git log with square bracket in name

Question

I'm trying to get the log for a file with square brackets in its name. In case it matters: the OS is Windows and i'm using git bash.

If you create a file with [] in its name like [Start_here].bat then git log will not work.

I tried:

git log '[Start_here].bat'

git log \[Start_here\].bat

git log '\[Start_here\].bat'

git log -- '[Start_here].bat'

git log -- \[Start_here\].bat

git log -- '\[Start_here\].bat'

And none of them seemed to work. Either it did not display any commits or displayed a list of unrelated commits.

Does anybody have a solution that works?

Note:

git mv '[Start_here].bat' 'start_here.bat'

git log --follow start_here.bat 

does show me a history in which the file was changed.

Edit:

Using the following script executed in a new repo I can see git log behaving correctly untill you add a submodule. Then it starts listing all the commits that changed a submodule too...

#!/usr/bin/env bash

set -x

rm -rf test-repo
rm -rf test-submodule

mkdir test-submodule

pushd test-submodule

git init
git config --local user.name tester1
git config --local user.email [email protected]

echo "a single line" > file.txt
git add file.txt
git commit -m "first commit"

popd

mkdir test-repo
pushd test-repo

git init
git config --local user.name tester1
git config --local user.email [email protected]

git branch -m master

echo "first line" > somefile.txt
git add somefile.txt
git commit -m "First line"

echo "another line" >> somefile.txt
git add somefile.txt
git commit -a -m "Second line"

echo "A line" > "[__Odd__].txt"
git add "[__Odd__].txt"
git commit -m "Adding odd file"

echo "third line" >> somefile.txt
git commit -a -m "Another bold statement."

echo "2nd line" >> "[__Odd__].txt"
echo "more" >> somefile.txt
git add "[__Odd__].txt" somefile.txt
git commit -m "changed both in master1"

git checkout -b new_branch

echo "2nd line" >> "[__Odd__].txt"
echo "more" >> somefile.txt
git add "[__Odd__].txt" somefile.txt
git commit -m "changed both in new_branch"

git checkout master


echo "2nd line" >> "[__Odd__].txt"
echo "more" >> somefile.txt
git add "[__Odd__].txt" somefile.txt
git commit -m "changed both in master"

git submodule add -- ../test-submodule module
git commit -m "Added submodule"


git log -- "[__Odd__].txt"

This outputs:

commit c3ebc7e0daf68543d761fc3b06c7ab35e014efaf (HEAD -> master)
Author: tester1 <[email protected]>
Date:   Fri Nov 17 13:06:07 2017 +0100

    Added submodule

commit 03a935df578a2eaf3f42789bd1e89e313224797a
Author: tester1 <[email protected]>
Date:   Fri Nov 17 13:06:06 2017 +0100

    changed both in master

commit d617db69dd9468e88587e2363050fdf57ac10756
Author: tester1 <[email protected]>
Date:   Fri Nov 17 13:06:06 2017 +0100

    changed both in master1

commit 88a07e5c887d63ead4e6cedd6349dfaf85ec1866
Author: tester1 <[email protected]>
Date:   Fri Nov 17 13:06:05 2017 +0100

    Adding odd file

Notice the top entry, it should not be here. It is related only to the submodule not to the file i want the log for.

git log -- somefile.txt does not output changes related to the submodules

Answer 1

In CMD, try:

git log -- "[__Odd__].txt"

or

git log -- ./"[__Odd__].txt"

Proof: https://imgur.com/7qqsVJ6

If everything fails, you can install WSL, and use git for tricky situations there.

---

_{Update 1 - From the comments:}

_{you, sir, have found a bug in git for windows! I can reproduce your git log, and I can't reproduce it in WSL using linux's git, but can reproduce it using git.exe within WSL!}

_{Filed a report: github.com/git-for-windows/git/issues/1371, let's see what comes of it}

_{Update 2: This was a real bug in the code Git software, which has been fixed due to this question! How amazing 🎉 is that?!?!}

Answer 2

Git on Windows comes in two flavors: one using the Bash shell, and another using DOS. The former is called Git Bash, the latter Git Cmd.

In Git Bash, git log '[foo]' should work. In Git Cmd, git log "[foo]" should work (this also works in Git Bash btw).

In a DOS shell, you cannot use single-quotes to enclose strings that contain special characters. (Special in the sense of "special to the shell".) In Bash you can. This is why, it looks like you are using Git Cmd.

Also keep in mind that auto-completion is your friend. Both Git Bash and Git Cmd can auto-complete path names. For example in Git Cmd if you start typing git log "[ and then press TAB, it should give you some options to auto-complete. If you start typing git log '[ and then press TAB, it won't give you any options. That's how you know the syntax is already wrong and you can stop typing and try another way.