[thirdparty/git.git] / Documentation / mergetools / vimdiff.txt

Description
^^^^^^^^^^^

When specifying `--tool=vimdiff` in `git mergetool` Git will open Vim with a 4
windows layout distributed in the following way:
....
------------------------------------------
|             |           |              |
|   LOCAL     |   BASE    |   REMOTE     |
|             |           |              |
------------------------------------------
|                                        |
|                MERGED                  |
|                                        |
------------------------------------------
....
`LOCAL`, `BASE` and `REMOTE` are read-only buffers showing the contents of the
conflicting file in specific commits ("commit you are merging into", "common
ancestor commit" and "commit you are merging from" respectively)

`MERGED` is a writable buffer where you have to resolve the conflicts (using the
other read-only buffers as a reference). Once you are done, save and exit Vim as
usual (`:wq`) or, if you want to abort, exit using `:cq`.

Layout configuration
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

You can change the windows layout used by Vim by setting configuration variable
`mergetool.vimdiff.layout` which accepts a string where the following separators
have special meaning:

  - `+` is used to "open a new tab"
  - `,` is used to "open a new vertical split"
  - `/` is used to "open a new horizontal split"
  - `@` is used to indicate the file containing the final version after
    solving the conflicts. If not present, `MERGED` will be used by default.

The precedence of the operators is as follows (you can use parentheses to change
it):

    `@` > `+` > `/` > `,`

Let's see some examples to understand how it works:

* `layout = "(LOCAL,BASE,REMOTE)/MERGED"`
+
--
This is exactly the same as the default layout we have already seen.

Note that `/` has precedence over `,` and thus the parenthesis are not
needed in this case. The next layout definition is equivalent:

    layout = "LOCAL,BASE,REMOTE / MERGED"
--
* `layout = "LOCAL,MERGED,REMOTE"`
+
--
If, for some reason, we are not interested in the `BASE` buffer.
....
------------------------------------------
|             |           |              |
|             |           |              |
|   LOCAL     |   MERGED  |   REMOTE     |
|             |           |              |
|             |           |              |
------------------------------------------
....
--
* `layout = "MERGED"`
+
--
Only the `MERGED` buffer will be shown. Note, however, that all the other
ones are still loaded in vim, and you can access them with the "buffers"
command.
....
------------------------------------------
|                                        |
|                                        |
|                 MERGED                 |
|                                        |
|                                        |
------------------------------------------
....
--
* `layout = "@LOCAL,REMOTE"`
+
--
When `MERGED` is not present in the layout, you must "mark" one of the
buffers with an asterisk. That will become the buffer you need to edit and
save after resolving the conflicts.
....
------------------------------------------
|                   |                    |
|                   |                    |
|                   |                    |
|     LOCAL         |    REMOTE          |
|                   |                    |
|                   |                    |
|                   |                    |
------------------------------------------
....
--
* `layout = "LOCAL,BASE,REMOTE / MERGED + BASE,LOCAL + BASE,REMOTE"`
+
--
Three tabs will open: the first one is a copy of the default layout, while
the other two only show the differences between (`BASE` and `LOCAL`) and
(`BASE` and `REMOTE`) respectively.
....
------------------------------------------
| <TAB #1> |  TAB #2  |  TAB #3  |       |
------------------------------------------
|             |           |              |
|   LOCAL     |   BASE    |   REMOTE     |
|             |           |              |
------------------------------------------
|                                        |
|                MERGED                  |
|                                        |
------------------------------------------
....
....
------------------------------------------
|  TAB #1  | <TAB #2> |  TAB #3  |       |
------------------------------------------
|                   |                    |
|                   |                    |
|                   |                    |
|     BASE          |    LOCAL           |
|                   |                    |
|                   |                    |
|                   |                    |
------------------------------------------
....
....
------------------------------------------
|  TAB #1  |  TAB #2  | <TAB #3> |       |
------------------------------------------
|                   |                    |
|                   |                    |
|                   |                    |
|     BASE          |    REMOTE          |
|                   |                    |
|                   |                    |
|                   |                    |
------------------------------------------
....
--
* `layout = "LOCAL,BASE,REMOTE / MERGED + BASE,LOCAL + BASE,REMOTE + (LOCAL/BASE/REMOTE),MERGED"`
+
--
Same as the previous example, but adds a fourth tab with the same
information as the first tab, with a different layout.
....
---------------------------------------------
|  TAB #1  |  TAB #2  |  TAB #3  | <TAB #4> |
---------------------------------------------
|       LOCAL         |                     |
|---------------------|                     |
|       BASE          |        MERGED       |
|---------------------|                     |
|       REMOTE        |                     |
---------------------------------------------
....
Note how in the third tab definition we need to use parentheses to make `,`
have precedence over `/`.
--

Variants
^^^^^^^^

Instead of `--tool=vimdiff`, you can also use one of these other variants:

  * `--tool=gvimdiff`, to open gVim instead of Vim.

  * `--tool=nvimdiff`, to open Neovim instead of Vim.

When using these variants, in order to specify a custom layout you will have to
set configuration variables `mergetool.gvimdiff.layout` and
`mergetool.nvimdiff.layout` instead of `mergetool.vimdiff.layout`

In addition, for backwards compatibility with previous Git versions, you can
also append `1`, `2` or `3` to either `vimdiff` or any of the variants (ex:
`vimdiff3`, `nvimdiff1`, etc...) to use a predefined layout.
In other words, using `--tool=[g,n,]vimdiffx` is the same as using
`--tool=[g,n,]vimdiff` and setting configuration variable
`mergetool.[g,n,]vimdiff.layout` to...

  * `x=1`: `"@LOCAL, REMOTE"`
  * `x=2`: `"LOCAL, MERGED, REMOTE"`
  * `x=3`: `"MERGED"`

Example: using `--tool=gvimdiff2` will open `gvim` with three columns (LOCAL,
MERGED and REMOTE).
Commit	Line	Data
7b5cf8be FR	1	Description
	2	^^^^^^^^^^^
	3
	4	When specifying `--tool=vimdiff` in `git mergetool` Git will open Vim with a 4
	5	windows layout distributed in the following way:
	6	....
	7	------------------------------------------
	8	\| \| \| \|
	9	\| LOCAL \| BASE \| REMOTE \|
	10	\| \| \| \|
	11	------------------------------------------
	12	\| \|
	13	\| MERGED \|
	14	\| \|
	15	------------------------------------------
	16	....
	17	`LOCAL`, `BASE` and `REMOTE` are read-only buffers showing the contents of the
	18	conflicting file in specific commits ("commit you are merging into", "common
	19	ancestor commit" and "commit you are merging from" respectively)
	20
	21	`MERGED` is a writable buffer where you have to resolve the conflicts (using the
	22	other read-only buffers as a reference). Once you are done, save and exit Vim as
	23	usual (`:wq`) or, if you want to abort, exit using `:cq`.
	24
	25	Layout configuration
	26	^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
	27
	28	You can change the windows layout used by Vim by setting configuration variable
	29	`mergetool.vimdiff.layout` which accepts a string where the following separators
	30	have special meaning:
	31
	32	- `+` is used to "open a new tab"
	33	- `,` is used to "open a new vertical split"
	34	- `/` is used to "open a new horizontal split"
cf6cac20	35	- `@` is used to indicate the file containing the final version after
7b5cf8be FR	36	solving the conflicts. If not present, `MERGED` will be used by default.
7b5cf8be FR	37
cf6cac20	38	The precedence of the operators is as follows (you can use parentheses to change
7b5cf8be FR	39	it):
	40
	41	`@` > `+` > `/` > `,`
	42
	43	Let's see some examples to understand how it works:
	44
	45	* `layout = "(LOCAL,BASE,REMOTE)/MERGED"`
	46	+
	47	--
	48	This is exactly the same as the default layout we have already seen.
	49
	50	Note that `/` has precedence over `,` and thus the parenthesis are not
	51	needed in this case. The next layout definition is equivalent:
	52
	53	layout = "LOCAL,BASE,REMOTE / MERGED"
	54	--
	55	* `layout = "LOCAL,MERGED,REMOTE"`
	56	+
	57	--
	58	If, for some reason, we are not interested in the `BASE` buffer.
	59	....
	60	------------------------------------------
	61	\| \| \| \|
	62	\| \| \| \|
	63	\| LOCAL \| MERGED \| REMOTE \|
	64	\| \| \| \|
	65	\| \| \| \|
	66	------------------------------------------
	67	....
	68	--
	69	* `layout = "MERGED"`
	70	+
	71	--
	72	Only the `MERGED` buffer will be shown. Note, however, that all the other
	73	ones are still loaded in vim, and you can access them with the "buffers"
	74	command.
	75	....
	76	------------------------------------------
	77	\| \|
	78	\| \|
	79	\| MERGED \|
	80	\| \|
	81	\| \|
	82	------------------------------------------
	83	....
	84	--
	85	* `layout = "@LOCAL,REMOTE"`
	86	+
	87	--
	88	When `MERGED` is not present in the layout, you must "mark" one of the
	89	buffers with an asterisk. That will become the buffer you need to edit and
	90	save after resolving the conflicts.
	91	....
	92	------------------------------------------
	93	\| \| \|
	94	\| \| \|
	95	\| \| \|
	96	\| LOCAL \| REMOTE \|
	97	\| \| \|
	98	\| \| \|
	99	\| \| \|
	100	------------------------------------------
	101	....
	102	--
103	* `layout = "LOCAL,BASE,REMOTE / MERGED + BASE,LOCAL + BASE,REMOTE"`
104	+
105	--
106	Three tabs will open: the first one is a copy of the default layout, while
107	the other two only show the differences between (`BASE` and `LOCAL`) and
108	(`BASE` and `REMOTE`) respectively.
109	....
110	------------------------------------------
111	\| <TAB #1> \| TAB #2 \| TAB #3 \| \|
112	------------------------------------------
113	\| \| \| \|
114	\| LOCAL \| BASE \| REMOTE \|
115	\| \| \| \|
116	------------------------------------------
117	\| \|
118	\| MERGED \|
119	\| \|
120	------------------------------------------
121	....
122	....
123	------------------------------------------
124	\| TAB #1 \| <TAB #2> \| TAB #3 \| \|
125	------------------------------------------
126	\| \| \|
127	\| \| \|
128	\| \| \|
129	\| BASE \| LOCAL \|
130	\| \| \|
131	\| \| \|
132	\| \| \|
133	------------------------------------------
134	....
135	....
136	------------------------------------------
137	\| TAB #1 \| TAB #2 \| <TAB #3> \| \|
138	------------------------------------------
139	\| \| \|
140	\| \| \|
141	\| \| \|
142	\| BASE \| REMOTE \|
143	\| \| \|
144	\| \| \|
145	\| \| \|
146	------------------------------------------
147	....
148	--
149	* `layout = "LOCAL,BASE,REMOTE / MERGED + BASE,LOCAL + BASE,REMOTE + (LOCAL/BASE/REMOTE),MERGED"`
150	+
151	--
152	Same as the previous example, but adds a fourth tab with the same
153	information as the first tab, with a different layout.
154	....
155	---------------------------------------------
156	\| TAB #1 \| TAB #2 \| TAB #3 \| <TAB #4> \|
157	---------------------------------------------
158	\| LOCAL \| \|
159	\|---------------------\| \|
160	\| BASE \| MERGED \|
161	\|---------------------\| \|
162	\| REMOTE \| \|
163	---------------------------------------------
164	....
6cc668c0	165	Note how in the third tab definition we need to use parentheses to make `,`
7b5cf8be FR	166	have precedence over `/`.
	167	--
	168
	169	Variants
	170	^^^^^^^^
	171
	172	Instead of `--tool=vimdiff`, you can also use one of these other variants:
	173
	174	* `--tool=gvimdiff`, to open gVim instead of Vim.
	175
	176	* `--tool=nvimdiff`, to open Neovim instead of Vim.
	177
	178	When using these variants, in order to specify a custom layout you will have to
	179	set configuration variables `mergetool.gvimdiff.layout` and
	180	`mergetool.nvimdiff.layout` instead of `mergetool.vimdiff.layout`
	181
	182	In addition, for backwards compatibility with previous Git versions, you can
	183	also append `1`, `2` or `3` to either `vimdiff` or any of the variants (ex:
	184	`vimdiff3`, `nvimdiff1`, etc...) to use a predefined layout.
	185	In other words, using `--tool=[g,n,]vimdiffx` is the same as using
	186	`--tool=[g,n,]vimdiff` and setting configuration variable
	187	`mergetool.[g,n,]vimdiff.layout` to...
	188
	189	* `x=1`: `"@LOCAL, REMOTE"`
	190	* `x=2`: `"LOCAL, MERGED, REMOTE"`
	191	* `x=3`: `"MERGED"`
	192
	193	Example: using `--tool=gvimdiff2` will open `gvim` with three columns (LOCAL,
	194	MERGED and REMOTE).