Documentation / diff-options.txton commit Merge branch 'maint' (790c83c)
   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--stat[=<width>[,<name-width>[,<count>]]]::
  59        Generate a diffstat. By default, as much space as necessary
  60        will be used for the filename part, and the rest for the graph
  61        part. Maximum width defaults to terminal width, or 80 columns
  62        if not connected to a terminal, and can be overridden by
  63        `<width>`. The width of the filename part can be limited by
  64        giving another width `<name-width>` after a comma. The width
  65        of the graph part can be limited by using
  66        `--stat-graph-width=<width>` (affects all commands generating
  67        a stat graph) or by setting `diff.statGraphWidth=<width>`
  68        (does not affect `git format-patch`).
  69        By giving a third parameter `<count>`, you can limit the
  70        output to the first `<count>` lines, followed by `...` if
  71        there are more.
  72+
  73These parameters can also be set individually with `--stat-width=<width>`,
  74`--stat-name-width=<name-width>` and `--stat-count=<count>`.
  75
  76--numstat::
  77        Similar to `--stat`, but shows number of added and
  78        deleted lines in decimal notation and pathname without
  79        abbreviation, to make it more machine friendly.  For
  80        binary files, outputs two `-` instead of saying
  81        `0 0`.
  82
  83--shortstat::
  84        Output only the last line of the `--stat` format containing total
  85        number of modified files, as well as number of added and deleted
  86        lines.
  87
  88--dirstat[=<param1,param2,...>]::
  89        Output the distribution of relative amount of changes for each
  90        sub-directory. The behavior of `--dirstat` can be customized by
  91        passing it a comma separated list of parameters.
  92        The defaults are controlled by the `diff.dirstat` configuration
  93        variable (see linkgit:git-config[1]).
  94        The following parameters are available:
  95+
  96--
  97`changes`;;
  98        Compute the dirstat numbers by counting the lines that have been
  99        removed from the source, or added to the destination. This ignores
 100        the amount of pure code movements within a file.  In other words,
 101        rearranging lines in a file is not counted as much as other changes.
 102        This is the default behavior when no parameter is given.
 103`lines`;;
 104        Compute the dirstat numbers by doing the regular line-based diff
 105        analysis, and summing the removed/added line counts. (For binary
 106        files, count 64-byte chunks instead, since binary files have no
 107        natural concept of lines). This is a more expensive `--dirstat`
 108        behavior than the `changes` behavior, but it does count rearranged
 109        lines within a file as much as other changes. The resulting output
 110        is consistent with what you get from the other `--*stat` options.
 111`files`;;
 112        Compute the dirstat numbers by counting the number of files changed.
 113        Each changed file counts equally in the dirstat analysis. This is
 114        the computationally cheapest `--dirstat` behavior, since it does
 115        not have to look at the file contents at all.
 116`cumulative`;;
 117        Count changes in a child directory for the parent directory as well.
 118        Note that when using `cumulative`, the sum of the percentages
 119        reported may exceed 100%. The default (non-cumulative) behavior can
 120        be specified with the `noncumulative` parameter.
 121<limit>;;
 122        An integer parameter specifies a cut-off percent (3% by default).
 123        Directories contributing less than this percentage of the changes
 124        are not shown in the output.
 125--
 126+
 127Example: The following will count changed files, while ignoring
 128directories with less than 10% of the total amount of changed files,
 129and accumulating child directory counts in the parent directories:
 130`--dirstat=files,10,cumulative`.
 131
 132--summary::
 133        Output a condensed summary of extended header information
 134        such as creations, renames and mode changes.
 135
 136ifndef::git-format-patch[]
 137--patch-with-stat::
 138        Synonym for `-p --stat`.
 139endif::git-format-patch[]
 140
 141ifndef::git-format-patch[]
 142
 143-z::
 144ifdef::git-log[]
 145        Separate the commits with NULs instead of with new newlines.
 146+
 147Also, when `--raw` or `--numstat` has been given, do not munge
 148pathnames and use NULs as output field terminators.
 149endif::git-log[]
 150ifndef::git-log[]
 151        When `--raw`, `--numstat`, `--name-only` or `--name-status` has been
 152        given, do not munge pathnames and use NULs as output field terminators.
 153endif::git-log[]
 154+
 155Without this option, each pathname output will have TAB, LF, double quotes,
 156and backslash characters replaced with `\t`, `\n`, `\"`, and `\\`,
 157respectively, and the pathname will be enclosed in double quotes if
 158any of those replacements occurred.
 159
 160--name-only::
 161        Show only names of changed files.
 162
 163--name-status::
 164        Show only names and status of changed files. See the description
 165        of the `--diff-filter` option on what the status letters mean.
 166
 167--submodule[=<format>]::
 168        Specify how differences in submodules are shown.  When `--submodule`
 169        or `--submodule=log` is given, the 'log' format is used.  This format lists
 170        the commits in the range like linkgit:git-submodule[1] `summary` does.
 171        Omitting the `--submodule` option or specifying `--submodule=short`,
 172        uses the 'short' format. This format just shows the names of the commits
 173        at the beginning and end of the range.  Can be tweaked via the
 174        `diff.submodule` configuration variable.
 175
 176--color[=<when>]::
 177        Show colored diff.
 178        The value must be `always` (the default for `<when>`), `never`, or `auto`.
 179        The default value is `never`.
 180ifdef::git-diff[]
 181        It can be changed by the `color.ui` and `color.diff`
 182        configuration settings.
 183endif::git-diff[]
 184
 185--no-color::
 186        Turn off colored diff.
 187ifdef::git-diff[]
 188        This can be used to override configuration settings.
 189endif::git-diff[]
 190        It is the same as `--color=never`.
 191
 192--word-diff[=<mode>]::
 193        Show a word diff, using the <mode> to delimit changed words.
 194        By default, words are delimited by whitespace; see
 195        `--word-diff-regex` below.  The <mode> defaults to 'plain', and
 196        must be one of:
 197+
 198--
 199color::
 200        Highlight changed words using only colors.  Implies `--color`.
 201plain::
 202        Show words as `[-removed-]` and `{+added+}`.  Makes no
 203        attempts to escape the delimiters if they appear in the input,
 204        so the output may be ambiguous.
 205porcelain::
 206        Use a special line-based format intended for script
 207        consumption.  Added/removed/unchanged runs are printed in the
 208        usual unified diff format, starting with a `+`/`-`/` `
 209        character at the beginning of the line and extending to the
 210        end of the line.  Newlines in the input are represented by a
 211        tilde `~` on a line of its own.
 212none::
 213        Disable word diff again.
 214--
 215+
 216Note that despite the name of the first mode, color is used to
 217highlight the changed parts in all modes if enabled.
 218
 219--word-diff-regex=<regex>::
 220        Use <regex> to decide what a word is, instead of considering
 221        runs of non-whitespace to be a word.  Also implies
 222        `--word-diff` unless it was already enabled.
 223+
 224Every non-overlapping match of the
 225<regex> is considered a word.  Anything between these matches is
 226considered whitespace and ignored(!) for the purposes of finding
 227differences.  You may want to append `|[^[:space:]]` to your regular
 228expression to make sure that it matches all non-whitespace characters.
 229A match that contains a newline is silently truncated(!) at the
 230newline.
 231+
 232The regex can also be set via a diff driver or configuration option, see
 233linkgit:gitattributes[1] or linkgit:git-config[1].  Giving it explicitly
 234overrides any diff driver or configuration setting.  Diff drivers
 235override configuration settings.
 236
 237--color-words[=<regex>]::
 238        Equivalent to `--word-diff=color` plus (if a regex was
 239        specified) `--word-diff-regex=<regex>`.
 240endif::git-format-patch[]
 241
 242--no-renames::
 243        Turn off rename detection, even when the configuration
 244        file gives the default to do so.
 245
 246ifndef::git-format-patch[]
 247--check::
 248        Warn if changes introduce whitespace errors.  What are
 249        considered whitespace errors is controlled by `core.whitespace`
 250        configuration.  By default, trailing whitespaces (including
 251        lines that solely consist of whitespaces) and a space character
 252        that is immediately followed by a tab character inside the
 253        initial indent of the line are considered whitespace errors.
 254        Exits with non-zero status if problems are found. Not compatible
 255        with --exit-code.
 256endif::git-format-patch[]
 257
 258--full-index::
 259        Instead of the first handful of characters, show the full
 260        pre- and post-image blob object names on the "index"
 261        line when generating patch format output.
 262
 263--binary::
 264        In addition to `--full-index`, output a binary diff that
 265        can be applied with `git-apply`.
 266
 267--abbrev[=<n>]::
 268        Instead of showing the full 40-byte hexadecimal object
 269        name in diff-raw format output and diff-tree header
 270        lines, show only a partial prefix.  This is
 271        independent of the `--full-index` option above, which controls
 272        the diff-patch output format.  Non default number of
 273        digits can be specified with `--abbrev=<n>`.
 274
 275-B[<n>][/<m>]::
 276--break-rewrites[=[<n>][/<m>]]::
 277        Break complete rewrite changes into pairs of delete and
 278        create. This serves two purposes:
 279+
 280It affects the way a change that amounts to a total rewrite of a file
 281not as a series of deletion and insertion mixed together with a very
 282few lines that happen to match textually as the context, but as a
 283single deletion of everything old followed by a single insertion of
 284everything new, and the number `m` controls this aspect of the -B
 285option (defaults to 60%). `-B/70%` specifies that less than 30% of the
 286original should remain in the result for git to consider it a total
 287rewrite (i.e. otherwise the resulting patch will be a series of
 288deletion and insertion mixed together with context lines).
 289+
 290When used with -M, a totally-rewritten file is also considered as the
 291source of a rename (usually -M only considers a file that disappeared
 292as the source of a rename), and the number `n` controls this aspect of
 293the -B option (defaults to 50%). `-B20%` specifies that a change with
 294addition and deletion compared to 20% or more of the file's size are
 295eligible for being picked up as a possible source of a rename to
 296another file.
 297
 298-M[<n>]::
 299--find-renames[=<n>]::
 300ifndef::git-log[]
 301        Detect renames.
 302endif::git-log[]
 303ifdef::git-log[]
 304        If generating diffs, detect and report renames for each commit.
 305        For following files across renames while traversing history, see
 306        `--follow`.
 307endif::git-log[]
 308        If `n` is specified, it is a threshold on the similarity
 309        index (i.e. amount of addition/deletions compared to the
 310        file's size). For example, `-M90%` means git should consider a
 311        delete/add pair to be a rename if more than 90% of the file
 312        hasn't changed.
 313
 314-C[<n>]::
 315--find-copies[=<n>]::
 316        Detect copies as well as renames.  See also `--find-copies-harder`.
 317        If `n` is specified, it has the same meaning as for `-M<n>`.
 318
 319--find-copies-harder::
 320        For performance reasons, by default, `-C` option finds copies only
 321        if the original file of the copy was modified in the same
 322        changeset.  This flag makes the command
 323        inspect unmodified files as candidates for the source of
 324        copy.  This is a very expensive operation for large
 325        projects, so use it with caution.  Giving more than one
 326        `-C` option has the same effect.
 327
 328-D::
 329--irreversible-delete::
 330        Omit the preimage for deletes, i.e. print only the header but not
 331        the diff between the preimage and `/dev/null`. The resulting patch
 332        is not meant to be applied with `patch` nor `git apply`; this is
 333        solely for people who want to just concentrate on reviewing the
 334        text after the change. In addition, the output obviously lack
 335        enough information to apply such a patch in reverse, even manually,
 336        hence the name of the option.
 337+
 338When used together with `-B`, omit also the preimage in the deletion part
 339of a delete/create pair.
 340
 341-l<num>::
 342        The `-M` and `-C` options require O(n^2) processing time where n
 343        is the number of potential rename/copy targets.  This
 344        option prevents rename/copy detection from running if
 345        the number of rename/copy targets exceeds the specified
 346        number.
 347
 348ifndef::git-format-patch[]
 349--diff-filter=[(A|C|D|M|R|T|U|X|B)...[*]]::
 350        Select only files that are Added (`A`), Copied (`C`),
 351        Deleted (`D`), Modified (`M`), Renamed (`R`), have their
 352        type (i.e. regular file, symlink, submodule, ...) changed (`T`),
 353        are Unmerged (`U`), are
 354        Unknown (`X`), or have had their pairing Broken (`B`).
 355        Any combination of the filter characters (including none) can be used.
 356        When `*` (All-or-none) is added to the combination, all
 357        paths are selected if there is any file that matches
 358        other criteria in the comparison; if there is no file
 359        that matches other criteria, nothing is selected.
 360
 361-S<string>::
 362        Look for differences that introduce or remove an instance of
 363        <string>. Note that this is different than the string simply
 364        appearing in diff output; see the 'pickaxe' entry in
 365        linkgit:gitdiffcore[7] for more details.
 366
 367-G<regex>::
 368        Look for differences whose added or removed line matches
 369        the given <regex>.
 370
 371--pickaxe-all::
 372        When `-S` or `-G` finds a change, show all the changes in that
 373        changeset, not just the files that contain the change
 374        in <string>.
 375
 376--pickaxe-regex::
 377        Make the <string> not a plain string but an extended POSIX
 378        regex to match.
 379endif::git-format-patch[]
 380
 381-O<orderfile>::
 382        Output the patch in the order specified in the
 383        <orderfile>, which has one shell glob pattern per line.
 384
 385ifndef::git-format-patch[]
 386-R::
 387        Swap two inputs; that is, show differences from index or
 388        on-disk file to tree contents.
 389
 390--relative[=<path>]::
 391        When run from a subdirectory of the project, it can be
 392        told to exclude changes outside the directory and show
 393        pathnames relative to it with this option.  When you are
 394        not in a subdirectory (e.g. in a bare repository), you
 395        can name which subdirectory to make the output relative
 396        to by giving a <path> as an argument.
 397endif::git-format-patch[]
 398
 399-a::
 400--text::
 401        Treat all files as text.
 402
 403--ignore-space-at-eol::
 404        Ignore changes in whitespace at EOL.
 405
 406-b::
 407--ignore-space-change::
 408        Ignore changes in amount of whitespace.  This ignores whitespace
 409        at line end, and considers all other sequences of one or
 410        more whitespace characters to be equivalent.
 411
 412-w::
 413--ignore-all-space::
 414        Ignore whitespace when comparing lines.  This ignores
 415        differences even if one line has whitespace where the other
 416        line has none.
 417
 418--inter-hunk-context=<lines>::
 419        Show the context between diff hunks, up to the specified number
 420        of lines, thereby fusing hunks that are close to each other.
 421
 422-W::
 423--function-context::
 424        Show whole surrounding functions of changes.
 425
 426ifndef::git-format-patch[]
 427ifndef::git-log[]
 428--exit-code::
 429        Make the program exit with codes similar to diff(1).
 430        That is, it exits with 1 if there were differences and
 431        0 means no differences.
 432
 433--quiet::
 434        Disable all output of the program. Implies `--exit-code`.
 435endif::git-log[]
 436endif::git-format-patch[]
 437
 438--ext-diff::
 439        Allow an external diff helper to be executed. If you set an
 440        external diff driver with linkgit:gitattributes[5], you need
 441        to use this option with linkgit:git-log[1] and friends.
 442
 443--no-ext-diff::
 444        Disallow external diff drivers.
 445
 446--textconv::
 447--no-textconv::
 448        Allow (or disallow) external text conversion filters to be run
 449        when comparing binary files. See linkgit:gitattributes[5] for
 450        details. Because textconv filters are typically a one-way
 451        conversion, the resulting diff is suitable for human
 452        consumption, but cannot be applied. For this reason, textconv
 453        filters are enabled by default only for linkgit:git-diff[1] and
 454        linkgit:git-log[1], but not for linkgit:git-format-patch[1] or
 455        diff plumbing commands.
 456
 457--ignore-submodules[=<when>]::
 458        Ignore changes to submodules in the diff generation. <when> can be
 459        either "none", "untracked", "dirty" or "all", which is the default
 460        Using "none" will consider the submodule modified when it either contains
 461        untracked or modified files or its HEAD differs from the commit recorded
 462        in the superproject and can be used to override any settings of the
 463        'ignore' option in linkgit:git-config[1] or linkgit:gitmodules[5]. When
 464        "untracked" is used submodules are not considered dirty when they only
 465        contain untracked content (but they are still scanned for modified
 466        content). Using "dirty" ignores all changes to the work tree of submodules,
 467        only changes to the commits stored in the superproject are shown (this was
 468        the behavior until 1.7.0). Using "all" hides all changes to submodules.
 469
 470--src-prefix=<prefix>::
 471        Show the given source prefix instead of "a/".
 472
 473--dst-prefix=<prefix>::
 474        Show the given destination prefix instead of "b/".
 475
 476--no-prefix::
 477        Do not show any source or destination prefix.
 478
 479For more detailed explanation on these common options, see also
 480linkgit:gitdiffcore[7].