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!
![An Interview with Eric Meyer]()
Your early CSS books were instrumental in pushing my love for front end technologies. What was it about CSS that you fell in love with and drove you to write about it?
At first blush, it was the simplicity of it as compared to the table-and-spacer...
![Conquering Impostor Syndrome]()
Two years ago I documented my struggles with Imposter Syndrome and the response was immense. I received messages of support and commiseration from new web developers, veteran engineers, and even persons of all experience levels in other professions. I've even caught myself reading the post...
![Record Text Selections Using MooTools or jQuery AJAX]()
One technique I'm seeing more and more these days (CNNSI.com, for example) is AJAX recording of selected text. It makes sense -- if you detect users selecting the terms over and over again, you can probably assume your visitors are searching that term on Google...
![MooTools Link Fading]()
We all know that we can set a different link color (among other properties) on the hover event, but why not show a little bit more dynamism by making the original color fade to the next? Using MooTools 1.2, you can achieve that effect.
The MooTools...
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.