Documentation/git-diff.txt

   1 git-diff(1)
   2 ===========
   3
   4 NAME
   5 ----
   6 git-diff - Show changes between commits, commit and working tree, etc
   7
   8
   9 SYNOPSIS
  10 --------
  11 'git-diff' [<common diff options>] <commit>{0,2} [--] [<path>...]
  12
  13 DESCRIPTION
  14 -----------
  15 Show changes between two trees, a tree and the working tree, a
  16 tree and the index file, or the index file and the working tree.
  17
  18 'git-diff' [--options] [--] [<path>...]::
  19
  20         This form is to view the changes you made relative to
  21         the index (staging area for the next commit).  In other
  22         words, the differences are what you _could_ tell git to
  23         further add to the index but you still haven't.  You can
  24         stage these changes by using gitlink:git-add[1].
  25 +
  26 If exactly two paths are given, and at least one is untracked,
  27 compare the two files / directories. This behavior can be
  28 forced by --no-index.
  29
  30 'git-diff' [--options] --cached [<commit>] [--] [<path>...]::
  31
  32         This form is to view the changes you staged for the next
  33         commit relative to the named <commit>.  Typically you
  34         would want comparison with the latest commit, so if you
  35         do not give <commit>, it defaults to HEAD.
  36
  37 'git-diff' [--options] <commit> [--] [<path>...]::
  38
  39         This form is to view the changes you have in your
  40         working tree relative to the named <commit>.  You can
  41         use HEAD to compare it with the latest commit, or a
  42         branch name to compare with the tip of a different
  43         branch.
  44
  45 'git-diff' [--options] <commit> <commit> [--] [<path>...]::
  46
  47         This is to view the changes between two arbitrary
  48         <commit>.
  49
  50 'git-diff' [--options] <commit>..<commit> [--] [<path>...]::
  51
  52         This is synonymous to the previous form.  If <commit> on
  53         one side is omitted, it will have the same effect as
  54         using HEAD instead.
  55
  56 'git-diff' [--options] <commit>\...<commit> [--] [<path>...]::
  57
  58         This form is to view the changes on the branch containing
  59         and up to the second <commit>, starting at a common ancestor
  60         of both <commit>.  "git-diff A\...B" is equivalent to
  61         "git-diff $(git-merge-base A B) B".  You can omit any one
  62         of <commit>, which has the same effect as using HEAD instead.
  63
  64 Just in case if you are doing something exotic, it should be
  65 noted that all of the <commit> in the above description, except
  66 for the last two forms that use ".." notations, can be any
  67 <tree-ish>.
  68
  69 For a more complete list of ways to spell <commit>, see
  70 "SPECIFYING REVISIONS" section in gitlink:git-rev-parse[1].
  71 However, "diff" is about comparing two _endpoints_, not ranges,
  72 and the range notations ("<commit>..<commit>" and
  73 "<commit>\...<commit>") do not mean a range as defined in the
  74 "SPECIFYING RANGES" section in gitlink:git-rev-parse[1].
  75
  76 OPTIONS
  77 -------
  78 include::diff-options.txt[]
  79
  80 <path>...::
  81         The <paths> parameters, when given, are used to limit
  82         the diff to the named paths (you can give directory
  83         names and get diff for all files under them).
  84
  85 Output format
  86 -------------
  87 include::diff-format.txt[]
  88
  89 EXAMPLES
  90 --------
  91
  92 Various ways to check your working tree::
  93 +
  94 ------------
  95 $ git diff            <1>
  96 $ git diff --cached   <2>
  97 $ git diff HEAD       <3>
  98 ------------
  99 +
 100 <1> Changes in the working tree not yet staged for the next commit.
 101 <2> Changes between the index and your last commit; what you
 102 would be committing if you run "git commit" without "-a" option.
 103 <3> Changes in the working tree since your last commit; what you
 104 would be committing if you run "git commit -a"
 105
 106 Comparing with arbitrary commits::
 107 +
 108 ------------
 109 $ git diff test            <1>
 110 $ git diff HEAD -- ./test  <2>
 111 $ git diff HEAD^ HEAD      <3>
 112 ------------
 113 +
 114 <1> Instead of using the tip of the current branch, compare with the
 115 tip of "test" branch.
 116 <2> Instead of comparing with the tip of "test" branch, compare with
 117 the tip of the current branch, but limit the comparison to the
 118 file "test".
 119 <3> Compare the version before the last commit and the last commit.
 120
 121 Comparing branches::
 122 +
 123 ------------
 124 $ git diff topic master    <1>
 125 $ git diff topic..master   <2>
 126 $ git diff topic...master  <3>
 127 ------------
 128 +
 129 <1> Changes between the tips of the topic and the master branches.
 130 <2> Same as above.
 131 <3> Changes that occured on the master branch since when the topic
 132 branch was started off it.
 133
 134 Limiting the diff output::
 135 +
 136 ------------
 137 $ git diff --diff-filter=MRC            <1>
 138 $ git diff --name-status                <2>
 139 $ git diff arch/i386 include/asm-i386   <3>
 140 ------------
 141 +
 142 <1> Show only modification, rename and copy, but not addition
 143 nor deletion.
 144 <2> Show only names and the nature of change, but not actual
 145 diff output.
 146 <3> Limit diff output to named subtrees.
 147
 148 Munging the diff output::
 149 +
 150 ------------
 151 $ git diff --find-copies-harder -B -C  <1>
 152 $ git diff -R                          <2>
 153 ------------
 154 +
 155 <1> Spend extra cycles to find renames, copies and complete
 156 rewrites (very expensive).
 157 <2> Output diff in reverse.
 158
 159
 160 Author
 161 ------
 162 Written by Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>
 163
 164 Documentation
 165 --------------
 166 Documentation by Junio C Hamano and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>.
 167
 168 GIT
 169 ---
 170 Part of the gitlink:git[7] suite