Filter Git Commits to Check Who Normal Merged a PR in GitHub

Filter Git Commits to Check Who Merged a PR in GitHub

In this post, I’ll show you how to filter Git commits to check who merged a pull request (PR) in GitHub. This script will help you:

• Identify who merged the PR without using squash merges.
• Exclude merges from master, pick code, or releases.

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1. Why Use This?

When reviewing commit history in GitHub, you might want to check who merged a pull request. By default, GitHub sets the committer as GitHub <noreply@github.com> when the PR is merged. However, you may also want to exclude certain types of commits, such as:

• Merges from master (e.g., message includes master).
• Commits with the keyword pick (which is used in interactive rebase).
• Commits related to releases (e.g., message includes releas).

This script allows you to filter and format the output to show only relevant merge commits.

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2. Basic Command

Start with the basic command to get all commit details from the last two months:

git log --since="2 months ago" --pretty=format:"commit %H%nAuthor: %an <%ae>%nCommitter: %cn <%ce>%n%s%n"

This command shows:

• Commit hash
• Author and committer details
• Commit message

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3. Filter by GitHub Committer

To focus on commits merged by GitHub, where the committer is GitHub <noreply@github.com>, you can filter the output like this:

git log --since="2 months ago" --pretty=format:"commit %H%nAuthor: %an <%ae>%nCommitter: %cn <%ce>%n%s%n" \
  | awk '/GitHub <noreply@github.com>/ {print}'

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4. Exclude Specific Keywords (master, pick, releas)

Now, let’s enhance the command to exclude commits related to:

• Merges from master (commit message includes master).
• Pick commits (used in rebasing).
• Release commits (commit message includes releas).

Here’s the full command:

git log --since="2 months ago" --pretty=format:"commit %H%nAuthor: %an <%ae>%nCommitter: %cn <%ce>%nDate: %ad%n%s%n" \
  | awk '
    BEGIN { IGNORECASE = 1 }
    /^commit / {commit=$0; author=""; date=""; message=""}
    /^Author:/ {author=$0}
    /^Date:/ {date=$0}
    /^Committer: GitHub <noreply@github.com>$/ {in_block=1}
    /^Committer:/ && $0 !~ /GitHub <noreply@github.com>/ {in_block=0}
    in_block && /Merge pull request/ && $0 !~ /releas/ && $0 !~ /master/ && $0 !~ /pick/ {
      printf "\n🔹 `%s`\n👤 %s\n📅 %s\n📝 %s\n",
        substr(commit, 8), author, date, $0;
      print "--------------------------------------------"
      in_block=0
    }
  '

What This Does

• IGNORECASE = 1: Makes the script case-insensitive.
• Filters for merge commits (Merge pull request).
• Excludes commits with releas, master, or pick in the message.
• Shows output with commit hash, author, date, and message in a clean format.

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5. Example Output

The output will be formatted like this:

🔹 `9e535dda117d14d582eff21bdb0f754590dbf528`
👤 Author: Đắc Chiến <chienxxx@gmail.com>
📅
📝 Merge pull request #11729 from Everfit-io/dev_s121.refactor/UP-xxxxx

6. Conclusion

This command helps you:

• Identify who merged the PR by filtering for commits made by GitHub as the committer.
• Exclude commits with specific keywords.
• Display the results in a clean, readable format, making it easier to track PR merges.

This is a great tool for reviewing Git commit history, especially when you need to focus on specific types of merges and exclude irrelevant ones.