git show old version of file in editor

Question

I figured out I can show old versions of a file using 'git log filename' to show the commits, and then use 'git show commit-id:filename' for the old version. But it just puts it in less.

I would like to be able to view this in emacs, so I can navigate as I'm used to and so that there is syntax highlighting. I found out I can't set the git core.pager to emacs since emacs cannot read from stdin.

Does anyone know how I could do this? Or do you have another good way of checking old versions of files?

Answer 1

Using the following Vim command, one can view a previous version of a file without having to cleanup anything afterward.

 git show commit-id:filename | vim - -n

Explanation: The dash argument of the vim command makes vim load whatever comes in from standard input. The -n option suppresses the creation of swap files.

Answer 2

Emacs package git-timemachine lets you step back and forth through git revisions of a file:

https://github.com/pidu/git-timemachine

Answer 3

If you are using bash, you can use Process Substitution.

gvim <(git show commit-id:filename)

Answer 4

Just use > and put it into a file that you can open in emacs.

git show commit-id:filename > oldfile

Then open the file in emacs.