1git-diff(1) 2=========== 3 4NAME 5---- 6git-diff - Show changes between commits, commit and working tree, etc 7 8 9SYNOPSIS 10-------- 11'git-diff' [ --diff-options ] <tree-ish>{0,2} [<path>...] 12 13DESCRIPTION 14----------- 15Show changes between two trees, a tree and the working tree, a 16tree and the index file, or the index file and the working tree. 17The combination of what is compared with what is determined by 18the number of trees given to the command. 19 20* When no <tree-ish> is given, the working tree and the index 21 file are compared, using `git-diff-files`. 22 23* When one <tree-ish> is given, the working tree and the named 24 tree are compared, using `git-diff-index`. The option 25 `--index` can be given to compare the index file and 26 the named tree. 27 `--cached` is a deprecated alias for `--index`. It's use is 28 discouraged. 29 30* When two <tree-ish>s are given, these two trees are compared 31 using `git-diff-tree`. 32 33OPTIONS 34------- 35--diff-options:: 36 '--diff-options' are passed to the `git-diff-files`, 37 `git-diff-index`, and `git-diff-tree` commands. See the 38 documentation for these commands for description. 39 40<path>...:: 41 The <path> arguments are also passed to `git-diff-\*` 42 commands. 43 44 45EXAMPLES 46-------- 47 48Various ways to check your working tree:: 49+ 50------------ 51$ git diff <1> 52$ git diff --index <2> 53$ git diff HEAD <3> 54------------ 55+ 56<1> changes in the working tree since your last git-update-index. 57<2> changes between the index and your last commit; what you 58would be committing if you run "git commit" without "-a" option. 59<3> changes in the working tree since your last commit; what you 60would be committing if you run "git commit -a" 61 62Comparing with arbitrary commits:: 63+ 64------------ 65$ git diff test <1> 66$ git diff HEAD -- ./test <2> 67$ git diff HEAD^ HEAD <3> 68------------ 69+ 70<1> instead of using the tip of the current branch, compare with the 71tip of "test" branch. 72<2> instead of comparing with the tip of "test" branch, compare with 73the tip of the current branch, but limit the comparison to the 74file "test". 75<3> compare the version before the last commit and the last commit. 76 77 78Limiting the diff output:: 79+ 80------------ 81$ git diff --diff-filter=MRC <1> 82$ git diff --name-status -r <2> 83$ git diff arch/i386 include/asm-i386 <3> 84------------ 85+ 86<1> show only modification, rename and copy, but not addition 87nor deletion. 88<2> show only names and the nature of change, but not actual 89diff output. --name-status disables usual patch generation 90which in turn also disables recursive behavior, so without -r 91you would only see the directory name if there is a change in a 92file in a subdirectory. 93<3> limit diff output to named subtrees. 94 95Munging the diff output:: 96+ 97------------ 98$ git diff --find-copies-harder -B -C <1> 99$ git diff -R <2> 100------------ 101+ 102<1> spend extra cycles to find renames, copies and complete 103rewrites (very expensive). 104<2> output diff in reverse. 105 106 107Author 108------ 109Written by Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org> 110 111Documentation 112-------------- 113Documentation by Junio C Hamano and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>. 114 115GIT 116--- 117Part of the gitlink:git[7] suite 118