How do I list git branches with commits only to a specific directory?

Question

Our team commits to a big git repository.

Recently we've decided to export one of subdirectories (named framework) to a separate repo and remove all branches that contain commits only to that subdirectory.

How can I list such branches?

I've modified this advice to get:

for branch in `git for-each-ref --format="%(refname)" refs/remotes/origin `; do 
    git ls-tree -r --name-only $branch | grep -q "framework/" && echo $branch 
done

However this command returns branches with commits to other subdirectories too.

I've tried expanding this snippet:

for branch in `git for-each-ref --format="%(refname)" refs/remotes/origin `; do 
    if git ls-tree -r --name-only $branch | grep -q "framework/" ; then
        if ! git ls-tree -r --name-only $branch | grep -vq "framework/" ; then
            echo $branch 
        fi
    fi
done

However, this command prints nothing.

If you just remove the directories entirely with [`git filter-repo`](https://github.com/newren/git-filter-repo/), empty commits and branches should be pruned automatically. Did you actually want the list you asked for, or were you only planning to delete the branches on it? — Useless, Nov 27 '20 at 13:54
Yes, I actually want the list, with names of committers. I wanted to notify my team mates that I'm going to remove those branches. — wl2776, Nov 27 '20 at 13:56
Why not just filter a clone of the repo and then diff its branch list with the original? You're going to filter the repo eventually anyway, right? — Useless, Nov 27 '20 at 14:01

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 27 '20 at 14:48

Since framework/ is part of your repo, all branches contain a directory named framework/, so your git ls-tree command will always list something.

If you have a reference branch (say master or develop), you can check if a branch has modified this directory since it forked from that branch :

# will give view an understandable view of what commits are part of this branch :
git log --graph --oneline master..$branch -- framework/

# will give you an int as output (easier to use in a script) :
git rev-list --count master..$branch -- framework/

You can use an alternative syntax to a..b if you want to exclude several "reference branches" :

# count commits from $branch that modified 'framework/' since it forked
# either from master or from develop :
git rev-list --count ^master ^develop $branch -- framework/

Could you post complete solution to the original question? – sumek Nov 23 '21 at 10:33 — sumek, Nov 23 '21 at 10:33

How do I list git branches with commits only to a specific directory?

1 Answers1