# How to view a file in the past

**URL:** <https://discourse.pijul.org/t/how-to-view-a-file-in-the-past/1197>\
**Category:** Question\
**Created:** [April 22, 2024, 9:57am UTC](https://discourse.pijul.org/t/how-to-view-a-file-in-the-past/1197 "2024-04-22T09:57:07Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![pcarbonn](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex031/user_avatar/discourse.pijul.org/pcarbonn/32/600_2.png) [@pcarbonn](https://discourse.pijul.org/u/pcarbonn)\
**Post date:** [April 22, 2024, 9:57am UTC](https://discourse.pijul.org/t/how-to-view-a-file-in-the-past/1197/1 "2024-04-22T09:57:07Z")

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In the VSCode extension, the user can select a pijul change in the changelog of the current channel, and then select a file changed by that pijul change. When he does that, I would like to show a diff panel showing the content of the file before and after that pijul change (instead, it currently shows the current (!) version of the file: it’s not very useful)

To achieve that, I need to generate the content of the file before and after the pijul change. I could not find a command that would allow me to do this. Is it at all possible?

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**Author:** ![joyously](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex031/user_avatar/discourse.pijul.org/joyously/32/266_2.png) [@joyously](https://discourse.pijul.org/u/joyously)\
**Post date:** [April 22, 2024, 12:53pm UTC](https://discourse.pijul.org/t/how-to-view-a-file-in-the-past/1197/2 "2024-04-22T12:53:35Z")

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Here are some relevant topics, from Nest, here, and Zulip:  
[#833 missing command to show a file at a certain state](https://nest.pijul.com/pijul/pijul/discussions/833)

> [@How to move through history?](https://discourse.pijul.org/t/how-to-move-through-history/855):
>
> How do I move to a specific point in history without unrecording every single change until then? I am trying out pijul 1.0.0-beta and trying to unlearn git commands ;). If I understand correctly, I could fork a channel (in order to not loose the current state) and pijul unrecord a change by a change until I’ve reached the target point in history. But is there a quicker way? Maybe a git-pijul-Rosetta would be helpful?

> [@Code Review Workflow](https://discourse.pijul.org/t/code-review-workflow/890):
>
> Hey everyone! slight_smile I’ve recently discovered about this project and I was really impressed with everything. I’ve tried reading everything I could find online about Pijul but I was left with a question about a correct workflow especially the code review process. As I understand it, the way to submit changes for merging into the main channel is through a nest “discussion” which is basically a set of patches (the diff between my local main and the remote main or a local channel and a rem…

[order of changes with push and pull](https://pijul.zulipchat.com/#narrow/stream/270693-general/topic/order.20of.20changes.20with.20push.20and.20pull)

> [@How is \`pijul log\` output sorted?](https://discourse.pijul.org/t/how-is-pijul-log-output-sorted/1032/3):
>
> That’s handy. I had assumed that because changes in Pijul aren’t inherently ordered, there would be no way to view the history of a channel in the order that it happened. But since pijul log preserves the order that changes were applied, it gives us a nice “linear history”, just like Git users strive for. (Although it’s not quite accurate if a change was removed with unrecord.)

[What is the state identifier used for?](https://pijul.zulipchat.com/#narrow/stream/270693-general/topic/What.20is.20the.20state.20identifier.20used.20for.3F)

[tooling discussion](https://pijul.zulipchat.com/#narrow/stream/270693-general/topic/tooling.20discussion)

[revisiting old versions](https://pijul.zulipchat.com/#narrow/stream/270693-general/topic/revisiting.20old.20versions)

[feature complete?](https://pijul.zulipchat.com/#narrow/stream/270693-general/topic/feature.20complete.3F)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![pcarbonn](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex031/user_avatar/discourse.pijul.org/pcarbonn/32/600_2.png) [@pcarbonn](https://discourse.pijul.org/u/pcarbonn)\
**Post date:** [April 22, 2024, 4:09pm UTC](https://discourse.pijul.org/t/how-to-view-a-file-in-the-past/1197/3 "2024-04-22T16:09:38Z")

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Thank you very much for the info. This is going in the right direction. I’ll wait until it is implemented.