Documentation / diff-options.txton commit convert: make it harder to screw up adding a conversion attribute (3bfba20)
   1// Please don't remove this comment as asciidoc behaves badly when
   2// the first non-empty line is ifdef/ifndef. The symptom is that
   3// without this comment the <git-diff-core> attribute conditionally
   4// defined below ends up being defined unconditionally.
   5// Last checked with asciidoc 7.0.2.
   6
   7ifndef::git-format-patch[]
   8ifndef::git-diff[]
   9ifndef::git-log[]
  10:git-diff-core: 1
  11endif::git-log[]
  12endif::git-diff[]
  13endif::git-format-patch[]
  14
  15ifdef::git-format-patch[]
  16-p::
  17--no-stat::
  18        Generate plain patches without any diffstats.
  19endif::git-format-patch[]
  20
  21ifndef::git-format-patch[]
  22-p::
  23-u::
  24--patch::
  25        Generate patch (see section on generating patches).
  26        {git-diff? This is the default.}
  27endif::git-format-patch[]
  28
  29-U<n>::
  30--unified=<n>::
  31        Generate diffs with <n> lines of context instead of
  32        the usual three.
  33ifndef::git-format-patch[]
  34        Implies `-p`.
  35endif::git-format-patch[]
  36
  37ifndef::git-format-patch[]
  38--raw::
  39        Generate the raw format.
  40        {git-diff-core? This is the default.}
  41endif::git-format-patch[]
  42
  43ifndef::git-format-patch[]
  44--patch-with-raw::
  45        Synonym for `-p --raw`.
  46endif::git-format-patch[]
  47
  48--patience::
  49        Generate a diff using the "patience diff" algorithm.
  50
  51--stat[=<width>[,<name-width>]]::
  52        Generate a diffstat.  You can override the default
  53        output width for 80-column terminal by `--stat=<width>`.
  54        The width of the filename part can be controlled by
  55        giving another width to it separated by a comma.
  56
  57--numstat::
  58        Similar to `\--stat`, but shows number of added and
  59        deleted lines in decimal notation and pathname without
  60        abbreviation, to make it more machine friendly.  For
  61        binary files, outputs two `-` instead of saying
  62        `0 0`.
  63
  64--shortstat::
  65        Output only the last line of the `--stat` format containing total
  66        number of modified files, as well as number of added and deleted
  67        lines.
  68
  69--dirstat[=<limit>]::
  70        Output the distribution of relative amount of changes (number of lines added or
  71        removed) for each sub-directory. Directories with changes below
  72        a cut-off percent (3% by default) are not shown. The cut-off percent
  73        can be set with `--dirstat=<limit>`. Changes in a child directory are not
  74        counted for the parent directory, unless `--cumulative` is used.
  75+
  76Note that the `--dirstat` option computes the changes while ignoring
  77the amount of pure code movements within a file.  In other words,
  78rearranging lines in a file is not counted as much as other changes.
  79
  80--dirstat-by-file[=<limit>]::
  81        Same as `--dirstat`, but counts changed files instead of lines.
  82
  83--summary::
  84        Output a condensed summary of extended header information
  85        such as creations, renames and mode changes.
  86
  87ifndef::git-format-patch[]
  88--patch-with-stat::
  89        Synonym for `-p --stat`.
  90endif::git-format-patch[]
  91
  92ifndef::git-format-patch[]
  93
  94-z::
  95ifdef::git-log[]
  96        Separate the commits with NULs instead of with new newlines.
  97+
  98Also, when `--raw` or `--numstat` has been given, do not munge
  99pathnames and use NULs as output field terminators.
 100endif::git-log[]
 101ifndef::git-log[]
 102        When `--raw`, `--numstat`, `--name-only` or `--name-status` has been
 103        given, do not munge pathnames and use NULs as output field terminators.
 104endif::git-log[]
 105+
 106Without this option, each pathname output will have TAB, LF, double quotes,
 107and backslash characters replaced with `\t`, `\n`, `\"`, and `\\`,
 108respectively, and the pathname will be enclosed in double quotes if
 109any of those replacements occurred.
 110
 111--name-only::
 112        Show only names of changed files.
 113
 114--name-status::
 115        Show only names and status of changed files. See the description
 116        of the `--diff-filter` option on what the status letters mean.
 117
 118--submodule[=<format>]::
 119        Chose the output format for submodule differences. <format> can be one of
 120        'short' and 'log'. 'short' just shows pairs of commit names, this format
 121        is used when this option is not given. 'log' is the default value for this
 122        option and lists the commits in that commit range like the 'summary'
 123        option of linkgit:git-submodule[1] does.
 124
 125--color[=<when>]::
 126        Show colored diff.
 127        The value must be `always` (the default for `<when>`), `never`, or `auto`.
 128        The default value is `never`.
 129ifdef::git-diff[]
 130        It can be changed by the `color.ui` and `color.diff`
 131        configuration settings.
 132endif::git-diff[]
 133
 134--no-color::
 135        Turn off colored diff.
 136ifdef::git-diff[]
 137        This can be used to override configuration settings.
 138endif::git-diff[]
 139        It is the same as `--color=never`.
 140
 141--word-diff[=<mode>]::
 142        Show a word diff, using the <mode> to delimit changed words.
 143        By default, words are delimited by whitespace; see
 144        `--word-diff-regex` below.  The <mode> defaults to 'plain', and
 145        must be one of:
 146+
 147--
 148color::
 149        Highlight changed words using only colors.  Implies `--color`.
 150plain::
 151        Show words as `[-removed-]` and `{+added+}`.  Makes no
 152        attempts to escape the delimiters if they appear in the input,
 153        so the output may be ambiguous.
 154porcelain::
 155        Use a special line-based format intended for script
 156        consumption.  Added/removed/unchanged runs are printed in the
 157        usual unified diff format, starting with a `+`/`-`/` `
 158        character at the beginning of the line and extending to the
 159        end of the line.  Newlines in the input are represented by a
 160        tilde `~` on a line of its own.
 161none::
 162        Disable word diff again.
 163--
 164+
 165Note that despite the name of the first mode, color is used to
 166highlight the changed parts in all modes if enabled.
 167
 168--word-diff-regex=<regex>::
 169        Use <regex> to decide what a word is, instead of considering
 170        runs of non-whitespace to be a word.  Also implies
 171        `--word-diff` unless it was already enabled.
 172+
 173Every non-overlapping match of the
 174<regex> is considered a word.  Anything between these matches is
 175considered whitespace and ignored(!) for the purposes of finding
 176differences.  You may want to append `|[^[:space:]]` to your regular
 177expression to make sure that it matches all non-whitespace characters.
 178A match that contains a newline is silently truncated(!) at the
 179newline.
 180+
 181The regex can also be set via a diff driver or configuration option, see
 182linkgit:gitattributes[1] or linkgit:git-config[1].  Giving it explicitly
 183overrides any diff driver or configuration setting.  Diff drivers
 184override configuration settings.
 185
 186--color-words[=<regex>]::
 187        Equivalent to `--word-diff=color` plus (if a regex was
 188        specified) `--word-diff-regex=<regex>`.
 189endif::git-format-patch[]
 190
 191--no-renames::
 192        Turn off rename detection, even when the configuration
 193        file gives the default to do so.
 194
 195ifndef::git-format-patch[]
 196--check::
 197        Warn if changes introduce trailing whitespace
 198        or an indent that uses a space before a tab. Exits with
 199        non-zero status if problems are found. Not compatible with
 200        --exit-code.
 201endif::git-format-patch[]
 202
 203--full-index::
 204        Instead of the first handful of characters, show the full
 205        pre- and post-image blob object names on the "index"
 206        line when generating patch format output.
 207
 208--binary::
 209        In addition to `--full-index`, output a binary diff that
 210        can be applied with `git-apply`.
 211
 212--abbrev[=<n>]::
 213        Instead of showing the full 40-byte hexadecimal object
 214        name in diff-raw format output and diff-tree header
 215        lines, show only a partial prefix.  This is
 216        independent of the `--full-index` option above, which controls
 217        the diff-patch output format.  Non default number of
 218        digits can be specified with `--abbrev=<n>`.
 219
 220-B[<n>][/<m>]::
 221--break-rewrites[=[<n>][/<m>]]::
 222        Break complete rewrite changes into pairs of delete and
 223        create. This serves two purposes:
 224+
 225It affects the way a change that amounts to a total rewrite of a file
 226not as a series of deletion and insertion mixed together with a very
 227few lines that happen to match textually as the context, but as a
 228single deletion of everything old followed by a single insertion of
 229everything new, and the number `m` controls this aspect of the -B
 230option (defaults to 60%). `-B/70%` specifies that less than 30% of the
 231original should remain in the result for git to consider it a total
 232rewrite (i.e. otherwise the resulting patch will be a series of
 233deletion and insertion mixed together with context lines).
 234+
 235When used with -M, a totally-rewritten file is also considered as the
 236source of a rename (usually -M only considers a file that disappeared
 237as the source of a rename), and the number `n` controls this aspect of
 238the -B option (defaults to 50%). `-B20%` specifies that a change with
 239addition and deletion compared to 20% or more of the file's size are
 240eligible for being picked up as a possible source of a rename to
 241another file.
 242
 243-M[<n>]::
 244--find-renames[=<n>]::
 245ifndef::git-log[]
 246        Detect renames.
 247endif::git-log[]
 248ifdef::git-log[]
 249        If generating diffs, detect and report renames for each commit.
 250        For following files across renames while traversing history, see
 251        `--follow`.
 252endif::git-log[]
 253        If `n` is specified, it is a threshold on the similarity
 254        index (i.e. amount of addition/deletions compared to the
 255        file's size). For example, `-M90%` means git should consider a
 256        delete/add pair to be a rename if more than 90% of the file
 257        hasn't changed.
 258
 259-C[<n>]::
 260--find-copies[=<n>]::
 261        Detect copies as well as renames.  See also `--find-copies-harder`.
 262        If `n` is specified, it has the same meaning as for `-M<n>`.
 263
 264--find-copies-harder::
 265        For performance reasons, by default, `-C` option finds copies only
 266        if the original file of the copy was modified in the same
 267        changeset.  This flag makes the command
 268        inspect unmodified files as candidates for the source of
 269        copy.  This is a very expensive operation for large
 270        projects, so use it with caution.  Giving more than one
 271        `-C` option has the same effect.
 272
 273-D::
 274--irreversible-delete::
 275        Omit the preimage for deletes, i.e. print only the header but not
 276        the diff between the preimage and `/dev/null`. The resulting patch
 277        is not meant to be applied with `patch` nor `git apply`; this is
 278        solely for people who want to just concentrate on reviewing the
 279        text after the change. In addition, the output obviously lack
 280        enough information to apply such a patch in reverse, even manually,
 281        hence the name of the option.
 282+
 283When used together with `-B`, omit also the preimage in the deletion part
 284of a delete/create pair.
 285
 286-l<num>::
 287        The `-M` and `-C` options require O(n^2) processing time where n
 288        is the number of potential rename/copy targets.  This
 289        option prevents rename/copy detection from running if
 290        the number of rename/copy targets exceeds the specified
 291        number.
 292
 293ifndef::git-format-patch[]
 294--diff-filter=[(A|C|D|M|R|T|U|X|B)...[*]]::
 295        Select only files that are Added (`A`), Copied (`C`),
 296        Deleted (`D`), Modified (`M`), Renamed (`R`), have their
 297        type (i.e. regular file, symlink, submodule, ...) changed (`T`),
 298        are Unmerged (`U`), are
 299        Unknown (`X`), or have had their pairing Broken (`B`).
 300        Any combination of the filter characters (including none) can be used.
 301        When `*` (All-or-none) is added to the combination, all
 302        paths are selected if there is any file that matches
 303        other criteria in the comparison; if there is no file
 304        that matches other criteria, nothing is selected.
 305
 306-S<string>::
 307        Look for differences that introduce or remove an instance of
 308        <string>. Note that this is different than the string simply
 309        appearing in diff output; see the 'pickaxe' entry in
 310        linkgit:gitdiffcore[7] for more details.
 311
 312-G<regex>::
 313        Look for differences whose added or removed line matches
 314        the given <regex>.
 315
 316--pickaxe-all::
 317        When `-S` or `-G` finds a change, show all the changes in that
 318        changeset, not just the files that contain the change
 319        in <string>.
 320
 321--pickaxe-regex::
 322        Make the <string> not a plain string but an extended POSIX
 323        regex to match.
 324endif::git-format-patch[]
 325
 326-O<orderfile>::
 327        Output the patch in the order specified in the
 328        <orderfile>, which has one shell glob pattern per line.
 329
 330ifndef::git-format-patch[]
 331-R::
 332        Swap two inputs; that is, show differences from index or
 333        on-disk file to tree contents.
 334
 335--relative[=<path>]::
 336        When run from a subdirectory of the project, it can be
 337        told to exclude changes outside the directory and show
 338        pathnames relative to it with this option.  When you are
 339        not in a subdirectory (e.g. in a bare repository), you
 340        can name which subdirectory to make the output relative
 341        to by giving a <path> as an argument.
 342endif::git-format-patch[]
 343
 344-a::
 345--text::
 346        Treat all files as text.
 347
 348--ignore-space-at-eol::
 349        Ignore changes in whitespace at EOL.
 350
 351-b::
 352--ignore-space-change::
 353        Ignore changes in amount of whitespace.  This ignores whitespace
 354        at line end, and considers all other sequences of one or
 355        more whitespace characters to be equivalent.
 356
 357-w::
 358--ignore-all-space::
 359        Ignore whitespace when comparing lines.  This ignores
 360        differences even if one line has whitespace where the other
 361        line has none.
 362
 363--inter-hunk-context=<lines>::
 364        Show the context between diff hunks, up to the specified number
 365        of lines, thereby fusing hunks that are close to each other.
 366
 367ifndef::git-format-patch[]
 368--exit-code::
 369        Make the program exit with codes similar to diff(1).
 370        That is, it exits with 1 if there were differences and
 371        0 means no differences.
 372
 373--quiet::
 374        Disable all output of the program. Implies `--exit-code`.
 375endif::git-format-patch[]
 376
 377--ext-diff::
 378        Allow an external diff helper to be executed. If you set an
 379        external diff driver with linkgit:gitattributes[5], you need
 380        to use this option with linkgit:git-log[1] and friends.
 381
 382--no-ext-diff::
 383        Disallow external diff drivers.
 384
 385--ignore-submodules[=<when>]::
 386        Ignore changes to submodules in the diff generation. <when> can be
 387        either "none", "untracked", "dirty" or "all", which is the default
 388        Using "none" will consider the submodule modified when it either contains
 389        untracked or modified files or its HEAD differs from the commit recorded
 390        in the superproject and can be used to override any settings of the
 391        'ignore' option in linkgit:git-config[1] or linkgit:gitmodules[5]. When
 392        "untracked" is used submodules are not considered dirty when they only
 393        contain untracked content (but they are still scanned for modified
 394        content). Using "dirty" ignores all changes to the work tree of submodules,
 395        only changes to the commits stored in the superproject are shown (this was
 396        the behavior until 1.7.0). Using "all" hides all changes to submodules.
 397
 398--src-prefix=<prefix>::
 399        Show the given source prefix instead of "a/".
 400
 401--dst-prefix=<prefix>::
 402        Show the given destination prefix instead of "b/".
 403
 404--no-prefix::
 405        Do not show any source or destination prefix.
 406
 407For more detailed explanation on these common options, see also
 408linkgit:gitdiffcore[7].