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 [verse]
  12 'git diff' [options] [<commit>] [--] [<path>...]
  13 'git diff' [options] --cached [<commit>] [--] [<path>...]
  14 'git diff' [options] <commit> <commit> [--] [<path>...]
  15 'git diff' [options] <blob> <blob>
  16 'git diff' [options] [--no-index] [--] <path> <path>
  17
  18 DESCRIPTION
  19 -----------
  20 Show changes between the working tree and the index or a tree, changes
  21 between the index and a tree, changes between two trees, or changes
  22 between two files on disk.
  23
  24 'git diff' [--options] [--] [<path>...]::
  25
  26         This form is to view the changes you made relative to
  27         the index (staging area for the next commit).  In other
  28         words, the differences are what you _could_ tell git to
  29         further add to the index but you still haven't.  You can
  30         stage these changes by using linkgit:git-add[1].
  31 +
  32 If exactly two paths are given and at least one points outside
  33 the current repository, 'git diff' will compare the two files /
  34 directories. This behavior can be forced by --no-index.
  35
  36 'git diff' [--options] --cached [<commit>] [--] [<path>...]::
  37
  38         This form is to view the changes you staged for the next
  39         commit relative to the named <commit>.  Typically you
  40         would want comparison with the latest commit, so if you
  41         do not give <commit>, it defaults to HEAD.
  42         If HEAD does not exist (e.g. unborned branches) and
  43         <commit> is not given, it shows all staged changes.
  44         --staged is a synonym of --cached.
  45
  46 'git diff' [--options] <commit> [--] [<path>...]::
  47
  48         This form is to view the changes you have in your
  49         working tree relative to the named <commit>.  You can
  50         use HEAD to compare it with the latest commit, or a
  51         branch name to compare with the tip of a different
  52         branch.
  53
  54 'git diff' [--options] <commit> <commit> [--] [<path>...]::
  55
  56         This is to view the changes between two arbitrary
  57         <commit>.
  58
  59 'git diff' [options] <blob> <blob>::
  60
  61         This form is to view the differences between the raw
  62         contents of two blob objects.
  63
  64 'git diff' [--options] <commit>..<commit> [--] [<path>...]::
  65
  66         This is synonymous to the previous form.  If <commit> on
  67         one side is omitted, it will have the same effect as
  68         using HEAD instead.
  69
  70 'git diff' [--options] <commit>\...<commit> [--] [<path>...]::
  71
  72         This form is to view the changes on the branch containing
  73         and up to the second <commit>, starting at a common ancestor
  74         of both <commit>.  "git diff A\...B" is equivalent to
  75         "git diff $(git-merge-base A B) B".  You can omit any one
  76         of <commit>, which has the same effect as using HEAD instead.
  77
  78 Just in case if you are doing something exotic, it should be
  79 noted that all of the <commit> in the above description, except
  80 in the last two forms that use ".." notations, can be any
  81 <tree>.
  82
  83 For a more complete list of ways to spell <commit>, see
  84 "SPECIFYING REVISIONS" section in linkgit:gitrevisions[7].
  85 However, "diff" is about comparing two _endpoints_, not ranges,
  86 and the range notations ("<commit>..<commit>" and
  87 "<commit>\...<commit>") do not mean a range as defined in the
  88 "SPECIFYING RANGES" section in linkgit:gitrevisions[7].
  89
  90 OPTIONS
  91 -------
  92 :git-diff: 1
  93 include::diff-options.txt[]
  94
  95 <path>...::
  96         The <paths> parameters, when given, are used to limit
  97         the diff to the named paths (you can give directory
  98         names and get diff for all files under them).
  99
 100
 101 include::diff-format.txt[]
 102
 103 EXAMPLES
 104 --------
 105
 106 Various ways to check your working tree::
 107 +
 108 ------------
 109 $ git diff            <1>
 110 $ git diff --cached   <2>
 111 $ git diff HEAD       <3>
 112 ------------
 113 +
 114 <1> Changes in the working tree not yet staged for the next commit.
 115 <2> Changes between the index and your last commit; what you
 116 would be committing if you run "git commit" without "-a" option.
 117 <3> Changes in the working tree since your last commit; what you
 118 would be committing if you run "git commit -a"
 119
 120 Comparing with arbitrary commits::
 121 +
 122 ------------
 123 $ git diff test            <1>
 124 $ git diff HEAD -- ./test  <2>
 125 $ git diff HEAD^ HEAD      <3>
 126 ------------
 127 +
 128 <1> Instead of using the tip of the current branch, compare with the
 129 tip of "test" branch.
 130 <2> Instead of comparing with the tip of "test" branch, compare with
 131 the tip of the current branch, but limit the comparison to the
 132 file "test".
 133 <3> Compare the version before the last commit and the last commit.
 134
 135 Comparing branches::
 136 +
 137 ------------
 138 $ git diff topic master    <1>
 139 $ git diff topic..master   <2>
 140 $ git diff topic...master  <3>
 141 ------------
 142 +
 143 <1> Changes between the tips of the topic and the master branches.
 144 <2> Same as above.
 145 <3> Changes that occurred on the master branch since when the topic
 146 branch was started off it.
 147
 148 Limiting the diff output::
 149 +
 150 ------------
 151 $ git diff --diff-filter=MRC            <1>
 152 $ git diff --name-status                <2>
 153 $ git diff arch/i386 include/asm-i386   <3>
 154 ------------
 155 +
 156 <1> Show only modification, rename and copy, but not addition
 157 nor deletion.
 158 <2> Show only names and the nature of change, but not actual
 159 diff output.
 160 <3> Limit diff output to named subtrees.
 161
 162 Munging the diff output::
 163 +
 164 ------------
 165 $ git diff --find-copies-harder -B -C  <1>
 166 $ git diff -R                          <2>
 167 ------------
 168 +
 169 <1> Spend extra cycles to find renames, copies and complete
 170 rewrites (very expensive).
 171 <2> Output diff in reverse.
 172
 173 SEE ALSO
 174 --------
 175 diff(1),
 176 linkgit:git-difftool[1],
 177 linkgit:git-log[1],
 178 linkgit:gitdiffcore[7],
 179 linkgit:git-format-patch[1],
 180 linkgit:git-apply[1]
 181
 182 GIT
 183 ---
 184 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite