git - Find commit where file was added

git commit git-commit git-log
Steven Penny picture Steven Penny · Jul 18, 2012 · Viewed 52.7k times · Source

Say I have a file foo.js that was committed some time ago. I would like to simply find the commit where this file was first added.

After reading the answers and my own tinkering, this works for me

git log --follow --diff-filter=A --find-renames=40% foo.js

Answer

stelterd picture stelterd · Nov 28, 2012

Here's simpler, "pure Git" way to do it, with no pipeline needed:

git log --diff-filter=A -- foo.js

Check the documentation. You can do the same thing for Deleted, Modified, etc.

https://git-scm.com/docs/git-log#Documentation/git-log.txt---diff-filterACDMRTUXB82308203

I have a handy alias for this, because I always forget it:

git config --global alias.whatadded 'log --diff-filter=A'

This makes it as simple as:

git whatadded -- foo.js

The below one liner will recursively search through sub directories of the $PWD for foo.js without having to supply and absolute or relative path to the file, nor will the file need to be in the same directory as the $PWD

git log --diff-filter=A -- **foo.js

Related questions

How to amend a commit without changing commit message (reusing the previous one)?

Is there a way to amend a commit without vi (or your $EDITOR) popping up with the option to modify your commit message, but simply reusing the previous message?

Read More
Combining Multiple Commits Into One Prior To Push

This question pertains not only to how to accomplish this task, but to whether doing so is good or bad practice with Git. Consider that locally I do most work on the master branch, but I have created a topical …

Read More
How to remove the first commit in git?

I am curious about how to remove the first commit in git. What is the revision before committing any thing? Does this revision have a name or tag?

Read More