jj/docs/revsets.md

Revsets

Jujutsu supports a functional language for selecting a set of revisions. Expressions in this language are called "revsets" (the idea comes from Mercurial). The language consists of symbols, operators, and functions.

Most jj commands accept a revset (or multiple). Many commands, such as jj diff -r <revset> expect the revset to resolve to a single commit; it is an error to pass a revset that resolves to more than one commit (or zero commits) to such commands.

The words "revisions" and "commits" are used interchangeably in this document.

The commits listed by jj log without arguments are called "visible commits". Other commits are only included if you explicitly mention them (e.g. by commit ID or a Git ref pointing to them).

Symbols

The symbol root refers to the virtual commit that is the oldest ancestor of all other commits.

The symbol @ refers to the working copy commit in the current workspace. Use <workspace name>@ to refer to the working-copy commit in another workspace.

A full commit ID refers to a single commit. A unique prefix of the full commit ID can also be used. It is an error to use a non-unique prefix.

A full change ID refers to all visible commits with that change ID (there is typically only one visible commit with a given change ID). A unique prefix of the full change ID can also be used. It is an error to use a non-unique prefix.

Use double quotes to prevent a symbol from being interpreted as an expression. For example, "x-" is the symbol x-, not the parents of symbol x. Taking shell quoting into account, you may need to use something like jj log -r '"x-"'.

Priority

Jujutsu attempts to resolve a symbol in the following order:

1. @
2. root
3. Tag name
4. Branch name
5. Git ref
6. Commit ID or change ID

Operators

The following operators are supported. x and y below can be any revset, not only symbols.

• x & y: Revisions that are in both x and y.
• x | y: Revisions that are in either x or y (or both).
• x ~ y: Revisions that are in x but not in y.
• ~x: Revisions that are not in x.
• x-: Parents of x.
• x+: Children of x.
• :x: Ancestors of x, including the commits in x itself.
• x:: Descendants of x, including the commits in x itself.
• x:y: Descendants of x that are also ancestors of y, both inclusive. Equivalent to x: & :y. This is what git log calls --ancestry-path x..y.
• x..y: Ancestors of y that are not also ancestors of x, both inclusive. Equivalent to :y ~ :x. This is what git log calls x..y (i.e. the same as we call it).
• ..x: Ancestors of x, including the commits in x itself. Equivalent to :x and provided for consistency.
• x..: Revisions that are not ancestors of x.

You can use parentheses to control evaluation order, such as (x & y) | z or x & (y | z).

Functions

You can also specify revisions by using functions. Some functions take other revsets (expressions) as arguments.

• parents(x): Same as x-.
• children(x): Same as x+.
• ancestors(x): Same as :x.
• descendants(x): Same as x:.
• connected(x): Same as x:x. Useful when x includes several commits.
• all(): All visible commits in the repo.
• none(): No commits. This function is rarely useful; it is provided for completeness.
• branches([needle]): All local branch targets. If needle is specified, branches whose name contains the given string are selected. For example, branches(push) would match the branches push-123 and repushed but not the branch main. If a branch is in a conflicted state, all its possible targets are included.
• remote_branches([branch_needle[, [remote=]remote_needle]]): All remote branch targets across all remotes. If just the branch_needle is specified, branches whose name contains the given string across all remotes are selected. If both branch_needle and remote_needle are specified, the selection is further restricted to just the remotes whose name contains remote_needle. For example, remote_branches(push, ri) would match the branches push-123@origin and repushed@private but not push-123@upstream or main@origin or main@upstream. If a branch is in a conflicted state, all its possible targets are included.
• tags(): All tag targets. If a tag is in a conflicted state, all its possible targets are included.
• git_refs(): All Git ref targets as of the last import. If a Git ref is in a conflicted state, all its possible targets are included.
• git_head(): The Git HEAD target as of the last import.
• heads([x]): Commits in x that are not ancestors of other commits in x. If x was not specified, it selects all visible heads (as if you had said heads(all())).
• roots(x): Commits in x that are not descendants of other commits in x.
• merges(): Merge commits.
• description(needle): Commits with the given string in their description.
• author(needle): Commits with the given string in the author's name or email.
• committer(needle): Commits with the given string in the committer's name or email.
• empty(): Commits modifying no files. This also includes merges() without user modifications and root.
• file(pattern..): Commits modifying the paths specified by the pattern...
• present(x): Same as x, but evaluated to none() if any of the commits in x doesn't exist (e.g. is an unknown branch name.)

Aliases

New symbols and functions can be defined in the config file, by using any combination of the predefined symbols/functions and other aliases.

For example:

[revset-aliases]
'mine' = 'author(martinvonz)'
'user(x)' = 'author(x) | committer(x)'

Examples

Show the parent(s) of the working-copy commit (like git log -1 HEAD):

jj log -r @-

Show commits not on any remote branch:

jj log -r 'remote_branches()..'

Show commits not on origin (if you have other remotes like fork):

jj log -r 'remote_branches(remote=origin)..'

Show all ancestors of the working copy (almost like plain git log)

jj log -r :@

Show the initial commits in the repo (the ones Git calls "root commits"):

jj log -r root+

Show some important commits (like git --simplify-by-decoration):

jj log -r 'tags() | branches()'

Show local commits leading up to the working copy, as well as descendants of those commits:

jj log -r '(remote_branches()..@):'

Show commits authored by "martinvonz" and containing the word "reset" in the description:

jj log -r 'author(martinvonz) & description(reset)'