{"componentChunkName":"component---src-templates-post-js","path":"/blog/bash-script-before-reading-code","result":{"data":{"markdownRemark":{"html":"

I saw this awesome blog post The Git Commands I Run Before Reading Any Code detailing some git commands to help you navigate a new code base. Well, I decided to make a wrapper bash script around those commands.

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The Script

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Create a file git-investigate (no extension), mark it as executable (chmod +x git-investigate), and then add git-investigate to your PATH.

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This automatically registers the git subcommand git investigate COMMAND.

\n\n #!/usr/bin/env bash\n\n# A git subcommand for investigating a new code base\n#\n# Credit to https://piechowski.io/post/git-commands-before-reading-code/ for the original git commands\n\nset -euo pipefail\n\nFIRST_ARG=${1:-""}\n\nlimit=${LIMIT:-20}\nsince=${SINCE:-1 year ago}\n\nechoerr() { printf "%s\\n" "$*" >&2; }\n\nif ! git rev-parse --is-inside-work-tree >/dev/null 2>&1; then\n echoerr "Error: This is not a git repo: $PWD"\n exit 1\nfi\n\nif [ "$FIRST_ARG" = "churn" ]; then\n echoerr "A sorted list of most changed files in a given period of time"\n echoerr ""\n echoerr "Since: $since"\n echoerr "Limit: $limit"\n echoerr ""\n git log --format=format: --name-only --since="$since" | sort | uniq -c | sort -nr | head -$limit\nelif [ "$FIRST_ARG" = "contributors" ]; then\n git shortlog -sn --no-merges\nelif [ "$FIRST_ARG" = "bugs" ]; then\n echoerr "A sorted list of files with commits related to bugs or fixes"\n echoerr ""\n echoerr "Limit: $limit"\n echoerr ""\n git log -i -E --grep="fix|bug|broken" --name-only --format='' | sort | uniq -c | sort -nr | head -$limit\nelif [ "$FIRST_ARG" = "velocity" ]; then\n echoerr "A sorted list of commit counts by month"\n echoerr ""\n git log --format='%ad' --date=format:'%Y-%m' | sort | uniq -c\nelif [ "$FIRST_ARG" = "firefighting" ]; then\n echoerr "A list commits relating to reverts, hotfixes, emergencies, or rollbacks"\n echoerr ""\n echoerr "Since: $since"\n echoerr ""\n git log --oneline --since="$since" | grep -iE 'revert|hotfix|emergency|rollback'\nelif [ "$FIRST_ARG" = "credit-to" ]; then\n echoerr "Credit To:"\n echoerr ""\n echo "https://piechowski.io/post/git-commands-before-reading-code/"\nelse\n echo "Usage: $0 {churn|contributors|bugs|velocity|firefighting|credit-to}"\n echo ""\n echo "Commands"\n echo ""\n echo "- churn: A sorted list of most changed files in a given period of time"\n echo "- contributors: A sorted list of the most active committers"\n echo "- bugs: A sorted list of files with commits related to bugs or fixes"\n echo "- velocity: A sorted list of commit counts by month"\n echo "- firefighting: A list commits relating to reverts, hotfixes, emergencies, or rollbacks"\n echo "- credit-to: Link to the original blog post detailing these git commands"\n echo ""\n echo "Environment Variables"\n echo ""\n echo "LIMIT -- Limits the number of results in 'churn' and 'bugs'"\n echo "SINCE -- Filters result by a natural time string e.g. 1 year ago in 'churn' and 'firefighting'"\n exit 1\nfi\n \n

Usage

\n\n cd myproject\n\ngit investigate\n\n# Usage: git-investigate {churn|contributors|bugs|velocity|firefighting|credit-to}\n#\n# Commands\n#\n# - churn: A sorted list of most changed files in a given period of time\n# - contributors: A sorted list of the most active committers\n# - bugs: A sorted list of files with commits related to bugs or fixes\n# - velocity: A sorted list of commit counts by month\n# - firefighting: A list commits relating to reverts, hotfixes, emergencies, or rollbacks\n# - credit-to: Link to the original blog post detailing these git commands\n#\n# Environment Variables\n#\n# LIMIT -- Limits the number of results in 'churn' and 'bugs'\n# SINCE -- Filters result by a natural time string e.g. 1 year ago in 'churn' and 'firefighting'\n\nSINCE='10 years ago' LIMIT=10 git investigate churn\n\n# A sorted list of most changed files in a given period of time\n#\n# 75\n# 17 src/pages/about.js\n# 14 src/layouts/index.js\n# 11 src/pages/talks.js\n# 10 src/pages/projects.js\n# 7 src/html.js\n# 7 package-lock.json\n# 5 yarn.lock\n# 4 src/pages/training.js\n# 4 src/components/nav-menu.js\n\ngit investigate contributors\n\n# 70 Kylee Tilley\n# 2 dependabot[bot]\n\nLIMIT=10 git investigate bugs\n\n# A sorted list of files with commits related to bugs or fixes\n#\n# 7 src/pages/about.js\n# 4 src/layouts/index.js\n# 3 src/pages/talks.js\n# 1 src/pages/projects.js\n# 1 src/pages/index.js\n# 1 src/pages/blog.js\n# 1 src/components/nav-menu.js\n# 1 src/components/header.js\n# 1 package-lock.json\n# 1 gatsby-node.js\n\ngit investigate velocity\n\n# A sorted list of commit counts by month\n#\n# 1 2018-07\n# 2 2019-08\n# 7 2019-11\n# 3 2020-02\n# 2 2020-03\n# 1 2020-05\n# 15 2022-12\n# 4 2023-05\n# 1 2024-07\n# 40 2025-02\n\nSINCE='10 years ago' git investigate firefighting\n\n# A list commits relating to reverts, hotfixes, emergencies, or rollbacks\n#\n# e60c355 Revert "Upgrade npm dependencies"\n\ngit investigate credit-to\n\n# Credit To:\n#\n# https://piechowski.io/post/git-commands-before-reading-code/\n ","excerpt":"I saw this awesome blog post The Git Commands I Run Before Reading Any Code detailing some git commands to help you navigate a new code base…","frontmatter":{"date":"2026-06-19T00:00:00.000Z","title":"The Bash Script I Use Before Reading Any Code","tags":["git","tools","bash"]}},"site":{"siteMetadata":{"title":"Testing Required"}}},"pageContext":{"tags":["git","tools","bash"]}},"staticQueryHashes":["3649515864"]}