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[tig] / manual.txt

The tig Manual
==============
Jonas Fonseca <fonseca@diku.dk>

This is the manual for tig, the ncurses-based text-mode interface for git.
Tig allows you to browse changes in a git repository and can additionally act
as a pager for output of various git commands. When used as a pager, it will
display input from stdin and colorize it.

When browsing repositories, tig uses the underlying git commands to present
the user with various views, such as summarized commit log and showing the
commit with the log message, diffstat, and the diff.

ifndef::backend-docbook[]
*Table of Contents*

include::manual.toc[]
endif::backend-docbook[]

[[calling-conventions]]
Calling Conventions
-------------------

[[pager-mode]]
Pager Mode
~~~~~~~~~~

If stdin is a pipe, any log or diff options will be ignored and the pager view
will be opened loading data from stdin. The pager mode can be used for
colorizing output from various git commands.

Example on how to colorize the output of git-show(1):

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
$ git show | tig
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

[[cmd-options]]
Git Command Options
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

All git command options specified on the command line will be passed to the
given command and all will be shell quoted before they are passed to the
shell.

NOTE: If you specify options for the main view, you should not use the
`\--pretty` option as this option will be set automatically to the format
expected by the main view.

Example on how to view a commit and show both author and committer
information:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
$ tig show --pretty=fuller
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

See the section on <<refspec, specifying revisions>> for an introduction to
revision options supported by the git commands. For details on specific git
command options, refer to the man page of the command in question.

[[viewer]]
The Viewer
----------

The display consists of a status window on the last line of the screen and one
or more views. The default is to only show one view at the time but it is
possible to split both the main and log view to also show the commit diff.

If you are in the log view and press 'Enter' when the current line is a commit
line, such as:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
commit 4d55caff4cc89335192f3e566004b4ceef572521
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

You will split the view so that the log view is displayed in the top window
and the diff view in the bottom window. You can switch between the two views
by pressing 'Tab'. To maximize the log view again, simply press 'l'.

[[views]]
Views
~~~~~

Various 'views' of a repository is presented. Each view is based on output
from an external command, most often 'git log', 'git diff', or 'git show'.

The main view::
        Is the default view, and it shows a one line summary of each commit
        in the chosen list of revisions. The summary includes commit date,
        author, and the first line of the log message. Additionally, any
        repository references, such as tags, will be shown.

The log view::
        Presents a more rich view of the revision log showing the whole log
        message and the diffstat.

The diff view::
        Shows either the diff of the current working tree, that is, what
        has changed since the last commit, or the commit diff complete
        with log message, diffstat and diff.

The tree view::
        Lists directory trees associated with the current revision allowing
        subdirectories to be descended or ascended and file blobs to be
        viewed.

The blob view::
        Displays the file content or "blob" of data associated with a file
        name.

The blame view::
        Displays the file content annotated or blamed by commits.

The branch view::
        Displays the branches in the repository.

The status view::
        Displays status of files in the working tree and allows changes to be
        staged/unstaged as well as adding of untracked files.

The stage view::
        Displays diff changes for staged or unstanged files being tracked or
        file content of untracked files.

The pager view::
        Is used for displaying both input from stdin and output from git
        commands entered in the internal prompt.

The help view::
        Displays a quick reference of key bindings.

[[commit-id]]
Browsing State and User-defined Commands
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The viewer keeps track of both what head and commit ID you are currently
viewing. The commit ID will follow the cursor line and change every time you
highlight a different commit. Whenever you reopen the diff view it will be
reloaded, if the commit ID changed. The head ID is used when opening the main
and log view to indicate from what revision to show history.

Some of the commands used or provided by tig can be configured. This goes for
some of the <<env-variables, environment variables>> as well as the
<<external-commands, external commands>>. These user-defined commands can use
arguments that refer to the current browsing state by using one of the
following variables.

`-----------------------`-----------------------------------------------------
Browsing state variables
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
%(head)                 The currently viewed 'head' ID. Defaults to HEAD
%(commit)               The currently selected commit ID.
%(blob)                 The currently selected blob ID.
%(directory)            The current directory path in the tree view; \
                        empty for the root directory.
%(file)                 The currently selected file.
%(ref)                  The reference given to blame or HEAD if undefined.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[[title-window]]
Title Windows
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Each view has a title window which shows the name of the view, current commit
ID if available, and where the view is positioned:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
[main] c622eefaa485995320bc743431bae0d497b1d875 - commit 1 of 61 (1%)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

By default, the title of the current view is highlighted using bold font.  For
long loading views (taking over 3 seconds) the time since loading started will
be appended:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
[main] 77d9e40fbcea3238015aea403e06f61542df9a31 - commit 1 of 779 (0%) 5s
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

[[env-variables]]
Environment Variables
---------------------

Several options related to the interface with git can be configured via
environment options.

[[configuration-files]]
Configuration Files
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Upon startup, tig first reads the system wide configuration file
(`{sysconfdir}/tigrc` by default) and then proceeds to read the user's
configuration file (`~/.tigrc` by default). The paths to either of these files
can be overridden through the following environment variables:

TIGRC_USER::
        Path of the user configuration file.

TIGRC_SYSTEM::
        Path of the system wide configuration file.

[[repo-refs]]
Repository References
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Commits that are referenced by tags and branch heads will be marked by the
reference name surrounded by '[' and ']':

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
2006-03-26 19:42 Petr Baudis         | [cogito-0.17.1] Cogito 0.17.1
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you want to filter what branches gets shown, say limit to only show
branches named `master` or which starts with the `jf/` prefix, you can
do it by setting the following variable:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
$ TIG_LS_REMOTE="git ls-remote . master jf/*" tig
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Or set the variable permanently in your environment.

--

TIG_LS_REMOTE::

        Set command for retrieving all repository references. The command
        should output data in the same format as git-ls-remote(1). Defaults
        to:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
git ls-remote .
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

--

[[history-commands]]
History Commands
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It is possible to alter which commands are used for the different views.  If
for example you prefer commits in the main view to be sorted by date and only
show 500 commits, use:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
$ TIG_MAIN_CMD="git log --date-order -n500 --pretty=raw %(head)" tig
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Or set the variable permanently in your environment.

Notice, how `%(head)` is used to specify the commit reference.

--

TIG_DIFF_CMD::

        The command used for the diff view. Defaults to:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
git show --pretty=fuller --no-color --root 
         --patch-with-stat --find-copies-harder -C %(commit)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

TIG_LOG_CMD::

        The command used for the log view. If you prefer to have both
        author and committer shown in the log view be sure to pass
        `\--pretty=fuller` to git log. Defaults to:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
git log --no-color --cc --stat -n100 %(head)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

TIG_MAIN_CMD::

        The command used for the main view. Note, you must always specify
        the option: `\--pretty=raw` since the main view parser expects to
        read that format.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
git log --no-color --pretty=raw --parents --topo-order %(head)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

--

[[tree-commands]]
Tree Commands
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

--

TIG_TREE_CMD::

        The command used for the tree view. Defaults to:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
git ls-tree %(commit) %(directory)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

TIG_BLOB_CMD::

        The command used for the blob view. Defaults to:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
git cat-file blob %(blob)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

--

[[keys]]
Default Keybindings
-------------------
Below the default key bindings are shown.

[[view-switching]]
View Switching
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

`-------`--------------------------------------------------------------------
Key     Action
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
m       Switch to main view.
d       Switch to diff view.
l       Switch to log view.
p       Switch to pager view.
t       Switch to (directory) tree view.
f       Switch to (file) blob view.
B       Switch to blame view.
H       Switch to branch view.
h       Switch to help view
S       Switch to status view
c       Switch to stage view
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

[[view-manipulation]]
View Manipulation
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

`-------`--------------------------------------------------------------------
Key     Action
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
q       Close view, if multiple views are open it will jump back to the \
        previous view in the view stack. If it is the last open view it \
        will quit. Use 'Q' to quit all views at once.
Enter   This key is "context sensitive" depending on what view you are \
        currently in. When in log view on a commit line or in the main \
        view, split the view and show the commit diff. In the diff view \
        pressing Enter will simply scroll the view one line down.
Tab     Switch to next view.
R       Reload and refresh the current view.
M       Maximize the current view to fill the whole display.
Up      This key is "context sensitive" and will move the cursor one \
        line up. However, if you opened a diff view from the main view \
        (split- or full-screen) it will change the cursor to point to \
        the previous commit in the main view and update the diff view \
        to display it.
Down    Similar to 'Up' but will move down.
','     Move to parent. In the tree view, this means switch to the parent \
        directory. In the blame view it will load blame for the parent \
        commit. For merges the parent is queried.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

[[view-actions]]
View Specific Actions
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

`-------`--------------------------------------------------------------------
Key     Action
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
u       Update status of file. In the status view, this allows you to add an \
        untracked file or stage changes to a file for next commit (similar to \
        running git-add <filename>). In the stage view, when pressing this on \
        a diff chunk line stages only that chunk for next commit, when not on \
        a diff chunk line all changes in the displayed diff is staged.
M       Resolve unmerged file by launching git-mergetool(1). Note, to work \
        correctly this might require some initial configuration of your \
        preferred merge tool. See the manpage of git-mergetool(1).
!       Checkout file with unstaged changes. This will reset the file to \
        contain the content it had at last commit.
@       Move to next chunk in the stage view.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

[[cursor-nav]]
Cursor Navigation
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

`-------`--------------------------------------------------------------------
Key     Action
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
k       Move cursor one line up.
j       Move cursor one line down.
PgUp,\
-,a     Move cursor one page up.
PgDown  Space   Move cursor one page down.
Home    Jump to first line.
End     Jump to last line.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

[[view-scrolling]]
Scrolling
~~~~~~~~~

`-------`--------------------------------------------------------------------
Key     Action
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Insert  Scroll view one line up.
Delete  Scroll view one line down.
w       Scroll view one page up.
s       Scroll view one page down.
Left    Scroll view one column left.
Right   Scroll view one column right.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

[[searching]]
Searching
~~~~~~~~~

`-------`--------------------------------------------------------------------
Key     Action
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
/       Search the view. Opens a prompt for entering search regexp to use.
?       Search backwards in the view. Also prompts for regexp.
n       Find next match for the current search regexp.
N       Find previous match for the current search regexp.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

[[misc-keys]]
Misc
~~~~

`-------`--------------------------------------------------------------------
Key     Action
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q       Quit.
r       Redraw screen.
z       Stop all background loading. This can be useful if you use \
        tig in a repository with a long history without limiting \
        the revision log.
v       Show version.
o       Open option menu
'.'     Toggle line numbers on/off.
D       Toggle date display on/off.
A       Toggle author display on/off.
g       Toggle revision graph visualization on/off.
F       Toggle reference display on/off (tag and branch names).
':'     Open prompt. This allows you to specify what git command \
        to run. Example `:log -p`
e       Open file in editor.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

[[external-commands]]
External Commands
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For more custom needs, external commands provide a way to easily execute
a script or program. They are bound to keys and use information from the
current browsing state, such as the current commit ID. Tig comes with
the following built-in external commands:

`-------`-------`------------------------------------------------------------
Keymap  Key     Action
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
main    C       git cherry-pick %(commit)
status  C       git commit
generic G       git gc
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

[[refspec]]
Revision Specification
----------------------

This section describes various ways to specify what revisions to display or
otherwise limit the view to. Tig does not itself parse the described
revision options so refer to the relevant git man pages for further
information. Relevant man pages besides git-log(1) are git-diff(1) and
git-rev-list(1).

You can tune the interaction with git by making use of the options explained
in this section. For example, by configuring the environment variables
described in the section on <<history-commands, history commands>>.

[[path-limiting]]
Limit by Path Name
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you are interested only in those revisions that made changes to a specific
file (or even several files) list the files like this:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
$ tig Makefile README
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

To avoid ambiguity with tig's subcommands or repository references such as tag
name, be sure to separate file names from other git options using "\--". So if
you have a file named 'status' it will clash with the 'status' subcommand, and
thus you will have to use:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
$ tig -- status
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

[[date-number-limiting]]
Limit by Date or Number
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To speed up interaction with git, you can limit the amount of commits to show
both for the log and main view. Either limit by date using e.g.
`\--since=1.month` or limit by the number of commits using `-n400`.

If you are only interested in changed that happened between two dates you can
use:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
$ tig --after="May 5th" --before="2006-05-16 15:44"
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

NOTE: If you want to avoid having to quote dates containing spaces you can use
"." instead, e.g. `\--after=May.5th`.

[[commit-range-limiting]]
Limiting by Commit Ranges
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alternatively, commits can be limited to a specific range, such as "all
commits between 'tag-1.0' and 'tag-2.0'". For example:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
$ tig tag-1.0..tag-2.0
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

This way of commit limiting makes it trivial to only browse the commits which
haven't been pushed to a remote branch. Assuming 'origin' is your upstream
remote branch, using:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
$ tig origin..HEAD
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

will list what will be pushed to the remote branch. Optionally, the ending
'HEAD' can be left out since it is implied.

[[reachability-limiting]]
Limiting by Reachability
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Git interprets the range specifier "tag-1.0..tag-2.0" as "all commits
reachable from 'tag-2.0' but not from 'tag-1.0'".  Where reachability refers
to what commits are ancestors (or part of the history) of the branch or tagged
revision in question.

If you prefer to specify which commit to preview in this way use the
following:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
$ tig tag-2.0 ^tag-1.0
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

You can think of '^' as a negation operator. Using this alternate syntax, it
is possible to further prune commits by specifying multiple branch cut offs.

[[refspec-combi]]
Combining Revisions Specification
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Revisions options can to some degree be combined, which makes it possible to
say "show at most 20 commits from within the last month that changed files
under the Documentation/ directory."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
$ tig --since=1.month -n20 -- Documentation/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

[[refspec-all]]
Examining All Repository References
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In some cases, it can be useful to query changes across all references in a
repository. An example is to ask "did any line of development in this
repository change a particular file within the last week". This can be
accomplished using:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
$ tig --all --since=1.week -- Makefile
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

include::BUGS[]

[[copy-right]]
Copyright
---------

Copyright (c) 2006-2009 Jonas Fonseca <fonseca@diku.dk>

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
(at your option) any later version.

[[references]]
References and Related Tools
----------------------------

Manpages:

 - manpage:tig[1]
 - manpage:tigrc[5]

Online resources:

include::SITES[]

Other git repository browsers:

 - gitk(1)
 - qgit(1)