git log -<number>

This command is useful for quickly viewing a specific number of recent commits by limiting the log output to the provided count.

The -<number> flag works as a shorthand for --max-count=<number>, where <number> specifies how many commit entries to display; alternatively, you can write it as -n <number> for the same result.

Variations include git log -n <number> or git log --max-count=<number> for explicit flags, combining with --oneline to condense each commit to a single line, adding filters like --since=\"2 weeks ago\" or --author=\"Name\", or using git show <commit> to inspect a particular commit in detail.

Examples:

• git log -5
• git log -n 10 --oneline
• git log --max-count=3 --since=\"1 week ago\"