Use the --all option of the git log command to display commits regardless of which branch is active
Use the --graph option of the git log command to give a better visualization of the commit graph
Using the --all Option
Switch back to the mybranch branch and view the log output
$ git switch mybranch
$ git log --oneline
08f4897 (HEAD -> mybranch, tag: anothertag) Renamed git.txt
714c41e Removed unnecessary files
39fa5fc Revert "Revert "Added note about the 'git add' command""
b2763fe Revert "Added note about the 'git add' command"
...
Note that HEAD is indeed pointing to mybranch.
But oh no! Where did the two most recent commits on master go?
When you run git log on a specific branch, it will display any commits previous to the most recent one on the active branch. If you want to see all commits, even those subsequent to the most recent one on the active branch, the --all option can be useful:
Show the log using the --all option
$ git log --all --oneline
1ebc7b1 (master) A note about the restore command
70b4290 A note about the commit command
08f4897 (HEAD -> mybranch, tag: anothertag) Renamed git.txt
714c41e Removed unnecessary files
39fa5fc Revert "Revert "Added note about the 'git add' command""
b2763fe Revert "Added note about the 'git add' command"
...
Ah ha! There's master and the two most recent commits. They were never lost, Git just doesn't display them in the log by default while the mybranch branch is active.
Using the --graph Option
Let's make a change in our mybranch branch:
With the mybranch branch active, change the first line of git-cheat-sheet.txt from just Git to Git Cheat Sheet
At this point, your commit history graph looks something like this:
Figure: Commits to Branches Both the master and mybranch branches have had commits made to them since their branch point at commit 08f4.
As an aside, it should now be more clear why branches are called branches. As you add commits to a branch the chain of commits branches off from the branch point. In the example here, commit 08f4 is the most recent common commit between master and mybranch. There has been 1 commit to the mybranch branch, and 2 commits to the master branch since that common commit.
This branching graph can be displayed by the git log command using the --graph option! Compare the output of the git log command with and without the --graph option:
Without the --graph option
$ git log --all --oneline
663e99a (HEAD -> mybranch) Title change
1ebc7b1 (master) A note about the restore command
70b4290 A note about the commit command
08f4897 (tag: anothertag) Renamed git.txt
714c41e Removed unnecessary files
...
With the --graph option
$ git log --all --oneline
* 663e99a (HEAD -> mybranch) Title change
| * 1ebc7b1 (master) A note about the restore command
| * 70b4290 A note about the commit command
|/
* 08f4897 (tag: anothertag) Renamed git.txt
* 714c41e Removed unnecessary files
...
Git has added some ASCII graphics to help visually separate the commits of different branches. An * marks each commit. Branch points are marked using the character sequence |/, and commits in the same branch are indented to the same level and connected with a line of | characters.
NOTE: While the branch graph can be displayed using command line Git using the --graph option as shown above, this is a use case where Git GUIs are superior. Below, for example, is how our repository looks using a free GUI called Sublime Merge.
Figure: Sublime Merge
Not only is the commit graph easier to understand, you can also see in the same screen exactly what changed in the selected commit.
Figure: Commits to Branches Both the master and mybranch branches have had commits made to them since their branch point at commit 08f4.Figure: Sublime Merge