Using git reflog to find the state of the local repository before pull

Question

I've been running a code on a local computer on my master branch in July last year. This code has been left untouched for the past 6 months and I've recently updated it with a pull. However, I'd like to find what was the commit of this branch before doing the pull.

If I understood correctly, git reflog should be the command to use. Here's the output for git reflog -20 --date=iso that I've run on my master branch

2481827 HEAD@{2023-01-20 09:26:15 +0100}: checkout: moving from 602e8fc232c34ac12d78a177b3c781a2acf561d2 to master
602e8fc HEAD@{2023-01-20 09:23:15 +0100}: checkout: moving from 816c711d1a629fea8f1a854caea6f74bc7349692 to 602e8fc
816c711 HEAD@{2023-01-20 09:22:55 +0100}: checkout: moving from 1487b2285b2d7eb194f752f9253c86f8bc7a113a to 816c711
1487b22 HEAD@{2023-01-20 09:21:49 +0100}: checkout: moving from feat-new-... to 1487b22
e8a4437 HEAD@{2023-01-19 09:18:39 +0100}: commit: misc correction to the ...
1fe4aa3 HEAD@{2023-01-19 08:41:17 +0100}: pull: Fast-forward
221658f HEAD@{2023-01-19 08:21:20 +0100}: pull: Fast-forward
f6df692 HEAD@{2023-01-18 14:56:50 +0100}: commit: changed the ...
7ba58fa HEAD@{2023-01-18 14:30:20 +0100}: checkout: moving from master to feat-new-...
2481827 HEAD@{2023-01-14 14:16:04 +0100}: commit: coded a small script to position ...
81f0efe HEAD@{2023-01-14 13:52:33 +0100}: pull: Fast-forward
1487b22 HEAD@{2022-07-13 09:23:10 +0200}: pull: Fast-forward
32115e5 HEAD@{2022-07-12 15:31:27 +0200}: pull: Fast-forward
b5d6c3b HEAD@{2022-07-11 13:44:21 +0200}: commit: misc correction 
6ccd82d HEAD@{2022-07-11 13:39:10 +0200}: pull: Fast-forward
69f8bd9 HEAD@{2022-07-11 12:32:14 +0200}: commit: misc changes to the mask
ebc3b0f HEAD@{2022-07-11 12:13:33 +0200}: pull: Fast-forward
602e8fc HEAD@{2022-07-11 11:10:21 +0200}: commit: misc corrections to the ...

I believe that the state of my repository in July last year should be 1487b22 (or could it be 81f0efe?). Could this reflog be influenced by recent commits and changes I've done on another branch on this computer (feat-new-...)?

Answer 1

Yes, the last state of your branch in July 2022 was 1487b22 HEAD@{2022-07-13 09:23:10 +0200}: ....

git reflog is a shortcut to git reflog HEAD, which logs all changes that happened to your active commit : you will also see actions such as git switch or git checkout.
You can also check the per-branch reflog:

• git reflog master or git reflog feat-branch will show you changes that updated the named branch only,
• git reflog origin/master will show you the changes on origin/master that happened on your local repo -- mainly: the list of changes you received when running git pull or git fetch

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The commit sha on the left corresponds to the commit reached after the action mentioned on the right -- for example: you can see that the topmost line of your reflog points to your current commit, not to the one before.