Why do I have to hit 'Q' at the end of 'git log'?
GitGit Problem Overview
Consider:
git log -n 20 --pretty=oneline
I am telling Git that I need to see only the last 20 commits. I hate to hit Q to get rid of END. Is there a way out so that I don't have to hit Q?
Git Solutions
Solution 1 - Git
Git is automatically paging the output for you, since logs tend to easily overflow a single terminal window size (you're in one of the rare exceptions - a oneline format and a small commit limit). If you don't want this, use:
git --no-pager log -n 20 --pretty=oneline
Note that this does mean you'll get some ugly wrapping, because the pager was previously turning off wrapping for you (since you could use the cursor keys to scroll left-right).
Solution 2 - Git
You can "turn off" git paging by telling it to use cat instead of less. Thereafter, pipe the output through less when you do want paging, or head if you just want to see the top, etc.
git config --global core.pager cat
I turn off automatic paging because I often run git from within emacs, which neither needs nor plays well with less.
Solution 3 - Git
less accepts -F argument to quit automatically if content fits on one screen
Solution 4 - Git
git log -n 20 --pretty=oneline | cat
is a little shorter that the --no-pager option but will also remove any colours present.
Solution 5 - Git
If you want to use --no-pager in an alias, set up your alias this way:
hist = !git --no-pager log --pretty=format:\"%h %ad | %s%d [%an]\" --graph --date=short
Solution 6 - Git
The q is used to close the command line program used to view the logs...
You can use another log viewer, like gitk:
gitk -n 20
Solution 7 - Git
Alias for a log command where you don't have to click q to to make it go away:
git config --global alias.hist '!git --no-pager log --pretty=format:"%h %ad | %s%d [%an]" --graph --date=short --max-count=10'
Solution 8 - Git
If short is what you want, -P is a synonym for --no-pager which turns off pagination.
Some fun examples:
git --no-pager log --pretty=oneline -10 # summarize last 10 commits
git -P log --pretty=oneline -10 # same!
git -P log -1 -c # show diffs for last commmit
git -P log -1 -U1 # unified diffs w/ 1 line of context
git -P log -1 --name-only # print commit + names of changed files