Count commits unique to each of two branches.
Git: The symmetric difference with left-right separates commits reachable from only one side.
set -euo pipefail
git rev-list --left-right --count main...featureExpected output EXAMPLE
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Details
Requires Git and Bash. Run in a disposable practice repository. The test setup below creates the starting files and commits. The symmetric difference with left-right separates commits reachable from only one side. The input setup creates a disposable practice repository with a fictional local author identity. Run these examples only in that repository.
Tested on Ubuntu 24.04.5 LTS · · git version 2.43.0 · git 1:2.43.0-1ubuntu7.3
Test inputs, results and environment
The exact published code ran in a dedicated Linux test container with prepared inputs. Snippet process uid 65534 with a read-only root filesystem and temporary working files. Networking disabled. Fixtures and output records are isolated from the application database. Testing covers this example and its stated checks, not every input, operating system, or runtime version. The Linux container shares its host's kernel; this is not a native Windows test.
- Architecture / host kernel
- x86_64 / 6.18.54.1-microsoft-standard-WSL2
- Snippet identity / locale
- uid=65534, gid=65534 (unprivileged process) / C.UTF-8
- Interpreter invocation
bash -euo pipefail -c <published code>- Container image ID
sha256:ec91410a8f6ec3e985830b5e3a0560306d36f8c1c5ccd91a6699abe707123fa3- Code SHA-256
0339c5815a2e121a5933fde04a808756f99f78fc16efa15cfdf109ff6bad0fad- Dependencies
- git 1:2.43.0-1ubuntu7.3
Test input setup
These are the prepared inputs used by the test harness. See Details above for the prerequisites and how to run this example.
git init -q -b main git config user.name 'Example Developer' git config user.email 'developer@example.invalid' git config commit.gpgsign false git config tag.gpgsign false git config color.ui false printf 'first ' > note.txt git add note.txt git commit -qm 'Initial notes' git switch -q -c feature printf 'second\n' >> note.txt; git add note.txt; git commit -qm 'Expand notes' git switch -q main
Observed standard output
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Exit code: 0. Standard error: empty. Validation: Exact stdout comparison. System-dependent values above are one recorded run.