Author and date
- Git course
- Beginner
- Lesson 47/80
- 4 min
Learn to filter by commit author and date.
Filtering by author: --author
When multiple people collaborate on large projects, finding a specific contributor's commits becomes essential. The --author flag filters commits by author name or email address. This option is frequently paired with --oneline for concise view.
git log --author="Ahmet"
git log --author="ahmet@example.com" --onelineYou don't need to type the full author name; a partial match is also accepted.
Filtering by date: --since and --until
To find commits from a specific timeframe, use the --since and --until filters. Git understands exact dates like "2026-01-01" as well as natural expressions like "yesterday". Author and date options can be combined for targeted searches.
git log --since="2026-01-01"
git log --author="Elif" --since="1 week ago"You can also use --after in place of --since, and --before in place of --until.
Practice Filter commits by author
Use git log with --author="Burak" and --format="%s" to list only Burak's commit subject.
Starter code
git init -q
git config user.name "Ali"
git config user.email "ali@example.com"
echo "1" > a.txt
git add a.txt
git commit -qm "Ali ilk commit"
git config user.name "Burak"
git config user.email "burak@example.com"
echo "2" > b.txt
git add b.txt
git commit -qm "Burak ikinci commit"
git config user.name "Ali"
git config user.email "ali@example.com"
echo "3" > c.txt
git add c.txt
git commit -qm "Ali ucuncu commit"
# Filtreleme komutunu buraya yazSample solution
git init -q
git config user.name "Ali"
git config user.email "ali@example.com"
echo "1" > a.txt
git add a.txt
git commit -qm "Ali ilk commit"
git config user.name "Burak"
git config user.email "burak@example.com"
echo "2" > b.txt
git add b.txt
git commit -qm "Burak ikinci commit"
git config user.name "Ali"
git config user.email "ali@example.com"
echo "3" > c.txt
git add c.txt
git commit -qm "Ali ucuncu commit"
git log --author="Burak" --format="%s"Expected output
Burak ikinci commit
Questions and answers
Review the lesson questions together with their answers. To test yourself, solve the lesson interactively.
1 Which command is used to filter only the commits made by an author named "Elif"?
- git log --author="Elif" Correct answer
- git show --committer="Elif"
- git diff --author="Elif"
- git log --user="Elif"
Explanation: git log --author filters commits whose author name or email address matches the given pattern.
2 Filter by start date
git log ____="2026-01-01"git log --since="2026-01-01"Explanation: The --since flag lists commits made after the specified date.
3 Filtering options
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
--author |
Filters by author |
--since |
Takes commits after a date |
--until |
Takes commits until a date |
--grep |
Searches commits by message |