View the change history of a file using Git versioning

Question

How can I view the change history of an individual file in Git, complete details with what has changed?

I have got as far as:

git log -- [filename]
         


        

Answer 1

git log --follow -p -- path-to-file

This will show the entire history of the file (including history beyond renames and with diffs for each change).

In other words, if the file named bar was once named foo, then git log -p bar (without the --follow option) will only show the file's history up to the point where it was renamed -- it won't show the file's history when it was known as foo. Using git log --follow -p bar will show the file's entire history, including any changes to the file when it was known as foo. The -p option ensures that diffs are included for each change.