Inspect with Blame and Describe

Inspect with Blame and Describe

Git has more tools for digging into history.

Git blame

git blame shows who changed each line of a file and when:

git blame index.html

Each line is labeled with the commit hash, author, and date of the change. It is the go to tool for answering "who wrote this line and why?"

Limit blame

git blame -L 10,20 index.html

The -L option limits blame to lines 10 to 20.

Git describe

git describe names a commit using the nearest tag:

git describe

If your latest tag is v1.0, the output looks like v1.0-5-gabc123, meaning 5 commits after v1.0, hash abc123.

Why describe is useful

In big projects, tags like v1.0 are easier to remember than hashes. git describe connects the two, which is handy for reports and release notes.

TL;DR

• git blame shows who changed each line and when.
• git blame -L 10,20 file limits the range.
• git describe names a commit using the nearest tag.
• Both tools help you understand how a file got the way it is.