Documentation / diff-options.txton commit Merge branch 'jk/maint-decorate-01-bool' into maint (7bf040c)
   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--patience::
  49        Generate a diff using the "patience diff" algorithm.
  50
  51--stat[=<width>[,<name-width>]]::
  52        Generate a diffstat.  You can override the default
  53        output width for 80-column terminal by `--stat=<width>`.
  54        The width of the filename part can be controlled by
  55        giving another width to it separated by a comma.
  56
  57--numstat::
  58        Similar to `\--stat`, but shows number of added and
  59        deleted lines in decimal notation and pathname without
  60        abbreviation, to make it more machine friendly.  For
  61        binary files, outputs two `-` instead of saying
  62        `0 0`.
  63
  64--shortstat::
  65        Output only the last line of the `--stat` format containing total
  66        number of modified files, as well as number of added and deleted
  67        lines.
  68
  69--dirstat[=<limit>]::
  70        Output the distribution of relative amount of changes (number of lines added or
  71        removed) for each sub-directory. Directories with changes below
  72        a cut-off percent (3% by default) are not shown. The cut-off percent
  73        can be set with `--dirstat=<limit>`. Changes in a child directory are not
  74        counted for the parent directory, unless `--cumulative` is used.
  75
  76--dirstat-by-file[=<limit>]::
  77        Same as `--dirstat`, but counts changed files instead of lines.
  78
  79--summary::
  80        Output a condensed summary of extended header information
  81        such as creations, renames and mode changes.
  82
  83ifndef::git-format-patch[]
  84--patch-with-stat::
  85        Synonym for `-p --stat`.
  86endif::git-format-patch[]
  87
  88ifndef::git-format-patch[]
  89
  90-z::
  91ifdef::git-log[]
  92        Separate the commits with NULs instead of with new newlines.
  93+
  94Also, when `--raw` or `--numstat` has been given, do not munge
  95pathnames and use NULs as output field terminators.
  96endif::git-log[]
  97ifndef::git-log[]
  98        When `--raw`, `--numstat`, `--name-only` or `--name-status` has been
  99        given, do not munge pathnames and use NULs as output field terminators.
 100endif::git-log[]
 101+
 102Without this option, each pathname output will have TAB, LF, double quotes,
 103and backslash characters replaced with `\t`, `\n`, `\"`, and `\\`,
 104respectively, and the pathname will be enclosed in double quotes if
 105any of those replacements occurred.
 106
 107--name-only::
 108        Show only names of changed files.
 109
 110--name-status::
 111        Show only names and status of changed files. See the description
 112        of the `--diff-filter` option on what the status letters mean.
 113
 114--submodule[=<format>]::
 115        Chose the output format for submodule differences. <format> can be one of
 116        'short' and 'log'. 'short' just shows pairs of commit names, this format
 117        is used when this option is not given. 'log' is the default value for this
 118        option and lists the commits in that commit range like the 'summary'
 119        option of linkgit:git-submodule[1] does.
 120
 121--color[=<when>]::
 122        Show colored diff.
 123        The value must be always (the default), never, or auto.
 124
 125--no-color::
 126        Turn off colored diff, even when the configuration file
 127        gives the default to color output.
 128        Same as `--color=never`.
 129
 130--word-diff[=<mode>]::
 131        Show a word diff, using the <mode> to delimit changed words.
 132        By default, words are delimited by whitespace; see
 133        `--word-diff-regex` below.  The <mode> defaults to 'plain', and
 134        must be one of:
 135+
 136--
 137color::
 138        Highlight changed words using only colors.  Implies `--color`.
 139plain::
 140        Show words as `[-removed-]` and `{+added+}`.  Makes no
 141        attempts to escape the delimiters if they appear in the input,
 142        so the output may be ambiguous.
 143porcelain::
 144        Use a special line-based format intended for script
 145        consumption.  Added/removed/unchanged runs are printed in the
 146        usual unified diff format, starting with a `+`/`-`/` `
 147        character at the beginning of the line and extending to the
 148        end of the line.  Newlines in the input are represented by a
 149        tilde `~` on a line of its own.
 150none::
 151        Disable word diff again.
 152--
 153+
 154Note that despite the name of the first mode, color is used to
 155highlight the changed parts in all modes if enabled.
 156
 157--word-diff-regex=<regex>::
 158        Use <regex> to decide what a word is, instead of considering
 159        runs of non-whitespace to be a word.  Also implies
 160        `--word-diff` unless it was already enabled.
 161+
 162Every non-overlapping match of the
 163<regex> is considered a word.  Anything between these matches is
 164considered whitespace and ignored(!) for the purposes of finding
 165differences.  You may want to append `|[^[:space:]]` to your regular
 166expression to make sure that it matches all non-whitespace characters.
 167A match that contains a newline is silently truncated(!) at the
 168newline.
 169+
 170The regex can also be set via a diff driver or configuration option, see
 171linkgit:gitattributes[1] or linkgit:git-config[1].  Giving it explicitly
 172overrides any diff driver or configuration setting.  Diff drivers
 173override configuration settings.
 174
 175--color-words[=<regex>]::
 176        Equivalent to `--word-diff=color` plus (if a regex was
 177        specified) `--word-diff-regex=<regex>`.
 178endif::git-format-patch[]
 179
 180--no-renames::
 181        Turn off rename detection, even when the configuration
 182        file gives the default to do so.
 183
 184ifndef::git-format-patch[]
 185--check::
 186        Warn if changes introduce trailing whitespace
 187        or an indent that uses a space before a tab. Exits with
 188        non-zero status if problems are found. Not compatible with
 189        --exit-code.
 190endif::git-format-patch[]
 191
 192--full-index::
 193        Instead of the first handful of characters, show the full
 194        pre- and post-image blob object names on the "index"
 195        line when generating patch format output.
 196
 197--binary::
 198        In addition to `--full-index`, output a binary diff that
 199        can be applied with `git-apply`.
 200
 201--abbrev[=<n>]::
 202        Instead of showing the full 40-byte hexadecimal object
 203        name in diff-raw format output and diff-tree header
 204        lines, show only a partial prefix.  This is
 205        independent of the `--full-index` option above, which controls
 206        the diff-patch output format.  Non default number of
 207        digits can be specified with `--abbrev=<n>`.
 208
 209-B[<n>][/<m>]::
 210        Break complete rewrite changes into pairs of delete and
 211        create. This serves two purposes:
 212+
 213It affects the way a change that amounts to a total rewrite of a file
 214not as a series of deletion and insertion mixed together with a very
 215few lines that happen to match textually as the context, but as a
 216single deletion of everything old followed by a single insertion of
 217everything new, and the number `m` controls this aspect of the -B
 218option (defaults to 60%). `-B/70%` specifies that less than 30% of the
 219original should remain in the result for git to consider it a total
 220rewrite (i.e. otherwise the resulting patch will be a series of
 221deletion and insertion mixed together with context lines).
 222+
 223When used with -M, a totally-rewritten file is also considered as the
 224source of a rename (usually -M only considers a file that disappeared
 225as the source of a rename), and the number `n` controls this aspect of
 226the -B option (defaults to 50%). `-B20%` specifies that a change with
 227addition and deletion compared to 20% or more of the file's size are
 228eligible for being picked up as a possible source of a rename to
 229another file.
 230
 231-M[<n>]::
 232ifndef::git-log[]
 233        Detect renames.
 234endif::git-log[]
 235ifdef::git-log[]
 236        If generating diffs, detect and report renames for each commit.
 237        For following files across renames while traversing history, see
 238        `--follow`.
 239endif::git-log[]
 240        If `n` is specified, it is a is a threshold on the similarity
 241        index (i.e. amount of addition/deletions compared to the
 242        file's size). For example, `-M90%` means git should consider a
 243        delete/add pair to be a rename if more than 90% of the file
 244        hasn't changed.
 245
 246-C[<n>]::
 247        Detect copies as well as renames.  See also `--find-copies-harder`.
 248        If `n` is specified, it has the same meaning as for `-M<n>`.
 249
 250--find-copies-harder::
 251        For performance reasons, by default, `-C` option finds copies only
 252        if the original file of the copy was modified in the same
 253        changeset.  This flag makes the command
 254        inspect unmodified files as candidates for the source of
 255        copy.  This is a very expensive operation for large
 256        projects, so use it with caution.  Giving more than one
 257        `-C` option has the same effect.
 258
 259-l<num>::
 260        The `-M` and `-C` options require O(n^2) processing time where n
 261        is the number of potential rename/copy targets.  This
 262        option prevents rename/copy detection from running if
 263        the number of rename/copy targets exceeds the specified
 264        number.
 265
 266ifndef::git-format-patch[]
 267--diff-filter=[(A|C|D|M|R|T|U|X|B)...[*]]::
 268        Select only files that are Added (`A`), Copied (`C`),
 269        Deleted (`D`), Modified (`M`), Renamed (`R`), have their
 270        type (i.e. regular file, symlink, submodule, ...) changed (`T`),
 271        are Unmerged (`U`), are
 272        Unknown (`X`), or have had their pairing Broken (`B`).
 273        Any combination of the filter characters (including none) can be used.
 274        When `*` (All-or-none) is added to the combination, all
 275        paths are selected if there is any file that matches
 276        other criteria in the comparison; if there is no file
 277        that matches other criteria, nothing is selected.
 278
 279-S<string>::
 280        Look for differences that introduce or remove an instance of
 281        <string>. Note that this is different than the string simply
 282        appearing in diff output; see the 'pickaxe' entry in
 283        linkgit:gitdiffcore[7] for more details.
 284
 285--pickaxe-all::
 286        When `-S` finds a change, show all the changes in that
 287        changeset, not just the files that contain the change
 288        in <string>.
 289
 290--pickaxe-regex::
 291        Make the <string> not a plain string but an extended POSIX
 292        regex to match.
 293endif::git-format-patch[]
 294
 295-O<orderfile>::
 296        Output the patch in the order specified in the
 297        <orderfile>, which has one shell glob pattern per line.
 298
 299ifndef::git-format-patch[]
 300-R::
 301        Swap two inputs; that is, show differences from index or
 302        on-disk file to tree contents.
 303
 304--relative[=<path>]::
 305        When run from a subdirectory of the project, it can be
 306        told to exclude changes outside the directory and show
 307        pathnames relative to it with this option.  When you are
 308        not in a subdirectory (e.g. in a bare repository), you
 309        can name which subdirectory to make the output relative
 310        to by giving a <path> as an argument.
 311endif::git-format-patch[]
 312
 313-a::
 314--text::
 315        Treat all files as text.
 316
 317--ignore-space-at-eol::
 318        Ignore changes in whitespace at EOL.
 319
 320-b::
 321--ignore-space-change::
 322        Ignore changes in amount of whitespace.  This ignores whitespace
 323        at line end, and considers all other sequences of one or
 324        more whitespace characters to be equivalent.
 325
 326-w::
 327--ignore-all-space::
 328        Ignore whitespace when comparing lines.  This ignores
 329        differences even if one line has whitespace where the other
 330        line has none.
 331
 332--inter-hunk-context=<lines>::
 333        Show the context between diff hunks, up to the specified number
 334        of lines, thereby fusing hunks that are close to each other.
 335
 336ifndef::git-format-patch[]
 337--exit-code::
 338        Make the program exit with codes similar to diff(1).
 339        That is, it exits with 1 if there were differences and
 340        0 means no differences.
 341
 342--quiet::
 343        Disable all output of the program. Implies `--exit-code`.
 344endif::git-format-patch[]
 345
 346--ext-diff::
 347        Allow an external diff helper to be executed. If you set an
 348        external diff driver with linkgit:gitattributes[5], you need
 349        to use this option with linkgit:git-log[1] and friends.
 350
 351--no-ext-diff::
 352        Disallow external diff drivers.
 353
 354--ignore-submodules[=<when>]::
 355        Ignore changes to submodules in the diff generation. <when> can be
 356        either "none", "untracked", "dirty" or "all", which is the default
 357        Using "none" will consider the submodule modified when it either contains
 358        untracked or modified files or its HEAD differs from the commit recorded
 359        in the superproject and can be used to override any settings of the
 360        'ignore' option in linkgit:git-config[1] or linkgit:gitmodules[5]. When
 361        "untracked" is used submodules are not considered dirty when they only
 362        contain untracked content (but they are still scanned for modified
 363        content). Using "dirty" ignores all changes to the work tree of submodules,
 364        only changes to the commits stored in the superproject are shown (this was
 365        the behavior until 1.7.0). Using "all" hides all changes to submodules.
 366
 367--src-prefix=<prefix>::
 368        Show the given source prefix instead of "a/".
 369
 370--dst-prefix=<prefix>::
 371        Show the given destination prefix instead of "b/".
 372
 373--no-prefix::
 374        Do not show any source or destination prefix.
 375
 376For more detailed explanation on these common options, see also
 377linkgit:gitdiffcore[7].