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