Sort git Branches by Date
I'll be first person to admit I don't do as much git repository maintenance as I should. I rarely delete branches which have been merged, so a git branch execution shows me a mile-long list of branches that likely aren't relevant. The best way to find branches I've recently used is to use the following command:
git for-each-ref --sort=-committerdate refs/heads/
The command above lists the most recently worked on branches from top to bottom. If you want to see the date of last commit, you can do this:
git for-each-ref --sort='-committerdate' --format='%(refname)%09%(committerdate)' refs/heads | sed -e 's-refs/heads/--'
I find these commands incredibly helpful when returning to work from a weekend or just jumping from project to project. Hopefully you can use these commands too!
![Regular Expressions for the Rest of Us]()
Sooner or later you'll run across a regular expression. With their cryptic syntax, confusing documentation and massive learning curve, most developers settle for copying and pasting them from StackOverflow and hoping they work. But what if you could decode regular expressions and harness their power? In...
![5 More HTML5 APIs You Didn’t Know Existed]()
The HTML5 revolution has provided us some awesome JavaScript and HTML APIs. Some are APIs we knew we've needed for years, others are cutting edge mobile and desktop helpers. Regardless of API strength or purpose, anything to help us better do our job is a...
![Creating Spacers with Flexbox]()
I was one of the biggest fans of flexbox before it hit but, due to being shuffled around at Mozilla, I never had the chance to use it in any practice project; thus, flexbox still seems like a bit of a mystery to me. This greatly...
![Cross Browser CSS Box Shadows]()
Box shadows have been used on the web for quite a while, but they weren't created with CSS -- we needed to utilize some Photoshop game to create them. For someone with no design talent, a.k.a me, the need to use Photoshop sucked. Just because we...
I use this version to show latest git branches with the timestamp as a relative/human readable format:
Hey man, I used your snippet and noticed after a while that it actually gets the timing wrong. For example a branch I created today is showing as being worked on 2 weeks ago
That might be because the timestamp doesn’t show the branch creation time but the commit time of the last commit of the branch.
I’m definitely going to bookmark this as I’m using git more and more in team settings where we will probably be branching a lot more. This will come in handy.
Super-helpful even three years on — thank you!
FWIW, I found it much easier to read by putting the date first, as in Amy’s example. That also allows for reverse sorting if desired.
This is gold, thanks a lot!
So helpful! I’ve accumulated dozens of branches in my main project over the years. Sorting them by date, and seeing the dates, is super helpful when trying to purge the useless ones while still keeping around some of the just-in-case guys.
Good feature, thanks a lot!
Also I add that you can add this command to .gitconfig e.g. like a “lastbrs” (last branches) and add the flag “–count” to prevent display all the branches.
You can also just do
git branch --sort=-committerdateto get the local branches with the most recently committed to on top.Also, forgot to mention. If you want this to be the default sort order for all your repositories. Just do
git config --global branch.sort -committerdate.After that a regular call to
git branchwill sort like this.