Documentation / git-difftool.txton commit Move write_shallow_commits to fetch-pack.c (294e15f)
   1git-difftool(1)
   2===============
   3
   4NAME
   5----
   6git-difftool - Show changes using common diff tools
   7
   8SYNOPSIS
   9--------
  10'git difftool' [<options>] [<commit> [<commit>]] [--] [<path>...]
  11
  12DESCRIPTION
  13-----------
  14'git difftool' is a git command that allows you to compare and edit files
  15between revisions using common diff tools.  'git difftool' is a frontend
  16to 'git diff' and accepts the same options and arguments. See
  17linkgit:git-diff[1].
  18
  19OPTIONS
  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        araxis, bc3, diffuse, emerge, ecmerge, gvimdiff, kdiff3,
  35        kompare, meld, opendiff, p4merge, tkdiff, vimdiff and xxdiff.
  36+
  37If a diff tool is not specified, 'git difftool'
  38will use the configuration variable `diff.tool`.  If the
  39configuration variable `diff.tool` is not set, 'git difftool'
  40will pick a suitable default.
  41+
  42You can explicitly provide a full path to the tool by setting the
  43configuration variable `difftool.<tool>.path`. For example, you
  44can configure the absolute path to kdiff3 by setting
  45`difftool.kdiff3.path`. Otherwise, 'git difftool' assumes the
  46tool is available in PATH.
  47+
  48Instead of running one of the known diff tools,
  49'git difftool' can be customized to run an alternative program
  50by specifying the command line to invoke in a configuration
  51variable `difftool.<tool>.cmd`.
  52+
  53When 'git difftool' is invoked with this tool (either through the
  54`-t` or `--tool` option or the `diff.tool` configuration variable)
  55the configured command line will be invoked with the following
  56variables available: `$LOCAL` is set to the name of the temporary
  57file containing the contents of the diff pre-image and `$REMOTE`
  58is set to the name of the temporary file containing the contents
  59of the diff post-image.  `$MERGED` is the name of the file which is
  60being compared. `$BASE` is provided for compatibility
  61with custom merge tool commands and has the same value as `$MERGED`.
  62
  63-x <command>::
  64--extcmd=<command>::
  65        Specify a custom command for viewing diffs.
  66        'git-difftool' ignores the configured defaults and runs
  67        `$command $LOCAL $REMOTE` when this option is specified.
  68        Additionally, `$BASE` is set in the environment.
  69
  70-g::
  71--gui::
  72        When 'git-difftool' is invoked with the `-g` or `--gui` option
  73        the default diff tool will be read from the configured
  74        `diff.guitool` variable instead of `diff.tool`.
  75
  76See linkgit:git-diff[1] for the full list of supported options.
  77
  78CONFIG VARIABLES
  79----------------
  80'git difftool' falls back to 'git mergetool' config variables when the
  81difftool equivalents have not been defined.
  82
  83diff.tool::
  84        The default diff tool to use.
  85
  86diff.guitool::
  87        The default diff tool to use when `--gui` is specified.
  88
  89difftool.<tool>.path::
  90        Override the path for the given tool.  This is useful in case
  91        your tool is not in the PATH.
  92
  93difftool.<tool>.cmd::
  94        Specify the command to invoke the specified diff tool.
  95+
  96See the `--tool=<tool>` option above for more details.
  97
  98difftool.prompt::
  99        Prompt before each invocation of the diff tool.
 100
 101SEE ALSO
 102--------
 103linkgit:git-diff[1]::
 104         Show changes between commits, commit and working tree, etc
 105
 106linkgit:git-mergetool[1]::
 107        Run merge conflict resolution tools to resolve merge conflicts
 108
 109linkgit:git-config[1]::
 110         Get and set repository or global options
 111
 112GIT
 113---
 114Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite