1git-difftool(1) 2=============== 3 4NAME 5---- 6git-difftool - Show changes using common diff tools 7 8SYNOPSIS 9-------- 10[verse] 11'git difftool' [<options>] [<commit> [<commit>]] [--] [<path>...] 12 13DESCRIPTION 14----------- 15'git difftool' is a Git command that allows you to compare and edit files 16between revisions using common diff tools. 'git difftool' is a frontend 17to 'git diff' and accepts the same options and arguments. See 18linkgit:git-diff[1]. 19 20OPTIONS 21------- 22-d:: 23--dir-diff:: 24 Copy the modified files to a temporary location and perform 25 a directory diff on them. This mode never prompts before 26 launching the diff tool. 27 28-y:: 29--no-prompt:: 30 Do not prompt before launching a diff tool. 31 32--prompt:: 33 Prompt before each invocation of the diff tool. 34 This is the default behaviour; the option is provided to 35 override any configuration settings. 36 37-t <tool>:: 38--tool=<tool>:: 39 Use the diff tool specified by <tool>. Valid values include 40 emerge, kompare, meld, and vimdiff. Run `git difftool --tool-help` 41 for the list of valid <tool> settings. 42+ 43If a diff tool is not specified, 'git difftool' 44will use the configuration variable `diff.tool`. If the 45configuration variable `diff.tool` is not set, 'git difftool' 46will pick a suitable default. 47+ 48You can explicitly provide a full path to the tool by setting the 49configuration variable `difftool.<tool>.path`. For example, you 50can configure the absolute path to kdiff3 by setting 51`difftool.kdiff3.path`. Otherwise, 'git difftool' assumes the 52tool is available in PATH. 53+ 54Instead of running one of the known diff tools, 55'git difftool' can be customized to run an alternative program 56by specifying the command line to invoke in a configuration 57variable `difftool.<tool>.cmd`. 58+ 59When 'git difftool' is invoked with this tool (either through the 60`-t` or `--tool` option or the `diff.tool` configuration variable) 61the configured command line will be invoked with the following 62variables available: `$LOCAL` is set to the name of the temporary 63file containing the contents of the diff pre-image and `$REMOTE` 64is set to the name of the temporary file containing the contents 65of the diff post-image. `$MERGED` is the name of the file which is 66being compared. `$BASE` is provided for compatibility 67with custom merge tool commands and has the same value as `$MERGED`. 68 69--tool-help:: 70 Print a list of diff tools that may be used with `--tool`. 71 72--[no-]symlinks:: 73 'git difftool''s default behavior is create symlinks to the 74 working tree when run in `--dir-diff` mode and the right-hand 75 side of the comparison yields the same content as the file in 76 the working tree. 77+ 78Specifying `--no-symlinks` instructs 'git difftool' to create copies 79instead. `--no-symlinks` is the default on Windows. 80 81-x <command>:: 82--extcmd=<command>:: 83 Specify a custom command for viewing diffs. 84 'git-difftool' ignores the configured defaults and runs 85 `$command $LOCAL $REMOTE` when this option is specified. 86 Additionally, `$BASE` is set in the environment. 87 88-g:: 89--gui:: 90 When 'git-difftool' is invoked with the `-g` or `--gui` option 91 the default diff tool will be read from the configured 92 `diff.guitool` variable instead of `diff.tool`. 93 94See linkgit:git-diff[1] for the full list of supported options. 95 96CONFIG VARIABLES 97---------------- 98'git difftool' falls back to 'git mergetool' config variables when the 99difftool equivalents have not been defined. 100 101diff.tool:: 102 The default diff tool to use. 103 104diff.guitool:: 105 The default diff tool to use when `--gui` is specified. 106 107difftool.<tool>.path:: 108 Override the path for the given tool. This is useful in case 109 your tool is not in the PATH. 110 111difftool.<tool>.cmd:: 112 Specify the command to invoke the specified diff tool. 113+ 114See the `--tool=<tool>` option above for more details. 115 116difftool.prompt:: 117 Prompt before each invocation of the diff tool. 118 119SEE ALSO 120-------- 121linkgit:git-diff[1]:: 122 Show changes between commits, commit and working tree, etc 123 124linkgit:git-mergetool[1]:: 125 Run merge conflict resolution tools to resolve merge conflicts 126 127linkgit:git-config[1]:: 128 Get and set repository or global options 129 130GIT 131--- 132Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite