Documentation / git-diff.txton commit Merge branch 'jk/lookup-object-prefer-latest' (4818cfc)
   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