Documentation / git-difftool.txton commit documentation: add tutorial for first contribution (76644e3)
   1git-difftool(1)
   2===============
   3
   4NAME
   5----
   6git-difftool - Show changes using common diff tools
   7
   8SYNOPSIS
   9--------
  10[verse]
  11'git difftool' [<options>] [<commit> [<commit>]] [--] [<path>...]
  12
  13DESCRIPTION
  14-----------
  15'git difftool' is a Git command that allows you to compare and edit files
  16between revisions using common diff tools.  'git difftool' is a frontend
  17to 'git diff' and accepts the same options and arguments. See
  18linkgit:git-diff[1].
  19
  20OPTIONS
  21-------
  22-d::
  23--dir-diff::
  24        Copy the modified files to a temporary location and perform
  25        a directory diff on them. This mode never prompts before
  26        launching the diff tool.
  27
  28-y::
  29--no-prompt::
  30        Do not prompt before launching a diff tool.
  31
  32--prompt::
  33        Prompt before each invocation of the diff tool.
  34        This is the default behaviour; the option is provided to
  35        override any configuration settings.
  36
  37-t <tool>::
  38--tool=<tool>::
  39        Use the diff tool specified by <tool>.  Valid values include
  40        emerge, kompare, meld, and vimdiff. Run `git difftool --tool-help`
  41        for the list of valid <tool> settings.
  42+
  43If a diff tool is not specified, 'git difftool'
  44will use the configuration variable `diff.tool`.  If the
  45configuration variable `diff.tool` is not set, 'git difftool'
  46will pick a suitable default.
  47+
  48You can explicitly provide a full path to the tool by setting the
  49configuration variable `difftool.<tool>.path`. For example, you
  50can configure the absolute path to kdiff3 by setting
  51`difftool.kdiff3.path`. Otherwise, 'git difftool' assumes the
  52tool is available in PATH.
  53+
  54Instead of running one of the known diff tools,
  55'git difftool' can be customized to run an alternative program
  56by specifying the command line to invoke in a configuration
  57variable `difftool.<tool>.cmd`.
  58+
  59When 'git difftool' is invoked with this tool (either through the
  60`-t` or `--tool` option or the `diff.tool` configuration variable)
  61the configured command line will be invoked with the following
  62variables available: `$LOCAL` is set to the name of the temporary
  63file containing the contents of the diff pre-image and `$REMOTE`
  64is set to the name of the temporary file containing the contents
  65of the diff post-image.  `$MERGED` is the name of the file which is
  66being compared. `$BASE` is provided for compatibility
  67with custom merge tool commands and has the same value as `$MERGED`.
  68
  69--tool-help::
  70        Print a list of diff tools that may be used with `--tool`.
  71
  72--[no-]symlinks::
  73        'git difftool''s default behavior is create symlinks to the
  74        working tree when run in `--dir-diff` mode and the right-hand
  75        side of the comparison yields the same content as the file in
  76        the working tree.
  77+
  78Specifying `--no-symlinks` instructs 'git difftool' to create copies
  79instead.  `--no-symlinks` is the default on Windows.
  80
  81-x <command>::
  82--extcmd=<command>::
  83        Specify a custom command for viewing diffs.
  84        'git-difftool' ignores the configured defaults and runs
  85        `$command $LOCAL $REMOTE` when this option is specified.
  86        Additionally, `$BASE` is set in the environment.
  87
  88-g::
  89--[no-]gui::
  90        When 'git-difftool' is invoked with the `-g` or `--gui` option
  91        the default diff tool will be read from the configured
  92        `diff.guitool` variable instead of `diff.tool`. The `--no-gui`
  93        option can be used to override this setting.
  94
  95--[no-]trust-exit-code::
  96        'git-difftool' invokes a diff tool individually on each file.
  97        Errors reported by the diff tool are ignored by default.
  98        Use `--trust-exit-code` to make 'git-difftool' exit when an
  99        invoked diff tool returns a non-zero exit code.
 100+
 101'git-difftool' will forward the exit code of the invoked tool when
 102`--trust-exit-code` is used.
 103
 104See linkgit:git-diff[1] for the full list of supported options.
 105
 106CONFIG VARIABLES
 107----------------
 108'git difftool' falls back to 'git mergetool' config variables when the
 109difftool equivalents have not been defined.
 110
 111diff.tool::
 112        The default diff tool to use.
 113
 114diff.guitool::
 115        The default diff tool to use when `--gui` is specified.
 116
 117difftool.<tool>.path::
 118        Override the path for the given tool.  This is useful in case
 119        your tool is not in the PATH.
 120
 121difftool.<tool>.cmd::
 122        Specify the command to invoke the specified diff tool.
 123+
 124See the `--tool=<tool>` option above for more details.
 125
 126difftool.prompt::
 127        Prompt before each invocation of the diff tool.
 128
 129difftool.trustExitCode::
 130        Exit difftool if the invoked diff tool returns a non-zero exit status.
 131+
 132See the `--trust-exit-code` option above for more details.
 133
 134SEE ALSO
 135--------
 136linkgit:git-diff[1]::
 137         Show changes between commits, commit and working tree, etc
 138
 139linkgit:git-mergetool[1]::
 140        Run merge conflict resolution tools to resolve merge conflicts
 141
 142linkgit:git-config[1]::
 143         Get and set repository or global options
 144
 145GIT
 146---
 147Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite