Documentation/diff-options.txt

   1 // Please don't remove this comment as asciidoc behaves badly when
   2 // the first non-empty line is ifdef/ifndef. The symptom is that
   3 // without this comment the <git-diff-core> attribute conditionally
   4 // defined below ends up being defined unconditionally.
   5 // Last checked with asciidoc 7.0.2.
   6
   7 ifndef::git-format-patch[]
   8 ifndef::git-diff[]
   9 ifndef::git-log[]
  10 :git-diff-core: 1
  11 endif::git-log[]
  12 endif::git-diff[]
  13 endif::git-format-patch[]
  14
  15 ifdef::git-format-patch[]
  16 -p::
  17 --no-stat::
  18         Generate plain patches without any diffstats.
  19 endif::git-format-patch[]
  20
  21 ifndef::git-format-patch[]
  22 -p::
  23 -u::
  24         Generate patch (see section on generating patches).
  25         {git-diff? This is the default.}
  26 endif::git-format-patch[]
  27
  28 -U<n>::
  29 --unified=<n>::
  30         Generate diffs with <n> lines of context instead of
  31         the usual three.
  32 ifndef::git-format-patch[]
  33         Implies `-p`.
  34 endif::git-format-patch[]
  35
  36 ifndef::git-format-patch[]
  37 --raw::
  38         Generate the raw format.
  39         {git-diff-core? This is the default.}
  40 endif::git-format-patch[]
  41
  42 ifndef::git-format-patch[]
  43 --patch-with-raw::
  44         Synonym for `-p --raw`.
  45 endif::git-format-patch[]
  46
  47 --patience::
  48         Generate a diff using the "patience diff" algorithm.
  49
  50 --stat[=width[,name-width]]::
  51         Generate a diffstat.  You can override the default
  52         output width for 80-column terminal by `--stat=width`.
  53         The width of the filename part can be controlled by
  54         giving another width to it separated by a comma.
  55
  56 --numstat::
  57         Similar to `\--stat`, but shows number of added and
  58         deleted lines in decimal notation and pathname without
  59         abbreviation, to make it more machine friendly.  For
  60         binary files, outputs two `-` instead of saying
  61         `0 0`.
  62
  63 --shortstat::
  64         Output only the last line of the `--stat` format containing total
  65         number of modified files, as well as number of added and deleted
  66         lines.
  67
  68 --dirstat[=limit]::
  69         Output the distribution of relative amount of changes (number of lines added or
  70         removed) for each sub-directory. Directories with changes below
  71         a cut-off percent (3% by default) are not shown. The cut-off percent
  72         can be set with `--dirstat=limit`. Changes in a child directory is not
  73         counted for the parent directory, unless `--cumulative` is used.
  74
  75 --dirstat-by-file[=limit]::
  76         Same as `--dirstat`, but counts changed files instead of lines.
  77
  78 --summary::
  79         Output a condensed summary of extended header information
  80         such as creations, renames and mode changes.
  81
  82 ifndef::git-format-patch[]
  83 --patch-with-stat::
  84         Synonym for `-p --stat`.
  85 endif::git-format-patch[]
  86
  87 ifndef::git-format-patch[]
  88
  89 -z::
  90 ifdef::git-log[]
  91         Separate the commits with NULs instead of with new newlines.
  92 +
  93 Also, when `--raw` or `--numstat` has been given, do not munge
  94 pathnames and use NULs as output field terminators.
  95 endif::git-log[]
  96 ifndef::git-log[]
  97         When `--raw` or `--numstat` has been given, do not munge
  98         pathnames and use NULs as output field terminators.
  99 endif::git-log[]
 100 +
 101 Without this option, each pathname output will have TAB, LF, double quotes,
 102 and backslash characters replaced with `\t`, `\n`, `\"`, and `\\`,
 103 respectively, and the pathname will be enclosed in double quotes if
 104 any of those replacements occurred.
 105
 106 --name-only::
 107         Show only names of changed files.
 108
 109 --name-status::
 110         Show only names and status of changed files. See the description
 111         of the `--diff-filter` option on what the status letters mean.
 112
 113 --submodule[=<format>]::
 114         Chose the output format for submodule differences. <format> can be one of
 115         'short' and 'log'. 'short' just shows pairs of commit names, this format
 116         is used when this option is not given. 'log' is the default value for this
 117         option and lists the commits in that commit range like the 'summary'
 118         option of linkgit:git-submodule[1] does.
 119
 120 --color[=<when>]::
 121         Show colored diff.
 122         The value must be always (the default), never, or auto.
 123
 124 --no-color::
 125         Turn off colored diff, even when the configuration file
 126         gives the default to color output.
 127         Same as `--color=never`.
 128
 129 --color-words[=<regex>]::
 130         Show colored word diff, i.e., color words which have changed.
 131         By default, words are separated by whitespace.
 132 +
 133 When a <regex> is specified, every non-overlapping match of the
 134 <regex> is considered a word.  Anything between these matches is
 135 considered whitespace and ignored(!) for the purposes of finding
 136 differences.  You may want to append `|[^[:space:]]` to your regular
 137 expression to make sure that it matches all non-whitespace characters.
 138 A match that contains a newline is silently truncated(!) at the
 139 newline.
 140 +
 141 The regex can also be set via a diff driver or configuration option, see
 142 linkgit:gitattributes[1] or linkgit:git-config[1].  Giving it explicitly
 143 overrides any diff driver or configuration setting.  Diff drivers
 144 override configuration settings.
 145 endif::git-format-patch[]
 146
 147 --no-renames::
 148         Turn off rename detection, even when the configuration
 149         file gives the default to do so.
 150
 151 ifndef::git-format-patch[]
 152 --check::
 153         Warn if changes introduce trailing whitespace
 154         or an indent that uses a space before a tab. Exits with
 155         non-zero status if problems are found. Not compatible with
 156         --exit-code.
 157 endif::git-format-patch[]
 158
 159 --full-index::
 160         Instead of the first handful of characters, show the full
 161         pre- and post-image blob object names on the "index"
 162         line when generating patch format output.
 163
 164 --binary::
 165         In addition to `--full-index`, output a binary diff that
 166         can be applied with `git-apply`.
 167
 168 --abbrev[=<n>]::
 169         Instead of showing the full 40-byte hexadecimal object
 170         name in diff-raw format output and diff-tree header
 171         lines, show only a partial prefix.  This is
 172         independent of the `--full-index` option above, which controls
 173         the diff-patch output format.  Non default number of
 174         digits can be specified with `--abbrev=<n>`.
 175
 176 -B::
 177         Break complete rewrite changes into pairs of delete and create.
 178
 179 -M::
 180         Detect renames.
 181
 182 -C::
 183         Detect copies as well as renames.  See also `--find-copies-harder`.
 184
 185 ifndef::git-format-patch[]
 186 --diff-filter=[ACDMRTUXB*]::
 187         Select only files that are Added (`A`), Copied (`C`),
 188         Deleted (`D`), Modified (`M`), Renamed (`R`), have their
 189         type (i.e. regular file, symlink, submodule, ...) changed (`T`),
 190         are Unmerged (`U`), are
 191         Unknown (`X`), or have had their pairing Broken (`B`).
 192         Any combination of the filter characters may be used.
 193         When `*` (All-or-none) is added to the combination, all
 194         paths are selected if there is any file that matches
 195         other criteria in the comparison; if there is no file
 196         that matches other criteria, nothing is selected.
 197 endif::git-format-patch[]
 198
 199 --find-copies-harder::
 200         For performance reasons, by default, `-C` option finds copies only
 201         if the original file of the copy was modified in the same
 202         changeset.  This flag makes the command
 203         inspect unmodified files as candidates for the source of
 204         copy.  This is a very expensive operation for large
 205         projects, so use it with caution.  Giving more than one
 206         `-C` option has the same effect.
 207
 208 -l<num>::
 209         The `-M` and `-C` options require O(n^2) processing time where n
 210         is the number of potential rename/copy targets.  This
 211         option prevents rename/copy detection from running if
 212         the number of rename/copy targets exceeds the specified
 213         number.
 214
 215 ifndef::git-format-patch[]
 216 -S<string>::
 217         Look for differences that introduce or remove an instance of
 218         <string>. Note that this is different than the string simply
 219         appearing in diff output; see the 'pickaxe' entry in
 220         linkgit:gitdiffcore[7] for more details.
 221
 222 --pickaxe-all::
 223         When `-S` finds a change, show all the changes in that
 224         changeset, not just the files that contain the change
 225         in <string>.
 226
 227 --pickaxe-regex::
 228         Make the <string> not a plain string but an extended POSIX
 229         regex to match.
 230 endif::git-format-patch[]
 231
 232 -O<orderfile>::
 233         Output the patch in the order specified in the
 234         <orderfile>, which has one shell glob pattern per line.
 235
 236 ifndef::git-format-patch[]
 237 -R::
 238         Swap two inputs; that is, show differences from index or
 239         on-disk file to tree contents.
 240
 241 --relative[=<path>]::
 242         When run from a subdirectory of the project, it can be
 243         told to exclude changes outside the directory and show
 244         pathnames relative to it with this option.  When you are
 245         not in a subdirectory (e.g. in a bare repository), you
 246         can name which subdirectory to make the output relative
 247         to by giving a <path> as an argument.
 248 endif::git-format-patch[]
 249
 250 -a::
 251 --text::
 252         Treat all files as text.
 253
 254 --ignore-space-at-eol::
 255         Ignore changes in whitespace at EOL.
 256
 257 -b::
 258 --ignore-space-change::
 259         Ignore changes in amount of whitespace.  This ignores whitespace
 260         at line end, and considers all other sequences of one or
 261         more whitespace characters to be equivalent.
 262
 263 -w::
 264 --ignore-all-space::
 265         Ignore whitespace when comparing lines.  This ignores
 266         differences even if one line has whitespace where the other
 267         line has none.
 268
 269 --inter-hunk-context=<lines>::
 270         Show the context between diff hunks, up to the specified number
 271         of lines, thereby fusing hunks that are close to each other.
 272
 273 ifndef::git-format-patch[]
 274 --exit-code::
 275         Make the program exit with codes similar to diff(1).
 276         That is, it exits with 1 if there were differences and
 277         0 means no differences.
 278
 279 --quiet::
 280         Disable all output of the program. Implies `--exit-code`.
 281 endif::git-format-patch[]
 282
 283 --ext-diff::
 284         Allow an external diff helper to be executed. If you set an
 285         external diff driver with linkgit:gitattributes[5], you need
 286         to use this option with linkgit:git-log[1] and friends.
 287
 288 --no-ext-diff::
 289         Disallow external diff drivers.
 290
 291 --ignore-submodules::
 292         Ignore changes to submodules in the diff generation.
 293
 294 --src-prefix=<prefix>::
 295         Show the given source prefix instead of "a/".
 296
 297 --dst-prefix=<prefix>::
 298         Show the given destination prefix instead of "b/".
 299
 300 --no-prefix::
 301         Do not show any source or destination prefix.
 302
 303 For more detailed explanation on these common options, see also
 304 linkgit:gitdiffcore[7].