1git-diff(1) 2=========== 3 4NAME 5---- 6git-diff - Show changes between commits, commit and working tree, etc 7 8 9SYNOPSIS 10-------- 11[verse] 12'git diff' [options] [<commit>] [--] [<path>...] 13'git diff' [options] --cached [<commit>] [--] [<path>...] 14'git diff' [options] <commit> <commit> [--] [<path>...] 15'git diff' [options] [--no-index] [--] <path> <path> 16 17DESCRIPTION 18----------- 19Show changes between the working tree and the index or a tree, changes 20between the index and a tree, changes between two trees, or changes 21between two files on disk. 22 23'git diff' [--options] [--] [<path>...]:: 24 25 This form is to view the changes you made relative to 26 the index (staging area for the next commit). In other 27 words, the differences are what you _could_ tell git to 28 further add to the index but you still haven't. You can 29 stage these changes by using linkgit:git-add[1]. 30+ 31If exactly two paths are given and at least one points outside 32the current repository, 'git diff' will compare the two files / 33directories. This behavior can be forced by --no-index. 34 35'git diff' [--options] --cached [<commit>] [--] [<path>...]:: 36 37 This form is to view the changes you staged for the next 38 commit relative to the named <commit>. Typically you 39 would want comparison with the latest commit, so if you 40 do not give <commit>, it defaults to HEAD. 41 --staged is a synonym of --cached. 42 43'git diff' [--options] <commit> [--] [<path>...]:: 44 45 This form is to view the changes you have in your 46 working tree relative to the named <commit>. You can 47 use HEAD to compare it with the latest commit, or a 48 branch name to compare with the tip of a different 49 branch. 50 51'git diff' [--options] <commit> <commit> [--] [<path>...]:: 52 53 This is to view the changes between two arbitrary 54 <commit>. 55 56'git diff' [--options] <commit>..<commit> [--] [<path>...]:: 57 58 This is synonymous to the previous form. If <commit> on 59 one side is omitted, it will have the same effect as 60 using HEAD instead. 61 62'git diff' [--options] <commit>\...<commit> [--] [<path>...]:: 63 64 This form is to view the changes on the branch containing 65 and up to the second <commit>, starting at a common ancestor 66 of both <commit>. "git diff A\...B" is equivalent to 67 "git diff $(git-merge-base A B) B". You can omit any one 68 of <commit>, which has the same effect as using HEAD instead. 69 70Just in case if you are doing something exotic, it should be 71noted that all of the <commit> in the above description, except 72in the last two forms that use ".." notations, can be any 73<tree>. The third form ('git diff <commit> <commit>') can also 74be used to compare two <blob> objects. 75 76For a more complete list of ways to spell <commit>, see 77"SPECIFYING REVISIONS" section in linkgit:gitrevisions[7]. 78However, "diff" is about comparing two _endpoints_, not ranges, 79and the range notations ("<commit>..<commit>" and 80"<commit>\...<commit>") do not mean a range as defined in the 81"SPECIFYING RANGES" section in linkgit:gitrevisions[7]. 82 83OPTIONS 84------- 85:git-diff: 1 86include::diff-options.txt[] 87 88<path>...:: 89 The <paths> parameters, when given, are used to limit 90 the diff to the named paths (you can give directory 91 names and get diff for all files under them). 92 93 94include::diff-format.txt[] 95 96EXAMPLES 97-------- 98 99Various ways to check your working tree:: 100+ 101------------ 102$ git diff <1> 103$ git diff --cached <2> 104$ git diff HEAD <3> 105------------ 106+ 107<1> Changes in the working tree not yet staged for the next commit. 108<2> Changes between the index and your last commit; what you 109would be committing if you run "git commit" without "-a" option. 110<3> Changes in the working tree since your last commit; what you 111would be committing if you run "git commit -a" 112 113Comparing with arbitrary commits:: 114+ 115------------ 116$ git diff test <1> 117$ git diff HEAD -- ./test <2> 118$ git diff HEAD^ HEAD <3> 119------------ 120+ 121<1> Instead of using the tip of the current branch, compare with the 122tip of "test" branch. 123<2> Instead of comparing with the tip of "test" branch, compare with 124the tip of the current branch, but limit the comparison to the 125file "test". 126<3> Compare the version before the last commit and the last commit. 127 128Comparing branches:: 129+ 130------------ 131$ git diff topic master <1> 132$ git diff topic..master <2> 133$ git diff topic...master <3> 134------------ 135+ 136<1> Changes between the tips of the topic and the master branches. 137<2> Same as above. 138<3> Changes that occurred on the master branch since when the topic 139branch was started off it. 140 141Limiting the diff output:: 142+ 143------------ 144$ git diff --diff-filter=MRC <1> 145$ git diff --name-status <2> 146$ git diff arch/i386 include/asm-i386 <3> 147------------ 148+ 149<1> Show only modification, rename and copy, but not addition 150nor deletion. 151<2> Show only names and the nature of change, but not actual 152diff output. 153<3> Limit diff output to named subtrees. 154 155Munging the diff output:: 156+ 157------------ 158$ git diff --find-copies-harder -B -C <1> 159$ git diff -R <2> 160------------ 161+ 162<1> Spend extra cycles to find renames, copies and complete 163rewrites (very expensive). 164<2> Output diff in reverse. 165 166SEE ALSO 167-------- 168diff(1), 169linkgit:git-difftool[1], 170linkgit:git-log[1], 171linkgit:gitdiffcore[7], 172linkgit:git-format-patch[1], 173linkgit:git-apply[1] 174 175Author 176------ 177Written by Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org> 178 179Documentation 180-------------- 181Documentation by Junio C Hamano and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>. 182 183GIT 184--- 185Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite