the default, in the absence of any subcommands) shows the log of the reference provided in the command\-line (or \fBHEAD\fR, by default)\&. The reflog covers all recent actions, and in addition the \fBHEAD\fR reflog records branch switching\&. \fBgit\fR \fBreflog\fR \fBshow\fR is an alias for \fBgit\fR \fBlog\fR \fB\-g\fR \fB\-\-abbrev\-commit\fR \fB\-\-pretty=oneline\fR; see \fBgit-log\fR(1) for more information\&.
.sp
The "list" subcommand lists all refs which have a corresponding reflog\&.
.sp
The "exists" subcommand checks whether a ref has a reflog\&. It exits with zero status if the reflog exists, and non\-zero status if it does not\&.
.sp
The "write" subcommand writes a single entry to the reflog of a given reference\&. This new entry is appended to the reflog and will thus become the most recent entry\&. The reference name must be fully qualified\&. Both the old and new object IDs must not be abbreviated and must point to existing objects\&. The reflog message gets normalized\&.
.sp
The "delete" subcommand deletes single entries from the reflog, but not the reflog itself\&. Its argument must be an \fIexact\fR entry (e\&.g\&. "\fBgit\fR \fBreflog\fR \fBdelete\fR \fBmaster@\fR{2}")\&. This subcommand is also typically not used directly by end users\&.
.sp
The "drop" subcommand completely removes the reflog for the specified references\&. This is in contrast to "expire" and "delete", both of which can be used to delete reflog entries, but not the reflog itself\&.
.sp
The "expire" subcommand prunes older reflog entries\&. Entries older than \fBexpire\fR time, or entries older than \fBexpire\-unreachable\fR time and not reachable from the current tip, are removed from the reflog\&. This is typically not used directly by end users \(em instead, see \fBgit-gc\fR(1)\&.
.SH "OPTIONS"
.SS "Options for \fBshow\fR"
.sp
\fBgit\fR \fBreflog\fR \fBshow\fR accepts any of the options accepted by \fBgit\fR \fBlog\fR\&.
.SS "Options for \fBdelete\fR"
.sp
\fBgit\fR \fBreflog\fR \fBdelete\fR accepts options \fB\-\-updateref\fR, \fB\-\-rewrite\fR, \fB\-n\fR, \fB\-\-dry\-run\fR, and \fB\-\-verbose\fR, with the same meanings as when they are used with \fBexpire\fR\&.
.SS "Options for \fBdrop\fR"
.PP
\fB\-\-all\fR
.RS 4
Drop the reflogs of all references from all worktrees\&.
.RE
.PP
\fB\-\-single\-worktree\fR
.RS 4
By default when
\fB\-\-all\fR
is specified, reflogs from all working trees are dropped\&. This option limits the processing to reflogs from the current working tree only\&.
.RE
.SS "Options for \fBexpire\fR"
.PP
\fB\-\-all\fR
.RS 4
Process the reflogs of all references\&.
.RE
.PP
\fB\-\-single\-worktree\fR
.RS 4
By default when
\fB\-\-all\fR
is specified, reflogs from all working trees are processed\&. This option limits the processing to reflogs from the current working tree only\&.
.RE
.PP
\fB\-\-expire=\fR\fI<time>\fR
.RS 4
Prune entries older than the specified time\&. If this option is not specified, the expiration time is taken from the configuration setting
\fBgc\&.reflogExpire\fR, which in turn defaults to 90 days\&.
\fB\-\-expire=all\fR
prunes entries regardless of their age;
\fB\-\-expire=never\fR
turns off pruning of reachable entries (but see
\fB\-\-expire\-unreachable\fR)\&.
.RE
.PP
\fB\-\-expire\-unreachable=\fR\fI<time>\fR
.RS 4
Prune entries older than
\fI<time>\fR
that are not reachable from the current tip of the branch\&. If this option is not specified, the expiration time is taken from the configuration setting
\fBgc\&.reflogExpireUnreachable\fR, which in turn defaults to 30 days\&.
\fB\-\-expire\-unreachable=all\fR
prunes unreachable entries regardless of their age;
\fB\-\-expire\-unreachable=never\fR
turns off early pruning of unreachable entries (but see
\fB\-\-expire\fR)\&.
.RE
.PP
\fB\-\-updateref\fR
.RS 4
Update the reference to the value of the top reflog entry (i\&.e\&. <ref>@{0}) if the previous top entry was pruned\&. (This option is ignored for symbolic references\&.)
.RE
.PP
\fB\-\-rewrite\fR
.RS 4
If a reflog entry\(cqs predecessor is pruned, adjust its "old" SHA\-1 to be equal to the "new" SHA\-1 field of the entry that now precedes it\&.
.RE
.PP
\fB\-\-stale\-fix\fR
.RS 4
Prune any reflog entries that point to "broken commits"\&. A broken commit is a commit that is not reachable from any of the reference tips and that refers, directly or indirectly, to a missing commit, tree, or blob object\&.
.sp
This computation involves traversing all the reachable objects, i\&.e\&. it has the same cost as
\fIgit prune\fR\&. It is primarily intended to fix corruption caused by garbage collecting using older versions of Git, which didn\(cqt protect objects referred to by reflogs\&.
.RE
.PP
\fB\-n\fR, \fB\-\-dry\-run\fR
.RS 4
Do not actually prune any entries; just show what would have been pruned\&.
.RE
.PP
\fB\-\-verbose\fR
.RS 4
Print extra information on screen\&.
.RE
.SH "GIT"
.sp
Part of the \fBgit\fR(1) suite