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