Selectors

Navigate to a parent commit (tilde)

$ git show HEAD~1                   # parent
$ git show HEAD~3                   # great-grandparent

Tilde follows the first-parent chain. HEAD~3 means “go back 3 commits along the first parent.”

Select a specific parent (caret)

$ git show HEAD^1                   # first parent
$ git show HEAD^2                   # second parent (merge commits)

Caret selects which parent of a merge commit to follow. Only meaningful on merge commits — ^1 and ^2 differ.

Combine tilde and caret

$ git show HEAD~1^2                 # second parent of the previous commit

Commits on one branch but not another (double-dot)

$ git log main..feature --oneline

Shows commits reachable from feature that are not reachable from main — what would be merged.

Symmetric difference (triple-dot)

$ git log --left-right main...feature --oneline

Shows commits on either branch but not both. The --left-right flag marks each commit with < (left) or > (right).

Reflog selectors

$ git show HEAD@{1}                 # previous position of HEAD
$ git show main@{yesterday}         # where main was yesterday
$ git show HEAD@{2.hours.ago}       # HEAD two hours ago

Reflog entries expire after 90 days (reachable) or 30 days (unreachable) by default.