Find and restore a file that was deleted in an old commit

Does this match your situation?

• A file you need was removed at some point in the past.
• git log on the path shows nothing because the file no longer exists.
• You don't know which branch or commit removed it.

Step-by-step fix

1. Search every branch for the file's full history

   Plain git log follows the current branch and simplifies history, which is why it often shows nothing for a deleted file. --all searches every ref and --full-history stops the simplification that hides the relevant commits.

   step 1Copy

   git log --all --full-history -- "**/PlayerController.cs"
   

   ✅Quote the pattern so your shell doesn't expand it, and use **/ so it matches at any depth.

2. Find the deletion specifically

   --diff-filter=D limits results to commits that deleted the path, which usually leaves exactly one result.

   step 2Copy

   git log --all --full-history --diff-filter=D -- "**/PlayerController.cs"
   

3. Look at the file before it was deleted

   The caret means 'the parent of this commit' — the last state in which the file still existed. Print it to check you've found the right version before restoring.

   step 3Copy

   git show a1b2c3d^:src/PlayerController.cs
   

4. Restore it

   Checking out a path from a commit writes it into your working directory and stages it, without disturbing anything else.

   step 4Copy

   git checkout a1b2c3d^ -- src/PlayerController.cs
   
   # modern equivalent:
   git restore --source=a1b2c3d^ -- src/PlayerController.cs
   
   git status
   git commit -m "Restore PlayerController"
   

5. If you don't know the filename, search by content

   The pickaxe finds commits where a given string was added or removed, so a remembered class name or function is enough to locate the file.

   step 5Copy

   git log --all -S "class PlayerController" --oneline
   

Why this works

Git's history simplification exists to make git log readable: by default it hides commits that don't affect the current branch's version of a path. For a deleted file that heuristic hides exactly what you're looking for, which is why --full-history is required. Once you have the deleting commit, its parent still contains the file, and because every commit is a complete snapshot you can extract any single path from it without checking the whole thing out.

How to stop it happening again

• Write descriptive commit messages when deleting files, so the log explains why.
• Delete in dedicated commits rather than burying removals inside large refactors.
• Use tags for milestones so 'the version before we removed X' is easy to name.

Commands used in this guide

Frequently asked questions