git reflog

Learn to view HEAD movements with git reflog.

What is git reflog?

git reflog displays a record of HEAD movements in the local repository. New entries are added when operations such as committing, switching branches, resetting, and checking out change the position of HEAD. Reflog can help you find commits that are no longer visible in the normal commit history.

git reflog

# Example output:
a1b2c3d HEAD@{0}: commit: New feature
e4f5g6h HEAD@{1}: checkout: moving from main to feature

Reflog is stored only in the local repository and is not automatically pushed to a remote repository.

Reading reflog entries

Each reflog entry contains a reference, a commit identifier, and a description of the operation. HEAD@{0} represents the latest movement, while HEAD@{1} represents the movement before it. This notation can be used to access a previous position.

git reflog

git show HEAD@{1}

Reflog entries are local and have a limited lifetime, so you should not delay recovery after finding an important commit.

Exercise Inspect reflog history

Write a shell command that runs git reflog to display the reflog output. Then add git show HEAD@{1} to display the previous HEAD position.

Show example solution

# HEAD hareketlerini listele
git reflog

# Önceki HEAD konumunu göster
git show HEAD@{1}

Test yourself

What information does reflog display?
- All users in the remote repository
- The current sizes of files
- Git configuration settings
- The local movement history of HEAD
Show answer

The local movement history of HEAD — <code>git reflog</code> lists the positions HEAD moved to in the local repository and the reasons for those movements.
Show the previous HEAD position
```
git show ____
```
Show answer
```
git show HEAD@{1}
```
Reflog terminology

git reflog

Lists HEAD movements
HEAD@{0}

Latest HEAD position
HEAD@{1}

Previous HEAD position
Yerel kayıt

History stored in the repository

Next lesson: Recovering a lost commit

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