1git-diff(1) 2=========== 3 4NAME 5---- 6git-diff - Show changes between commits, commit and working tree, etc 7 8 9SYNOPSIS 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 18DESCRIPTION 19----------- 20Show changes between the working tree and the index or a tree, changes 21between the index and a tree, changes between two trees, or changes 22between 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+ 32If exactly two paths are given and at least one points outside 33the current repository, 'git diff' will compare the two files / 34directories. 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 $(git-merge-base A B) B". You can omit any one 76 of <commit>, which has the same effect as using HEAD instead. 77 78Just in case if you are doing something exotic, it should be 79noted that all of the <commit> in the above description, except 80in the last two forms that use ".." notations, can be any 81<tree>. 82 83For a more complete list of ways to spell <commit>, see 84"SPECIFYING REVISIONS" section in linkgit:gitrevisions[7]. 85However, "diff" is about comparing two _endpoints_, not ranges, 86and the range notations ("<commit>..<commit>" and 87"<commit>\...<commit>") do not mean a range as defined in the 88"SPECIFYING RANGES" section in linkgit:gitrevisions[7]. 89 90OPTIONS 91------- 92:git-diff: 1 93include::diff-options.txt[] 94 95<path>...:: 96 The <paths> parameters, when given, are used to limit 97 the diff to the named paths (you can give directory 98 names and get diff for all files under them). 99 100 101include::diff-format.txt[] 102 103EXAMPLES 104-------- 105 106Various ways to check your working tree:: 107+ 108------------ 109$ 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 116would be committing if you run "git commit" without "-a" option. 117<3> Changes in the working tree since your last commit; what you 118would be committing if you run "git commit -a" 119 120Comparing 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 129tip of "test" branch. 130<2> Instead of comparing with the tip of "test" branch, compare with 131the tip of the current branch, but limit the comparison to the 132file "test". 133<3> Compare the version before the last commit and the last commit. 134 135Comparing 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 146branch was started off it. 147 148Limiting 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 157nor deletion. 158<2> Show only names and the nature of change, but not actual 159diff output. 160<3> Limit diff output to named subtrees. 161 162Munging 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 170rewrites (very expensive). 171<2> Output diff in reverse. 172 173SEE ALSO 174-------- 175diff(1), 176linkgit:git-difftool[1], 177linkgit:git-log[1], 178linkgit:gitdiffcore[7], 179linkgit:git-format-patch[1], 180linkgit:git-apply[1] 181 182GIT 183--- 184Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite