TIL: The git log Pickaxe Finds the Commit That Deleted a Line

git log -S finds the commit that added or deleted a piece of text. Git calls it the pickaxe, and the git log pickaxe is the quickest way I know to answer "which commit took this function out?"

git log -S "retryRequest" --oneline

Git keeps only the commits that changed how many times retryRequest shows up, so you get the one that added it and the one that deleted it. Add -p to see each change.

git bisect tests commits one at a time to find what broke. If you already know the text, you do not need to test anything.

When the git log pickaxe skips a commit

Changing retries = 3 to retries = 5 doesn't change how many times retries appears, so -S retries leaves that commit out. Use -G for those:

git log -G "retries" --oneline

-G takes a regex (a search pattern) and keeps any commit where an added or removed line matches it, so edits show up.

Can I search one file?

Yes. Put the path after two dashes, like git log -S "retryRequest" -- src/http.ts. Git then only looks at changes to that one file. On a repo with years of history, that makes the git log pickaxe a lot faster.