---
name: "git-cherry"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "git"
version: "2.56.0-1"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/git-cherry"
---

# git-cherry(1)

Find commits yet to be applied to upstream

## NAME

git-cherry - Find commits yet to be applied to upstream

## SYNOPSIS

```
git cherry [-v] [<upstream> [<head> [<limit>]]]
```

## DESCRIPTION

Determine whether there are commits in *\<head\>***..***\<upstream\>* that are equivalent to those in the range *\<limit\>***..***\<head\>*.

The equivalence test is based on the diff, after removing whitespace and line numbers. git-cherry therefore detects when commits have been "copied" by means of [**git-cherry-pick**(1)](/git-cherry-pick/1.md), [**git-am**(1)](/git-am/1.md) or [**git-rebase**(1)](/git-rebase/1.md).

Outputs the SHA1 of every commit in *\<limit\>***..***\<head\>*, prefixed with **-** for commits that have an equivalent in \<upstream\>, and **+** for commits that do not.

## OPTIONS

- \-v

  Show the commit subjects next to the SHA1s.

\<upstream\>

Upstream branch to search for equivalent commits. Defaults to the upstream branch of HEAD.

\<head\>

Working branch; defaults to HEAD.

\<limit\>

Do not report commits up to (and including) limit.

## EXAMPLES

### Patch workflows

git-cherry is frequently used in patch-based workflows (see [**gitworkflows**(7)](/gitworkflows/7.md)) to determine if a series of patches has been applied by the upstream maintainer. In such a workflow you might create and send a topic branch like this:

```
$ git checkout -b topic origin/master
# work and create some commits
$ git format-patch origin/master
$ git send-email ... 00*
```

Later, you can see whether your changes have been applied by saying (still on **topic**):

```
$ git fetch  # update your notion of origin/master
$ git cherry -v
```

### Concrete example

In a situation where topic consisted of three commits, and the maintainer applied two of them, the situation might look like:

```
$ git log --graph --oneline --decorate --boundary origin/master...topic
* 7654321 (origin/master) upstream tip commit
[... snip some other commits ...]
* cccc111 cherry-pick of C
* aaaa111 cherry-pick of A
[... snip a lot more that has happened ...]
| * cccc000 (topic) commit C
| * bbbb000 commit B
| * aaaa000 commit A
|/
o 1234567 branch point
```

In such cases, git-cherry shows a concise summary of what has yet to be applied:

```
$ git cherry origin/master topic
- cccc000... commit C
+ bbbb000... commit B
- aaaa000... commit A
```

Here, we see that the commits A and C (marked with **-**) can be dropped from your **topic** branch when you rebase it on top of **origin/master**, while the commit B (marked with **+**) still needs to be kept so that it will be sent to be applied to **origin/master**.

### Using a limit

The optional \<limit\> is useful in cases where your topic is based on other work that is not in upstream. Expanding on the previous example, this might look like:

```
$ git log --graph --oneline --decorate --boundary origin/master...topic
* 7654321 (origin/master) upstream tip commit
[... snip some other commits ...]
* cccc111 cherry-pick of C
* aaaa111 cherry-pick of A
[... snip a lot more that has happened ...]
| * cccc000 (topic) commit C
| * bbbb000 commit B
| * aaaa000 commit A
| * 0000fff (base) unpublished stuff F
[... snip ...]
| * 0000aaa unpublished stuff A
|/
o 1234567 merge-base between upstream and topic
```

By specifying **base** as the limit, you can avoid listing commits between **base** and **topic**:

```
$ git cherry origin/master topic base
- cccc000... commit C
+ bbbb000... commit B
- aaaa000... commit A
```

## SEE ALSO

[**git-patch-id**(1)](/git-patch-id/1.md)

## GIT

Part of the [**git**(1)](/git/1.md) suite