Documentation / diff-options.txton commit Merge branch 'rh/merge-options-doc-fix' (499eace)
   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--minimal::
  49        Spend extra time to make sure the smallest possible
  50        diff is produced.
  51
  52--patience::
  53        Generate a diff using the "patience diff" algorithm.
  54
  55--histogram::
  56        Generate a diff using the "histogram diff" algorithm.
  57
  58--diff-algorithm={patience|minimal|histogram|myers}::
  59        Choose a diff algorithm. The variants are as follows:
  60+
  61--
  62`default`, `myers`;;
  63        The basic greedy diff algorithm. Currently, this is the default.
  64`minimal`;;
  65        Spend extra time to make sure the smallest possible diff is
  66        produced.
  67`patience`;;
  68        Use "patience diff" algorithm when generating patches.
  69`histogram`;;
  70        This algorithm extends the patience algorithm to "support
  71        low-occurrence common elements".
  72--
  73+
  74For instance, if you configured diff.algorithm variable to a
  75non-default value and want to use the default one, then you
  76have to use `--diff-algorithm=default` option.
  77
  78--stat[=<width>[,<name-width>[,<count>]]]::
  79        Generate a diffstat. By default, as much space as necessary
  80        will be used for the filename part, and the rest for the graph
  81        part. Maximum width defaults to terminal width, or 80 columns
  82        if not connected to a terminal, and can be overridden by
  83        `<width>`. The width of the filename part can be limited by
  84        giving another width `<name-width>` after a comma. The width
  85        of the graph part can be limited by using
  86        `--stat-graph-width=<width>` (affects all commands generating
  87        a stat graph) or by setting `diff.statGraphWidth=<width>`
  88        (does not affect `git format-patch`).
  89        By giving a third parameter `<count>`, you can limit the
  90        output to the first `<count>` lines, followed by `...` if
  91        there are more.
  92+
  93These parameters can also be set individually with `--stat-width=<width>`,
  94`--stat-name-width=<name-width>` and `--stat-count=<count>`.
  95
  96--numstat::
  97        Similar to `--stat`, but shows number of added and
  98        deleted lines in decimal notation and pathname without
  99        abbreviation, to make it more machine friendly.  For
 100        binary files, outputs two `-` instead of saying
 101        `0 0`.
 102
 103--shortstat::
 104        Output only the last line of the `--stat` format containing total
 105        number of modified files, as well as number of added and deleted
 106        lines.
 107
 108--dirstat[=<param1,param2,...>]::
 109        Output the distribution of relative amount of changes for each
 110        sub-directory. The behavior of `--dirstat` can be customized by
 111        passing it a comma separated list of parameters.
 112        The defaults are controlled by the `diff.dirstat` configuration
 113        variable (see linkgit:git-config[1]).
 114        The following parameters are available:
 115+
 116--
 117`changes`;;
 118        Compute the dirstat numbers by counting the lines that have been
 119        removed from the source, or added to the destination. This ignores
 120        the amount of pure code movements within a file.  In other words,
 121        rearranging lines in a file is not counted as much as other changes.
 122        This is the default behavior when no parameter is given.
 123`lines`;;
 124        Compute the dirstat numbers by doing the regular line-based diff
 125        analysis, and summing the removed/added line counts. (For binary
 126        files, count 64-byte chunks instead, since binary files have no
 127        natural concept of lines). This is a more expensive `--dirstat`
 128        behavior than the `changes` behavior, but it does count rearranged
 129        lines within a file as much as other changes. The resulting output
 130        is consistent with what you get from the other `--*stat` options.
 131`files`;;
 132        Compute the dirstat numbers by counting the number of files changed.
 133        Each changed file counts equally in the dirstat analysis. This is
 134        the computationally cheapest `--dirstat` behavior, since it does
 135        not have to look at the file contents at all.
 136`cumulative`;;
 137        Count changes in a child directory for the parent directory as well.
 138        Note that when using `cumulative`, the sum of the percentages
 139        reported may exceed 100%. The default (non-cumulative) behavior can
 140        be specified with the `noncumulative` parameter.
 141<limit>;;
 142        An integer parameter specifies a cut-off percent (3% by default).
 143        Directories contributing less than this percentage of the changes
 144        are not shown in the output.
 145--
 146+
 147Example: The following will count changed files, while ignoring
 148directories with less than 10% of the total amount of changed files,
 149and accumulating child directory counts in the parent directories:
 150`--dirstat=files,10,cumulative`.
 151
 152--summary::
 153        Output a condensed summary of extended header information
 154        such as creations, renames and mode changes.
 155
 156ifndef::git-format-patch[]
 157--patch-with-stat::
 158        Synonym for `-p --stat`.
 159endif::git-format-patch[]
 160
 161ifndef::git-format-patch[]
 162
 163-z::
 164ifdef::git-log[]
 165        Separate the commits with NULs instead of with new newlines.
 166+
 167Also, when `--raw` or `--numstat` has been given, do not munge
 168pathnames and use NULs as output field terminators.
 169endif::git-log[]
 170ifndef::git-log[]
 171        When `--raw`, `--numstat`, `--name-only` or `--name-status` has been
 172        given, do not munge pathnames and use NULs as output field terminators.
 173endif::git-log[]
 174+
 175Without this option, each pathname output will have TAB, LF, double quotes,
 176and backslash characters replaced with `\t`, `\n`, `\"`, and `\\`,
 177respectively, and the pathname will be enclosed in double quotes if
 178any of those replacements occurred.
 179
 180--name-only::
 181        Show only names of changed files.
 182
 183--name-status::
 184        Show only names and status of changed files. See the description
 185        of the `--diff-filter` option on what the status letters mean.
 186
 187--submodule[=<format>]::
 188        Specify how differences in submodules are shown.  When `--submodule`
 189        or `--submodule=log` is given, the 'log' format is used.  This format lists
 190        the commits in the range like linkgit:git-submodule[1] `summary` does.
 191        Omitting the `--submodule` option or specifying `--submodule=short`,
 192        uses the 'short' format. This format just shows the names of the commits
 193        at the beginning and end of the range.  Can be tweaked via the
 194        `diff.submodule` configuration variable.
 195
 196--color[=<when>]::
 197        Show colored diff.
 198        `--color` (i.e. without '=<when>') is the same as `--color=always`.
 199        '<when>' can be one of `always`, `never`, or `auto`.
 200ifdef::git-diff[]
 201        It can be changed by the `color.ui` and `color.diff`
 202        configuration settings.
 203endif::git-diff[]
 204
 205--no-color::
 206        Turn off colored diff.
 207ifdef::git-diff[]
 208        This can be used to override configuration settings.
 209endif::git-diff[]
 210        It is the same as `--color=never`.
 211
 212--word-diff[=<mode>]::
 213        Show a word diff, using the <mode> to delimit changed words.
 214        By default, words are delimited by whitespace; see
 215        `--word-diff-regex` below.  The <mode> defaults to 'plain', and
 216        must be one of:
 217+
 218--
 219color::
 220        Highlight changed words using only colors.  Implies `--color`.
 221plain::
 222        Show words as `[-removed-]` and `{+added+}`.  Makes no
 223        attempts to escape the delimiters if they appear in the input,
 224        so the output may be ambiguous.
 225porcelain::
 226        Use a special line-based format intended for script
 227        consumption.  Added/removed/unchanged runs are printed in the
 228        usual unified diff format, starting with a `+`/`-`/` `
 229        character at the beginning of the line and extending to the
 230        end of the line.  Newlines in the input are represented by a
 231        tilde `~` on a line of its own.
 232none::
 233        Disable word diff again.
 234--
 235+
 236Note that despite the name of the first mode, color is used to
 237highlight the changed parts in all modes if enabled.
 238
 239--word-diff-regex=<regex>::
 240        Use <regex> to decide what a word is, instead of considering
 241        runs of non-whitespace to be a word.  Also implies
 242        `--word-diff` unless it was already enabled.
 243+
 244Every non-overlapping match of the
 245<regex> is considered a word.  Anything between these matches is
 246considered whitespace and ignored(!) for the purposes of finding
 247differences.  You may want to append `|[^[:space:]]` to your regular
 248expression to make sure that it matches all non-whitespace characters.
 249A match that contains a newline is silently truncated(!) at the
 250newline.
 251+
 252The regex can also be set via a diff driver or configuration option, see
 253linkgit:gitattributes[1] or linkgit:git-config[1].  Giving it explicitly
 254overrides any diff driver or configuration setting.  Diff drivers
 255override configuration settings.
 256
 257--color-words[=<regex>]::
 258        Equivalent to `--word-diff=color` plus (if a regex was
 259        specified) `--word-diff-regex=<regex>`.
 260endif::git-format-patch[]
 261
 262--no-renames::
 263        Turn off rename detection, even when the configuration
 264        file gives the default to do so.
 265
 266ifndef::git-format-patch[]
 267--check::
 268        Warn if changes introduce whitespace errors.  What are
 269        considered whitespace errors is controlled by `core.whitespace`
 270        configuration.  By default, trailing whitespaces (including
 271        lines that solely consist of whitespaces) and a space character
 272        that is immediately followed by a tab character inside the
 273        initial indent of the line are considered whitespace errors.
 274        Exits with non-zero status if problems are found. Not compatible
 275        with --exit-code.
 276endif::git-format-patch[]
 277
 278--full-index::
 279        Instead of the first handful of characters, show the full
 280        pre- and post-image blob object names on the "index"
 281        line when generating patch format output.
 282
 283--binary::
 284        In addition to `--full-index`, output a binary diff that
 285        can be applied with `git-apply`.
 286
 287--abbrev[=<n>]::
 288        Instead of showing the full 40-byte hexadecimal object
 289        name in diff-raw format output and diff-tree header
 290        lines, show only a partial prefix.  This is
 291        independent of the `--full-index` option above, which controls
 292        the diff-patch output format.  Non default number of
 293        digits can be specified with `--abbrev=<n>`.
 294
 295-B[<n>][/<m>]::
 296--break-rewrites[=[<n>][/<m>]]::
 297        Break complete rewrite changes into pairs of delete and
 298        create. This serves two purposes:
 299+
 300It affects the way a change that amounts to a total rewrite of a file
 301not as a series of deletion and insertion mixed together with a very
 302few lines that happen to match textually as the context, but as a
 303single deletion of everything old followed by a single insertion of
 304everything new, and the number `m` controls this aspect of the -B
 305option (defaults to 60%). `-B/70%` specifies that less than 30% of the
 306original should remain in the result for Git to consider it a total
 307rewrite (i.e. otherwise the resulting patch will be a series of
 308deletion and insertion mixed together with context lines).
 309+
 310When used with -M, a totally-rewritten file is also considered as the
 311source of a rename (usually -M only considers a file that disappeared
 312as the source of a rename), and the number `n` controls this aspect of
 313the -B option (defaults to 50%). `-B20%` specifies that a change with
 314addition and deletion compared to 20% or more of the file's size are
 315eligible for being picked up as a possible source of a rename to
 316another file.
 317
 318-M[<n>]::
 319--find-renames[=<n>]::
 320ifndef::git-log[]
 321        Detect renames.
 322endif::git-log[]
 323ifdef::git-log[]
 324        If generating diffs, detect and report renames for each commit.
 325        For following files across renames while traversing history, see
 326        `--follow`.
 327endif::git-log[]
 328        If `n` is specified, it is a threshold on the similarity
 329        index (i.e. amount of addition/deletions compared to the
 330        file's size). For example, `-M90%` means Git should consider a
 331        delete/add pair to be a rename if more than 90% of the file
 332        hasn't changed.  Without a `%` sign, the number is to be read as
 333        a fraction, with a decimal point before it.  I.e., `-M5` becomes
 334        0.5, and is thus the same as `-M50%`.  Similarly, `-M05` is
 335        the same as `-M5%`.  To limit detection to exact renames, use
 336        `-M100%`.
 337
 338-C[<n>]::
 339--find-copies[=<n>]::
 340        Detect copies as well as renames.  See also `--find-copies-harder`.
 341        If `n` is specified, it has the same meaning as for `-M<n>`.
 342
 343--find-copies-harder::
 344        For performance reasons, by default, `-C` option finds copies only
 345        if the original file of the copy was modified in the same
 346        changeset.  This flag makes the command
 347        inspect unmodified files as candidates for the source of
 348        copy.  This is a very expensive operation for large
 349        projects, so use it with caution.  Giving more than one
 350        `-C` option has the same effect.
 351
 352-D::
 353--irreversible-delete::
 354        Omit the preimage for deletes, i.e. print only the header but not
 355        the diff between the preimage and `/dev/null`. The resulting patch
 356        is not meant to be applied with `patch` nor `git apply`; this is
 357        solely for people who want to just concentrate on reviewing the
 358        text after the change. In addition, the output obviously lack
 359        enough information to apply such a patch in reverse, even manually,
 360        hence the name of the option.
 361+
 362When used together with `-B`, omit also the preimage in the deletion part
 363of a delete/create pair.
 364
 365-l<num>::
 366        The `-M` and `-C` options require O(n^2) processing time where n
 367        is the number of potential rename/copy targets.  This
 368        option prevents rename/copy detection from running if
 369        the number of rename/copy targets exceeds the specified
 370        number.
 371
 372ifndef::git-format-patch[]
 373--diff-filter=[(A|C|D|M|R|T|U|X|B)...[*]]::
 374        Select only files that are Added (`A`), Copied (`C`),
 375        Deleted (`D`), Modified (`M`), Renamed (`R`), have their
 376        type (i.e. regular file, symlink, submodule, ...) changed (`T`),
 377        are Unmerged (`U`), are
 378        Unknown (`X`), or have had their pairing Broken (`B`).
 379        Any combination of the filter characters (including none) can be used.
 380        When `*` (All-or-none) is added to the combination, all
 381        paths are selected if there is any file that matches
 382        other criteria in the comparison; if there is no file
 383        that matches other criteria, nothing is selected.
 384
 385-S<string>::
 386        Look for differences that introduce or remove an instance of
 387        <string>. Note that this is different than the string simply
 388        appearing in diff output; see the 'pickaxe' entry in
 389        linkgit:gitdiffcore[7] for more details.
 390
 391-G<regex>::
 392        Look for differences whose added or removed line matches
 393        the given <regex>.
 394
 395--pickaxe-all::
 396        When `-S` or `-G` finds a change, show all the changes in that
 397        changeset, not just the files that contain the change
 398        in <string>.
 399
 400--pickaxe-regex::
 401        Make the <string> not a plain string but an extended POSIX
 402        regex to match.
 403endif::git-format-patch[]
 404
 405-O<orderfile>::
 406        Output the patch in the order specified in the
 407        <orderfile>, which has one shell glob pattern per line.
 408
 409ifndef::git-format-patch[]
 410-R::
 411        Swap two inputs; that is, show differences from index or
 412        on-disk file to tree contents.
 413
 414--relative[=<path>]::
 415        When run from a subdirectory of the project, it can be
 416        told to exclude changes outside the directory and show
 417        pathnames relative to it with this option.  When you are
 418        not in a subdirectory (e.g. in a bare repository), you
 419        can name which subdirectory to make the output relative
 420        to by giving a <path> as an argument.
 421endif::git-format-patch[]
 422
 423-a::
 424--text::
 425        Treat all files as text.
 426
 427--ignore-space-at-eol::
 428        Ignore changes in whitespace at EOL.
 429
 430-b::
 431--ignore-space-change::
 432        Ignore changes in amount of whitespace.  This ignores whitespace
 433        at line end, and considers all other sequences of one or
 434        more whitespace characters to be equivalent.
 435
 436-w::
 437--ignore-all-space::
 438        Ignore whitespace when comparing lines.  This ignores
 439        differences even if one line has whitespace where the other
 440        line has none.
 441
 442--inter-hunk-context=<lines>::
 443        Show the context between diff hunks, up to the specified number
 444        of lines, thereby fusing hunks that are close to each other.
 445
 446-W::
 447--function-context::
 448        Show whole surrounding functions of changes.
 449
 450ifndef::git-format-patch[]
 451ifndef::git-log[]
 452--exit-code::
 453        Make the program exit with codes similar to diff(1).
 454        That is, it exits with 1 if there were differences and
 455        0 means no differences.
 456
 457--quiet::
 458        Disable all output of the program. Implies `--exit-code`.
 459endif::git-log[]
 460endif::git-format-patch[]
 461
 462--ext-diff::
 463        Allow an external diff helper to be executed. If you set an
 464        external diff driver with linkgit:gitattributes[5], you need
 465        to use this option with linkgit:git-log[1] and friends.
 466
 467--no-ext-diff::
 468        Disallow external diff drivers.
 469
 470--textconv::
 471--no-textconv::
 472        Allow (or disallow) external text conversion filters to be run
 473        when comparing binary files. See linkgit:gitattributes[5] for
 474        details. Because textconv filters are typically a one-way
 475        conversion, the resulting diff is suitable for human
 476        consumption, but cannot be applied. For this reason, textconv
 477        filters are enabled by default only for linkgit:git-diff[1] and
 478        linkgit:git-log[1], but not for linkgit:git-format-patch[1] or
 479        diff plumbing commands.
 480
 481--ignore-submodules[=<when>]::
 482        Ignore changes to submodules in the diff generation. <when> can be
 483        either "none", "untracked", "dirty" or "all", which is the default.
 484        Using "none" will consider the submodule modified when it either contains
 485        untracked or modified files or its HEAD differs from the commit recorded
 486        in the superproject and can be used to override any settings of the
 487        'ignore' option in linkgit:git-config[1] or linkgit:gitmodules[5]. When
 488        "untracked" is used submodules are not considered dirty when they only
 489        contain untracked content (but they are still scanned for modified
 490        content). Using "dirty" ignores all changes to the work tree of submodules,
 491        only changes to the commits stored in the superproject are shown (this was
 492        the behavior until 1.7.0). Using "all" hides all changes to submodules.
 493
 494--src-prefix=<prefix>::
 495        Show the given source prefix instead of "a/".
 496
 497--dst-prefix=<prefix>::
 498        Show the given destination prefix instead of "b/".
 499
 500--no-prefix::
 501        Do not show any source or destination prefix.
 502
 503For more detailed explanation on these common options, see also
 504linkgit:gitdiffcore[7].