I have a Git repository with n commits.
I have a file that I need, and that used to be in the repository, and that I suddenly look for and think "Oh! Where'd that file go?"
Is there a (series of) Git command(s) that will tell me that "file really_needed.txt was deleted at commit n-13"?
In other words, without looking at every individual commit, and knowing that my Git repo has every change of every file, can I quickly find the last commit that HAS that file, so I can get it back?
You can find the last commit which deleted file as follows:
git rev-list -n 1 HEAD -- [file_path]
Further information is available here
This command didn't work for me:
git log --full-history -1 -- [file path]
This is the command that worked:
git log --follow -- [file path]
This works for me:
git log -- **/Myfile.cs
If include --full-history switch, it will show a lot of changes have nothing to do with the file. Not sure why.
One can do the same for a directory if one doesn't recall the exact filename. Find the commit where deletion occurred and checkout a commit before that.
git log -- the/dir/where/things/got/deleted/