Add List All Commits Where File Was Added Or Deleted as a Git TIL

README.md

@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ working across different projects via [VisualMode](https://www.visualmode.dev/).
 
 For a steady stream of TILs, [sign up for my newsletter](https://visualmode.kit.com/newsletter).
 
-_1819 TILs and counting..._
+_1820 TILs and counting..._
 
 See some of the other learning resources I work on:
 
@@ -396,6 +396,7 @@ If you've learned something here, support my efforts writing daily TILs by
 - [Keep File Locally With `git rm`](git/keep-file-locally-with-git-rm.md)
 - [Last Commit A File Appeared In](git/last-commit-a-file-appeared-in.md)
 - [List All Authors On Git Repository](git/list-all-authors-on-git-repository.md)
+- [List All Commits Where File Was Added Or Deleted](git/list-all-commits-where-file-was-added-or-deleted.md)
 - [List All Files Added During Span Of Time](git/list-all-files-added-during-span-of-time.md)
 - [List All Files Changed Between Two Branches](git/list-all-files-changed-between-two-branches.md)
 - [List All Git Aliases From gitconfig](git/list-all-git-aliases-from-gitconfig.md)

git/list-all-commits-where-file-was-added-or-deleted.md

@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+# List All Commits Where File Was Added Or Deleted
+
+I noticed I wasn't able to find a file with a specific name anywhere in my
+codebase. I expected it to be there, so I wondered when it had been added and
+deleted from the codebase according to the git commit history.
+
+This calls for running a `git log`, but with a couple flags. First, I'll include
+`--name-status` so that each commit that is listed includes the file names with
+the change status (i.e. `A` for added and `D` for deleted). Then the
+`--diff-filter` flag tells git that I am only looking for `A`dded and `D`eleted
+files. Then the `--` indicates that a file path will follow, even a regex
+pattern is valid here.
+
+```bash
+git log --name-status --diff-filter=AD -- '*_mock_payment_form.*'
+```
+
+I'm looking for what is called a _partial_ in Rails. I know the filename
+consists of `_mock_payment_form`. The leading `*` is so that I can be vague
+about the directory this might be found in. That's useful if this file was
+potentially moved around. The trailing `.*` indicates the file extension which I
+also want to be vague about.
+
+For any of the commits returned by this `git log`, I can grab the SHA and run
+`git show <SHA>` to see the full picture of that commit.
+
+Another flag that might be useful to add is the `--all` flag which will look
+across all refs/branches instead of just the branch (`main`) that I'm currently
+on.
+
+```bash
+git log --all --name-status --diff-filter=AD -- '*_mock_payment_form.*'
+```
+
+Perhaps I'm thinking of a file that was added on an abandoned feature branch.
+`--all` will help turn up that in the results as well.