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git-cat-file:tldr:1df69
git-cat-file: Pretty-[p]rint the contents of a given Git object based on its type.
$ git cat-file -p ${HEAD~2}
try on your machine
The command git cat-file -p ${HEAD~2}
is used in Git to display the contents of an object.
Here's the breakdown of the command:
git
: Specifies that the command is a Git command.cat-file
: This command is used to retrieve the contents of an object in Git.-p
: Specifies that we want to print the contents of the object.${HEAD~2}
: This is a syntax known as a Git revision specifier.${HEAD}
refers to the current commit, and the~2
specifies that we want to access the commit two steps back from the current commit.
In simpler terms, this command retrieves the contents of the commit that is two steps behind the current commit and displays it on the console.
This explanation was created by an AI. In most cases those are correct. But please always be careful and
never run a command you are not sure if it is safe.