Command: git hide, git unhide

Description

Available since v0.1.0.

The git hide command is used to hide commits from the smartlog when you no longer want to see them anymore. It's essentially the same as deleting a branch, except that branches aren't necessary in the branchless workflow.

The git unhide command is used to undo the effects of git hide. Note that you can also use git undo in some cases.

Usage

Hiding commits

To hide a single commit, run git hide <hash>:

$ git sl
⋮
◆ 86bdeac0 48d (master) Revert "Update foo"
┃
◯ 8d4738cd 2d new message
┣━┓
┃ ◯ 814b2b05 2d temp: another commit
┃
◯ 67687b48 2d temp: update foo

$ git hide 67687b48
Hid commit: 67687b48 temp: update foo
To unhide this commit, run: git unhide 67687b48

$ git sl
⋮
◆ 86bdeac0 48d (master) Revert "Update foo"
┃
◯ 8d4738cd 2d new message
┃
◯ 814b2b05 2d temp: another commit

To hide an entire subtree, not just a single commit, pass the -r/--recursive flag to git hide:

$ git sl
⋮
◆ 86bdeac0 48d (master) Revert "Update foo"
┃
◯ 8d4738cd 2d new message
┣━┓
┃ ◯ 814b2b05 2d temp: another commit
┃
◯ 67687b48 2d temp: update foo

$ git hide -r 8d4738cd
Hid commit: 8d4738cd new message
To unhide this commit, run: git unhide 8d4738cd
Hid commit: 814b2b05 temp: another commit
To unhide this commit, run: git unhide 814b2b05
Hid commit: 67687b48 temp: update foo
To unhide this commit, run: git unhide 67687b48

$ git sl
⋮
◆ 86bdeac0 48d (master) Revert "Update foo"

Unhiding commits

ℹ️ Tip: If you want to undo a git hide immediately after doing it, it's easier to run git undo.

To unhide a given commit later, run git unhide with that commit hash:

$ git unhide 67687b48
Unhid commit: 67687b48 temp: update foo
To hide this commit, run: git hide 67687b48

$ git sl
⋮
◆ 86bdeac0 48d (master) Revert "Update foo"
┃
◯ 8d4738cd 2d new message

The git unhide command also takes the -r/--recursive flag to unhide an entire subtree.

ℹ️ Tip: If you want to unhide a certain commit, but don't remember its commit hash, you can use git undo to find the old commit hash and copy it, and then cancel the undo operation.

Abandoned children

If you hide a single commit, but not its its descendants, that commit and its descendants will still be visible in the smartlog:

$ git sl
⋮
◆ 86bdeac0 48d (master) Revert "Update foo"
┃
◯ 8d4738cd 2d new message
┣━┓
┃ ◯ 814b2b05 2d temp: another commit
┃
◯ 67687b48 2d temp: update foo

$ git hide 8d4738cd
Hid commit: 8d4738cd new message
To unhide this commit, run: git unhide 8d4738cd

$ git sl
⋮
◆ 86bdeac0 48d (master) Revert "Update foo"
┃
✕ 8d4738cd 2d (manually hidden) new message
┣━┓
┃ ◯ 814b2b05 2d temp: another commit
┃
◯ 67687b48 2d temp: update foo

A child commit of a hidden commit is said to be "abandoned". git-branchless still shows the hidden commit because it wants you to do something about the abandoned children.

There are a few things you can do:

• If the commit was hidden by mistake, you can unhide it with git unhide.
• If you don't want the commit or any of its descendants anymore, you can hide them all with git hide -r.
• If you want to keep only the descendant commits, but not the parent commit, you can use git move to move them off from the parent commit.
  • For example, git move -s 67687b48 -d master will move the temp: update foo commit on top of the master branch. (The master branch won't be changed.)
• If the abandoned child appeared because of a rewrite operation, and you want to move its descendant commits to the newest version of that commit, use git restack.