Squash some git pieces

snippets/git/s/view-commits-summary.md

@@ -1,23 +1,36 @@
 ---
-title: View a short summary of commits
-type: snippet
+title: View a short summary of Git commits
+shortTitle: Short commits summary
+type: story
 language: git
 tags: [repository,commit]
+author: chalarangelo
 cover: dark-city
-dateModified: 2021-04-13T21:10:59+03:00
+excerpt: Learn how to view a short summary of your Git commits using git log.
+dateModified: 2023-05-23T21:10:59+03:00
 ---
 
-Prints a short summary of all commits.
+One of the most common things you might need to do when working with Git is to view a short summary of your commits. While `git log` is the go-to command for this, it can be a bit verbose at times. Luckily, it provides a plethora of options to help you customize its output.
 
-- Use `git log --oneline` to list a short summary of all commits.
+### Short summary of all commits
+
+One of these is `--oneline`, which is actually a shorthand for `--pretty=oneline --abbrev-commit`. It prints a short summary of all commits, with each commit being printed on a single line.
 
 ```shell
 git log --oneline
+# d540ba1 Merge network bug fix
+# 3050fc0 Fix network bug
+# c191f90 Initial commit
 ```
 
+Notice the short, 7-character commit identifiers. This is because of the `--abbrev-commit` option, which abbreviates the commit SHA-1 checksum to 7 characters. This shorter string is enough to uniquely identify a commit.
+
+### Short summary of commits without merges
+
+Other options can be used in conjunction with `--oneline` to further customize the output. For example, you can use `--no-merges` to exclude merge commits from the output.
+
 ```shell
-git log --oneline
-# d540ba1ab Merge network bug fix
-# 3050fc0de Fix network bug
-# c191f90c7 Initial commit
+git log --oneline --no-merges
+# 3050fc0 Fix network bug
+# c191f90 Initial commit
 ```