Documentation / diff-options.txton commit Merge branch 'jk/argv-array' (871313c)
   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.
 174
 175--color[=<when>]::
 176        Show colored diff.
 177        The value must be `always` (the default for `<when>`), `never`, or `auto`.
 178        The default value is `never`.
 179ifdef::git-diff[]
 180        It can be changed by the `color.ui` and `color.diff`
 181        configuration settings.
 182endif::git-diff[]
 183
 184--no-color::
 185        Turn off colored diff.
 186ifdef::git-diff[]
 187        This can be used to override configuration settings.
 188endif::git-diff[]
 189        It is the same as `--color=never`.
 190
 191--word-diff[=<mode>]::
 192        Show a word diff, using the <mode> to delimit changed words.
 193        By default, words are delimited by whitespace; see
 194        `--word-diff-regex` below.  The <mode> defaults to 'plain', and
 195        must be one of:
 196+
 197--
 198color::
 199        Highlight changed words using only colors.  Implies `--color`.
 200plain::
 201        Show words as `[-removed-]` and `{+added+}`.  Makes no
 202        attempts to escape the delimiters if they appear in the input,
 203        so the output may be ambiguous.
 204porcelain::
 205        Use a special line-based format intended for script
 206        consumption.  Added/removed/unchanged runs are printed in the
 207        usual unified diff format, starting with a `+`/`-`/` `
 208        character at the beginning of the line and extending to the
 209        end of the line.  Newlines in the input are represented by a
 210        tilde `~` on a line of its own.
 211none::
 212        Disable word diff again.
 213--
 214+
 215Note that despite the name of the first mode, color is used to
 216highlight the changed parts in all modes if enabled.
 217
 218--word-diff-regex=<regex>::
 219        Use <regex> to decide what a word is, instead of considering
 220        runs of non-whitespace to be a word.  Also implies
 221        `--word-diff` unless it was already enabled.
 222+
 223Every non-overlapping match of the
 224<regex> is considered a word.  Anything between these matches is
 225considered whitespace and ignored(!) for the purposes of finding
 226differences.  You may want to append `|[^[:space:]]` to your regular
 227expression to make sure that it matches all non-whitespace characters.
 228A match that contains a newline is silently truncated(!) at the
 229newline.
 230+
 231The regex can also be set via a diff driver or configuration option, see
 232linkgit:gitattributes[1] or linkgit:git-config[1].  Giving it explicitly
 233overrides any diff driver or configuration setting.  Diff drivers
 234override configuration settings.
 235
 236--color-words[=<regex>]::
 237        Equivalent to `--word-diff=color` plus (if a regex was
 238        specified) `--word-diff-regex=<regex>`.
 239endif::git-format-patch[]
 240
 241--no-renames::
 242        Turn off rename detection, even when the configuration
 243        file gives the default to do so.
 244
 245ifndef::git-format-patch[]
 246--check::
 247        Warn if changes introduce whitespace errors.  What are
 248        considered whitespace errors is controlled by `core.whitespace`
 249        configuration.  By default, trailing whitespaces (including
 250        lines that solely consist of whitespaces) and a space character
 251        that is immediately followed by a tab character inside the
 252        initial indent of the line are considered whitespace errors.
 253        Exits with non-zero status if problems are found. Not compatible
 254        with --exit-code.
 255endif::git-format-patch[]
 256
 257--full-index::
 258        Instead of the first handful of characters, show the full
 259        pre- and post-image blob object names on the "index"
 260        line when generating patch format output.
 261
 262--binary::
 263        In addition to `--full-index`, output a binary diff that
 264        can be applied with `git-apply`.
 265
 266--abbrev[=<n>]::
 267        Instead of showing the full 40-byte hexadecimal object
 268        name in diff-raw format output and diff-tree header
 269        lines, show only a partial prefix.  This is
 270        independent of the `--full-index` option above, which controls
 271        the diff-patch output format.  Non default number of
 272        digits can be specified with `--abbrev=<n>`.
 273
 274-B[<n>][/<m>]::
 275--break-rewrites[=[<n>][/<m>]]::
 276        Break complete rewrite changes into pairs of delete and
 277        create. This serves two purposes:
 278+
 279It affects the way a change that amounts to a total rewrite of a file
 280not as a series of deletion and insertion mixed together with a very
 281few lines that happen to match textually as the context, but as a
 282single deletion of everything old followed by a single insertion of
 283everything new, and the number `m` controls this aspect of the -B
 284option (defaults to 60%). `-B/70%` specifies that less than 30% of the
 285original should remain in the result for git to consider it a total
 286rewrite (i.e. otherwise the resulting patch will be a series of
 287deletion and insertion mixed together with context lines).
 288+
 289When used with -M, a totally-rewritten file is also considered as the
 290source of a rename (usually -M only considers a file that disappeared
 291as the source of a rename), and the number `n` controls this aspect of
 292the -B option (defaults to 50%). `-B20%` specifies that a change with
 293addition and deletion compared to 20% or more of the file's size are
 294eligible for being picked up as a possible source of a rename to
 295another file.
 296
 297-M[<n>]::
 298--find-renames[=<n>]::
 299ifndef::git-log[]
 300        Detect renames.
 301endif::git-log[]
 302ifdef::git-log[]
 303        If generating diffs, detect and report renames for each commit.
 304        For following files across renames while traversing history, see
 305        `--follow`.
 306endif::git-log[]
 307        If `n` is specified, it is a threshold on the similarity
 308        index (i.e. amount of addition/deletions compared to the
 309        file's size). For example, `-M90%` means git should consider a
 310        delete/add pair to be a rename if more than 90% of the file
 311        hasn't changed.
 312
 313-C[<n>]::
 314--find-copies[=<n>]::
 315        Detect copies as well as renames.  See also `--find-copies-harder`.
 316        If `n` is specified, it has the same meaning as for `-M<n>`.
 317
 318--find-copies-harder::
 319        For performance reasons, by default, `-C` option finds copies only
 320        if the original file of the copy was modified in the same
 321        changeset.  This flag makes the command
 322        inspect unmodified files as candidates for the source of
 323        copy.  This is a very expensive operation for large
 324        projects, so use it with caution.  Giving more than one
 325        `-C` option has the same effect.
 326
 327-D::
 328--irreversible-delete::
 329        Omit the preimage for deletes, i.e. print only the header but not
 330        the diff between the preimage and `/dev/null`. The resulting patch
 331        is not meant to be applied with `patch` nor `git apply`; this is
 332        solely for people who want to just concentrate on reviewing the
 333        text after the change. In addition, the output obviously lack
 334        enough information to apply such a patch in reverse, even manually,
 335        hence the name of the option.
 336+
 337When used together with `-B`, omit also the preimage in the deletion part
 338of a delete/create pair.
 339
 340-l<num>::
 341        The `-M` and `-C` options require O(n^2) processing time where n
 342        is the number of potential rename/copy targets.  This
 343        option prevents rename/copy detection from running if
 344        the number of rename/copy targets exceeds the specified
 345        number.
 346
 347ifndef::git-format-patch[]
 348--diff-filter=[(A|C|D|M|R|T|U|X|B)...[*]]::
 349        Select only files that are Added (`A`), Copied (`C`),
 350        Deleted (`D`), Modified (`M`), Renamed (`R`), have their
 351        type (i.e. regular file, symlink, submodule, ...) changed (`T`),
 352        are Unmerged (`U`), are
 353        Unknown (`X`), or have had their pairing Broken (`B`).
 354        Any combination of the filter characters (including none) can be used.
 355        When `*` (All-or-none) is added to the combination, all
 356        paths are selected if there is any file that matches
 357        other criteria in the comparison; if there is no file
 358        that matches other criteria, nothing is selected.
 359
 360-S<string>::
 361        Look for differences that introduce or remove an instance of
 362        <string>. Note that this is different than the string simply
 363        appearing in diff output; see the 'pickaxe' entry in
 364        linkgit:gitdiffcore[7] for more details.
 365
 366-G<regex>::
 367        Look for differences whose added or removed line matches
 368        the given <regex>.
 369
 370--pickaxe-all::
 371        When `-S` or `-G` finds a change, show all the changes in that
 372        changeset, not just the files that contain the change
 373        in <string>.
 374
 375--pickaxe-regex::
 376        Make the <string> not a plain string but an extended POSIX
 377        regex to match.
 378endif::git-format-patch[]
 379
 380-O<orderfile>::
 381        Output the patch in the order specified in the
 382        <orderfile>, which has one shell glob pattern per line.
 383
 384ifndef::git-format-patch[]
 385-R::
 386        Swap two inputs; that is, show differences from index or
 387        on-disk file to tree contents.
 388
 389--relative[=<path>]::
 390        When run from a subdirectory of the project, it can be
 391        told to exclude changes outside the directory and show
 392        pathnames relative to it with this option.  When you are
 393        not in a subdirectory (e.g. in a bare repository), you
 394        can name which subdirectory to make the output relative
 395        to by giving a <path> as an argument.
 396endif::git-format-patch[]
 397
 398-a::
 399--text::
 400        Treat all files as text.
 401
 402--ignore-space-at-eol::
 403        Ignore changes in whitespace at EOL.
 404
 405-b::
 406--ignore-space-change::
 407        Ignore changes in amount of whitespace.  This ignores whitespace
 408        at line end, and considers all other sequences of one or
 409        more whitespace characters to be equivalent.
 410
 411-w::
 412--ignore-all-space::
 413        Ignore whitespace when comparing lines.  This ignores
 414        differences even if one line has whitespace where the other
 415        line has none.
 416
 417--inter-hunk-context=<lines>::
 418        Show the context between diff hunks, up to the specified number
 419        of lines, thereby fusing hunks that are close to each other.
 420
 421-W::
 422--function-context::
 423        Show whole surrounding functions of changes.
 424
 425ifndef::git-format-patch[]
 426ifndef::git-log[]
 427--exit-code::
 428        Make the program exit with codes similar to diff(1).
 429        That is, it exits with 1 if there were differences and
 430        0 means no differences.
 431
 432--quiet::
 433        Disable all output of the program. Implies `--exit-code`.
 434endif::git-log[]
 435endif::git-format-patch[]
 436
 437--ext-diff::
 438        Allow an external diff helper to be executed. If you set an
 439        external diff driver with linkgit:gitattributes[5], you need
 440        to use this option with linkgit:git-log[1] and friends.
 441
 442--no-ext-diff::
 443        Disallow external diff drivers.
 444
 445--textconv::
 446--no-textconv::
 447        Allow (or disallow) external text conversion filters to be run
 448        when comparing binary files. See linkgit:gitattributes[5] for
 449        details. Because textconv filters are typically a one-way
 450        conversion, the resulting diff is suitable for human
 451        consumption, but cannot be applied. For this reason, textconv
 452        filters are enabled by default only for linkgit:git-diff[1] and
 453        linkgit:git-log[1], but not for linkgit:git-format-patch[1] or
 454        diff plumbing commands.
 455
 456--ignore-submodules[=<when>]::
 457        Ignore changes to submodules in the diff generation. <when> can be
 458        either "none", "untracked", "dirty" or "all", which is the default
 459        Using "none" will consider the submodule modified when it either contains
 460        untracked or modified files or its HEAD differs from the commit recorded
 461        in the superproject and can be used to override any settings of the
 462        'ignore' option in linkgit:git-config[1] or linkgit:gitmodules[5]. When
 463        "untracked" is used submodules are not considered dirty when they only
 464        contain untracked content (but they are still scanned for modified
 465        content). Using "dirty" ignores all changes to the work tree of submodules,
 466        only changes to the commits stored in the superproject are shown (this was
 467        the behavior until 1.7.0). Using "all" hides all changes to submodules.
 468
 469--src-prefix=<prefix>::
 470        Show the given source prefix instead of "a/".
 471
 472--dst-prefix=<prefix>::
 473        Show the given destination prefix instead of "b/".
 474
 475--no-prefix::
 476        Do not show any source or destination prefix.
 477
 478For more detailed explanation on these common options, see also
 479linkgit:gitdiffcore[7].