The shortest possible output from Git log, containing author and date

git log --pretty=format:"%h%x09%an%x09%ad%x09%s"

does the job. This outputs:

  fbc3503 mads    Thu Dec 4 07:43:27 2008 +0000   show mobile if phone is null...
  ec36490 jesper  Wed Nov 26 05:41:37 2008 +0000  Cleanup after [942]: Using timezon
  ae62afd tobias  Tue Nov 25 21:42:55 2008 +0000  Fixed #67 by adding time zone supp
  164be7e mads    Tue Nov 25 19:56:43 2008 +0000  fixed tests, and a 'unending appoi
  93f1526 jesper  Tue Nov 25 09:45:56 2008 +0000  adding time.ZONE.now as time zone
  2f0f8c1 tobias  Tue Nov 25 03:07:02 2008 +0000  Timezone configured in environment
  a33c1dc jesper  Tue Nov 25 01:26:18 2008 +0000  updated to most recent will_pagina

It was inspired by Stack Overflow question: "Git log output like 'svn ls -v'". I found out that I could add the exact parameters I needed.

To shorten the date (not showing the time), use --date=short.

In case you were curious what the different options were:

• %h = abbreviated commit hash
• %x09 = tab (character for code 9)
• %an = author name
• %ad = author date (format respects --date= option)
• %s = subject

It is from git-log(1) Manual Page (PRETTY FORMATS section) by the comment of Vivek.

Use

git log --pretty=format:'%h %ad %s (%an)' --date=short

or

git log --pretty=format:'%h %ad %s | %an' --date=short

...riffing on cdunn2001's answer above: I'd lose the author's e=mail and include just the author's name, as per Jesper and knittl, but in keeping with cdunn2001's idea of maintaining output in columns of constant width for ease of reading (great idea!).

In lieu of a separate left-justified column for author name, however, I wrap that flag at the end of the command with a parentheses or offset it with a pipe. (It could really be any character that serves as a visual aid in reading the output...albeit might make sense to avoid back or forward slashes in order to reduce confusing the output with a directory or something.)

Sample output:

6fdd155 2015-08-10 Fixes casting error in doSave | John Doe
c4f4032 2015-08-10 Fix for IE save. Add help button. | Jane
29a24a6 2015-08-10 Fixes bug in Course | Mac