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 linkgit: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         --staged is a synonym of --cached.
  37
  38 'git diff' [--options] <commit> [--] [<path>...]::
  39
  40         This form is to view the changes you have in your
  41         working tree relative to the named <commit>.  You can
  42         use HEAD to compare it with the latest commit, or a
  43         branch name to compare with the tip of a different
  44         branch.
  45
  46 'git diff' [--options] <commit> <commit> [--] [<path>...]::
  47
  48         This is to view the changes between two arbitrary
  49         <commit>.
  50
  51 'git diff' [--options] <commit>..<commit> [--] [<path>...]::
  52
  53         This is synonymous to the previous form.  If <commit> on
  54         one side is omitted, it will have the same effect as
  55         using HEAD instead.
  56
  57 'git diff' [--options] <commit>\...<commit> [--] [<path>...]::
  58
  59         This form is to view the changes on the branch containing
  60         and up to the second <commit>, starting at a common ancestor
  61         of both <commit>.  "git diff A\...B" is equivalent to
  62         "git diff $(git-merge-base A B) B".  You can omit any one
  63         of <commit>, which has the same effect as using HEAD instead.
  64
  65 Just in case if you are doing something exotic, it should be
  66 noted that all of the <commit> in the above description, except
  67 in the last two forms that use ".." notations, can be any
  68 <tree>.  The third form ('git diff <commit> <commit>') can also
  69 be used to compare two <blob> objects.
  70
  71 For a more complete list of ways to spell <commit>, see
  72 "SPECIFYING REVISIONS" section in linkgit:gitrevisions[7].
  73 However, "diff" is about comparing two _endpoints_, not ranges,
  74 and the range notations ("<commit>..<commit>" and
  75 "<commit>\...<commit>") do not mean a range as defined in the
  76 "SPECIFYING RANGES" section in linkgit:gitrevisions[7].
  77
  78 OPTIONS
  79 -------
  80 :git-diff: 1
  81 include::diff-options.txt[]
  82
  83 <path>...::
  84         The <paths> parameters, when given, are used to limit
  85         the diff to the named paths (you can give directory
  86         names and get diff for all files under them).
  87
  88
  89 include::diff-format.txt[]
  90
  91 EXAMPLES
  92 --------
  93
  94 Various ways to check your working tree::
  95 +
  96 ------------
  97 $ git diff            <1>
  98 $ git diff --cached   <2>
  99 $ git diff HEAD       <3>
 100 ------------
 101 +
 102 <1> Changes in the working tree not yet staged for the next commit.
 103 <2> Changes between the index and your last commit; what you
 104 would be committing if you run "git commit" without "-a" option.
 105 <3> Changes in the working tree since your last commit; what you
 106 would be committing if you run "git commit -a"
 107
 108 Comparing with arbitrary commits::
 109 +
 110 ------------
 111 $ git diff test            <1>
 112 $ git diff HEAD -- ./test  <2>
 113 $ git diff HEAD^ HEAD      <3>
 114 ------------
 115 +
 116 <1> Instead of using the tip of the current branch, compare with the
 117 tip of "test" branch.
 118 <2> Instead of comparing with the tip of "test" branch, compare with
 119 the tip of the current branch, but limit the comparison to the
 120 file "test".
 121 <3> Compare the version before the last commit and the last commit.
 122
 123 Comparing branches::
 124 +
 125 ------------
 126 $ git diff topic master    <1>
 127 $ git diff topic..master   <2>
 128 $ git diff topic...master  <3>
 129 ------------
 130 +
 131 <1> Changes between the tips of the topic and the master branches.
 132 <2> Same as above.
 133 <3> Changes that occurred on the master branch since when the topic
 134 branch was started off it.
 135
 136 Limiting the diff output::
 137 +
 138 ------------
 139 $ git diff --diff-filter=MRC            <1>
 140 $ git diff --name-status                <2>
 141 $ git diff arch/i386 include/asm-i386   <3>
 142 ------------
 143 +
 144 <1> Show only modification, rename and copy, but not addition
 145 nor deletion.
 146 <2> Show only names and the nature of change, but not actual
 147 diff output.
 148 <3> Limit diff output to named subtrees.
 149
 150 Munging the diff output::
 151 +
 152 ------------
 153 $ git diff --find-copies-harder -B -C  <1>
 154 $ git diff -R                          <2>
 155 ------------
 156 +
 157 <1> Spend extra cycles to find renames, copies and complete
 158 rewrites (very expensive).
 159 <2> Output diff in reverse.
 160
 161 SEE ALSO
 162 --------
 163 linkgit:git-difftool[1]::
 164         Show changes using common diff tools
 165
 166 Author
 167 ------
 168 Written by Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>
 169
 170 Documentation
 171 --------------
 172 Documentation by Junio C Hamano and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>.
 173
 174 GIT
 175 ---
 176 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite