Documentation / diff-format.txton commit Merge branch 'jk/fetch-pack' into maint (591a1da)
   1Raw output format
   2-----------------
   3
   4The raw output format from "git-diff-index", "git-diff-tree",
   5"git-diff-files" and "git diff --raw" are very similar.
   6
   7These commands all compare two sets of things; what is
   8compared differs:
   9
  10git-diff-index <tree-ish>::
  11        compares the <tree-ish> and the files on the filesystem.
  12
  13git-diff-index --cached <tree-ish>::
  14        compares the <tree-ish> and the index.
  15
  16git-diff-tree [-r] <tree-ish-1> <tree-ish-2> [<pattern>...]::
  17        compares the trees named by the two arguments.
  18
  19git-diff-files [<pattern>...]::
  20        compares the index and the files on the filesystem.
  21
  22The "git-diff-tree" command begins its output by printing the hash of
  23what is being compared. After that, all the commands print one output
  24line per changed file.
  25
  26An output line is formatted this way:
  27
  28------------------------------------------------
  29in-place edit  :100644 100644 bcd1234... 0123456... M file0
  30copy-edit      :100644 100644 abcd123... 1234567... C68 file1 file2
  31rename-edit    :100644 100644 abcd123... 1234567... R86 file1 file3
  32create         :000000 100644 0000000... 1234567... A file4
  33delete         :100644 000000 1234567... 0000000... D file5
  34unmerged       :000000 000000 0000000... 0000000... U file6
  35------------------------------------------------
  36
  37That is, from the left to the right:
  38
  39. a colon.
  40. mode for "src"; 000000 if creation or unmerged.
  41. a space.
  42. mode for "dst"; 000000 if deletion or unmerged.
  43. a space.
  44. sha1 for "src"; 0\{40\} if creation or unmerged.
  45. a space.
  46. sha1 for "dst"; 0\{40\} if creation, unmerged or "look at work tree".
  47. a space.
  48. status, followed by optional "score" number.
  49. a tab or a NUL when '-z' option is used.
  50. path for "src"
  51. a tab or a NUL when '-z' option is used; only exists for C or R.
  52. path for "dst"; only exists for C or R.
  53. an LF or a NUL when '-z' option is used, to terminate the record.
  54
  55Possible status letters are:
  56
  57- A: addition of a file
  58- C: copy of a file into a new one
  59- D: deletion of a file
  60- M: modification of the contents or mode of a file
  61- R: renaming of a file
  62- T: change in the type of the file
  63- U: file is unmerged (you must complete the merge before it can
  64be committed)
  65- X: "unknown" change type (most probably a bug, please report it)
  66
  67Status letters C and R are always followed by a score (denoting the
  68percentage of similarity between the source and target of the move or
  69copy).  Status letter M may be followed by a score (denoting the
  70percentage of dissimilarity) for file rewrites.
  71
  72<sha1> is shown as all 0's if a file is new on the filesystem
  73and it is out of sync with the index.
  74
  75Example:
  76
  77------------------------------------------------
  78:100644 100644 5be4a4...... 000000...... M file.c
  79------------------------------------------------
  80
  81When `-z` option is not used, TAB, LF, and backslash characters
  82in pathnames are represented as `\t`, `\n`, and `\\`,
  83respectively.
  84
  85diff format for merges
  86----------------------
  87
  88"git-diff-tree", "git-diff-files" and "git-diff --raw"
  89can take '-c' or '--cc' option
  90to generate diff output also for merge commits.  The output differs
  91from the format described above in the following way:
  92
  93. there is a colon for each parent
  94. there are more "src" modes and "src" sha1
  95. status is concatenated status characters for each parent
  96. no optional "score" number
  97. single path, only for "dst"
  98
  99Example:
 100
 101------------------------------------------------
 102::100644 100644 100644 fabadb8... cc95eb0... 4866510... MM      describe.c
 103------------------------------------------------
 104
 105Note that 'combined diff' lists only files which were modified from
 106all parents.
 107
 108
 109include::diff-generate-patch.txt[]
 110
 111
 112other diff formats
 113------------------
 114
 115The `--summary` option describes newly added, deleted, renamed and
 116copied files.  The `--stat` option adds diffstat(1) graph to the
 117output.  These options can be combined with other options, such as
 118`-p`, and are meant for human consumption.
 119
 120When showing a change that involves a rename or a copy, `--stat` output
 121formats the pathnames compactly by combining common prefix and suffix of
 122the pathnames.  For example, a change that moves `arch/i386/Makefile` to
 123`arch/x86/Makefile` while modifying 4 lines will be shown like this:
 124
 125------------------------------------
 126arch/{i386 => x86}/Makefile    |   4 +--
 127------------------------------------
 128
 129The `--numstat` option gives the diffstat(1) information but is designed
 130for easier machine consumption.  An entry in `--numstat` output looks
 131like this:
 132
 133----------------------------------------
 1341       2       README
 1353       1       arch/{i386 => x86}/Makefile
 136----------------------------------------
 137
 138That is, from left to right:
 139
 140. the number of added lines;
 141. a tab;
 142. the number of deleted lines;
 143. a tab;
 144. pathname (possibly with rename/copy information);
 145. a newline.
 146
 147When `-z` output option is in effect, the output is formatted this way:
 148
 149----------------------------------------
 1501       2       README NUL
 1513       1       NUL arch/i386/Makefile NUL arch/x86/Makefile NUL
 152----------------------------------------
 153
 154That is:
 155
 156. the number of added lines;
 157. a tab;
 158. the number of deleted lines;
 159. a tab;
 160. a NUL (only exists if renamed/copied);
 161. pathname in preimage;
 162. a NUL (only exists if renamed/copied);
 163. pathname in postimage (only exists if renamed/copied);
 164. a NUL.
 165
 166The extra `NUL` before the preimage path in renamed case is to allow
 167scripts that read the output to tell if the current record being read is
 168a single-path record or a rename/copy record without reading ahead.
 169After reading added and deleted lines, reading up to `NUL` would yield
 170the pathname, but if that is `NUL`, the record will show two paths.