Documentation/git-difftool.txt

   1 git-difftool(1)
   2 ===============
   3
   4 NAME
   5 ----
   6 git-difftool - Show changes using common diff tools
   7
   8 SYNOPSIS
   9 --------
  10 'git difftool' [<options>] [<commit> [<commit>]] [--] [<path>...]
  11
  12 DESCRIPTION
  13 -----------
  14 'git difftool' is a git command that allows you to compare and edit files
  15 between revisions using common diff tools.  'git difftool' is a frontend
  16 to 'git diff' and accepts the same options and arguments. See
  17 linkgit:git-diff[1].
  18
  19 OPTIONS
  20 -------
  21 -y::
  22 --no-prompt::
  23         Do not prompt before launching a diff tool.
  24
  25 --prompt::
  26         Prompt before each invocation of the diff tool.
  27         This is the default behaviour; the option is provided to
  28         override any configuration settings.
  29
  30 -t <tool>::
  31 --tool=<tool>::
  32         Use the diff tool specified by <tool>.
  33         Valid merge tools are:
  34         kdiff3, kompare, tkdiff, meld, xxdiff, emerge, vimdiff, gvimdiff,
  35         ecmerge, diffuse, opendiff, p4merge and araxis.
  36 +
  37 If a diff tool is not specified, 'git difftool'
  38 will use the configuration variable `diff.tool`.  If the
  39 configuration variable `diff.tool` is not set, 'git difftool'
  40 will pick a suitable default.
  41 +
  42 You can explicitly provide a full path to the tool by setting the
  43 configuration variable `difftool.<tool>.path`. For example, you
  44 can configure the absolute path to kdiff3 by setting
  45 `difftool.kdiff3.path`. Otherwise, 'git difftool' assumes the
  46 tool is available in PATH.
  47 +
  48 Instead of running one of the known diff tools,
  49 'git difftool' can be customized to run an alternative program
  50 by specifying the command line to invoke in a configuration
  51 variable `difftool.<tool>.cmd`.
  52 +
  53 When 'git difftool' is invoked with this tool (either through the
  54 `-t` or `--tool` option or the `diff.tool` configuration variable)
  55 the configured command line will be invoked with the following
  56 variables available: `$LOCAL` is set to the name of the temporary
  57 file containing the contents of the diff pre-image and `$REMOTE`
  58 is set to the name of the temporary file containing the contents
  59 of the diff post-image.  `$BASE` is provided for compatibility
  60 with custom merge tool commands and has the same value as `$LOCAL`.
  61
  62 -x <command>::
  63 --extcmd=<command>::
  64         Specify a custom command for viewing diffs.
  65         'git-difftool' ignores the configured defaults and runs
  66         `$command $LOCAL $REMOTE` when this option is specified.
  67
  68 -g::
  69 --gui::
  70         When 'git-difftool' is invoked with the `-g` or `--gui` option
  71         the default diff tool will be read from the configured
  72         `diff.guitool` variable instead of `diff.tool`.
  73
  74 See linkgit:git-diff[1] for the full list of supported options.
  75
  76 CONFIG VARIABLES
  77 ----------------
  78 'git difftool' falls back to 'git mergetool' config variables when the
  79 difftool equivalents have not been defined.
  80
  81 diff.tool::
  82         The default diff tool to use.
  83
  84 diff.guitool::
  85         The default diff tool to use when `--gui` is specified.
  86
  87 difftool.<tool>.path::
  88         Override the path for the given tool.  This is useful in case
  89         your tool is not in the PATH.
  90
  91 difftool.<tool>.cmd::
  92         Specify the command to invoke the specified diff tool.
  93 +
  94 See the `--tool=<tool>` option above for more details.
  95
  96 difftool.prompt::
  97         Prompt before each invocation of the diff tool.
  98
  99 SEE ALSO
 100 --------
 101 linkgit:git-diff[1]::
 102          Show changes between commits, commit and working tree, etc
 103
 104 linkgit:git-mergetool[1]::
 105         Run merge conflict resolution tools to resolve merge conflicts
 106
 107 linkgit:git-config[1]::
 108          Get and set repository or global options
 109
 110
 111 AUTHOR
 112 ------
 113 Written by David Aguilar <davvid@gmail.com>.
 114
 115 Documentation
 116 --------------
 117 Documentation by David Aguilar and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>.
 118
 119 GIT
 120 ---
 121 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite