The Git Pager

Published 2023-03-12.
Time to read: 2 minutes.

This page is part of the git collection, categorized under Git.

By default, the git commands that might generate lots of output use a pager, so you can scroll through voluminous output easily. These commands include:

git branch -l
git config --list
git diff
git log
Help output

The default pager is less. To exit from less, you must press the q key, which is confusing for some people. You can specify any shell command to use as the git pager.

Many options exist for controlling the git pager. I prefer to use the last method shown.

Pipes Do Not Use a Pager

A pager is never used if you pipe the git output to another process, or into a file.

Shell

$ git -P log > my_log.txt

$ git -P diff | grep 'pattern'

Control One Git Command

To control the git pager for just one git command, you have 2 options:

Disable With -P

Pass the -P option to git, before the subcommand, like this:

Shell

$ git -P log
... lots of output... 

$ git -P diff
... lots of output...

Define GIT_PAGER Inline

Control the pager by definoing the GIT_PAGER environment variable inline (before the command).

To disable the pager for the output of the current command only, set GIT_PAGER=cat, like this:

Shell

$ GIT_PAGER=cat git log
... lots of output... 

$ GIT_PAGER=cat git diff
... lots of output...

To use a pager only if the output of the current command is longer than one terminal screen, set GIT_PAGER="less -F", like this:

Shell

$ GIT_PAGER="less -F" git log
... lots of output... 

$ GIT_PAGER="less -F" git diff
... lots of output...

Control Current Shell or Script

To disable the pager for all git commands in the current shell or script, define GIT_PAGER=cat on a separate line, like this:

Shell

$ export GIT_PAGER=cat

$ git branch -l
... lots of output... 

$ git log
... lots of output...

To use a pager only if the output of the current command is longer than one terminal screen in the current shell or script, define GIT_PAGER="less -F" on a separate line, like this:

Shell

$ export GIT_PAGER="less -F"

$ git branch -l
... lots of output... 

$ git log
... lots of output...

Control Current Project

These methods only affects the copy of the git repository that you are working on; other clones of the repository are not affected.

To permanently configure git to never use a pager for the current git project, configure this project’s configuration for core.pager to have value "cat".

Shell

$ git config core.pager "cat"

$ git branch -l
... lots of output... 

$ git log
... lots of output...

To configure git to always use a pager if the output of a git command is longer than one terminal screen in the current project, configure this project’s configuration for core.pager to have value "less -F", like this:

Shell

$ git config core.pager "less -F"

$ git branch -l
... lots of output... 

$ git log
... lots of output...

Global Control

This method only affects the git repositories that your OS userid works on; other users are not affected.

You can permanently configure git to never use a pager for any of your git projects.

Shell

$ git config --global core.pager "cat"

$ git branch -l
... lots of output... 

$ git log
... lots of output...

My Favorite

To permanently configure git to only use a pager if the output of any git command is longer than one terminal screen in any project, configure the global setting of core.pager to have value "less -F", like this:

Shell

$ git config --global core.pager "less -F"

$ git branch -l
... lots of output... 

$ git log
... lots of output...