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How do I open up a new window in Visual Studio code based on a previous commit hash?

Let’s say at a previous commit some feature was working and I altered the code related to that feature after the commit. I want to compare the code from the working commit with the current code. What is the best way to do this?
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I can run git checkout commithash but it means I have to switch back and forth between the current branch and old commit.

Update

It turns out there is a git command designed for this exact use case:

  1. Get the of the working code.
  2. Checkout the branch where your bug is.
  3. Run git diff <commit-hash>

If it’s hard to pinpoint the code differences due e.g. the volume of code, try running git diff <commit-hash> -- file-path. This will show the differences in a VIM editor.

If the Vim editor isn’t helping try:

  1. git checkout <commit-hash>
  2. Copy the file
  3. git checkout og_branch
  4. Create a new file e.g. settings_old.py and paste the old working code in it.
  5. Open up each file side by side to compare.
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2

Answers


  1. 0

    Git does not work like that.

    You can either use VS Code external Plugins (such as GitLens), or use git tooling (gitk for example) to inspect old changes.

    gitk <COMMIT-HASH>

    I would go with the first option and install GitLens – it’s a great plugin that allows you to do exactly what you’re after.

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  2. 0

    If you want to compare a lot of files or even directories with an external tool, another solution is to use git worktree feature.

    You could checkout code at a given commit inside another ‘wortree’ directory with the command:

    git worktree add --detach <path-to-new-folder-outside-current-repo> <commit-hash>

    Then you have your current branch and the checked out commit folders side by side and you could open 2 instances of Vscode or use an external tool able to compare directories.

    See git worktree doc for more details: https://git-scm.com/docs/git-worktree

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