Find which git commit remove some file content

Question

I would like to identify all the commits that removed a specified string from any file of the repository.

Here is the case for which I need this : I have a java method called someMethod I know this method was called in the past but it is not anymore (somebody removed the code). I don't know from which file it was called.

So this is my question : Is it possible to find which commit removed this method call. More generally, is it possible to find the commits that removed the string "someMethod" from any file? Manually, I would generate unified diff for each commit and look if someMethod appears in the diff.

Is there an automatic process to do it?

I would definitely do this the manual way: git log --all -p | less and search for "someMethod" interactively within less. — joanis
– joanis, Commented Jan 15, 2019 at 15:49
Thank you. Using this command but with grep instead of less is good for me — jaudo
– jaudo, Commented Jan 15, 2019 at 15:53

joanis · Accepted Answer · 2019-01-15 16:00:01Z

2

I would definitely do this the manual way: git log --all -p | less and search for "someMethod" interactively within less.

Using grep on the output is also a possibility, but then you have to work harder to find which commit the changes were made in.

answered Jan 15, 2019 at 16:00

joanis

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2 Comments

jaudo Over a year ago

I also added "commit" to grep so commits are displayed too : git log --all -p | less | grep "someMethod\|commit"

joanis Over a year ago

Simple and effective solution, I should have thought of it. :)

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