Documentation / diff-options.txton commit Merge branch 'sb/xdiff-remove-unused-static-decl' (b273595)
   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).
  26ifdef::git-diff[]
  27        This is the default.
  28endif::git-diff[]
  29
  30-s::
  31--no-patch::
  32        Suppress diff output. Useful for commands like `git show` that
  33        show the patch by default, or to cancel the effect of `--patch`.
  34endif::git-format-patch[]
  35
  36-U<n>::
  37--unified=<n>::
  38        Generate diffs with <n> lines of context instead of
  39        the usual three.
  40ifndef::git-format-patch[]
  41        Implies `-p`.
  42endif::git-format-patch[]
  43
  44ifndef::git-format-patch[]
  45--raw::
  46ifndef::git-log[]
  47        Generate the diff in raw format.
  48ifdef::git-diff-core[]
  49        This is the default.
  50endif::git-diff-core[]
  51endif::git-log[]
  52ifdef::git-log[]
  53        For each commit, show a summary of changes using the raw diff
  54        format. See the "RAW OUTPUT FORMAT" section of
  55        linkgit:git-diff[1]. This is different from showing the log
  56        itself in raw format, which you can achieve with
  57        `--format=raw`.
  58endif::git-log[]
  59endif::git-format-patch[]
  60
  61ifndef::git-format-patch[]
  62--patch-with-raw::
  63        Synonym for `-p --raw`.
  64endif::git-format-patch[]
  65
  66--compaction-heuristic::
  67--no-compaction-heuristic::
  68        These are to help debugging and tuning an experimental
  69        heuristic (which is off by default) that shifts the hunk
  70        boundary in an attempt to make the resulting patch easier
  71        to read.
  72
  73--minimal::
  74        Spend extra time to make sure the smallest possible
  75        diff is produced.
  76
  77--patience::
  78        Generate a diff using the "patience diff" algorithm.
  79
  80--histogram::
  81        Generate a diff using the "histogram diff" algorithm.
  82
  83--diff-algorithm={patience|minimal|histogram|myers}::
  84        Choose a diff algorithm. The variants are as follows:
  85+
  86--
  87`default`, `myers`;;
  88        The basic greedy diff algorithm. Currently, this is the default.
  89`minimal`;;
  90        Spend extra time to make sure the smallest possible diff is
  91        produced.
  92`patience`;;
  93        Use "patience diff" algorithm when generating patches.
  94`histogram`;;
  95        This algorithm extends the patience algorithm to "support
  96        low-occurrence common elements".
  97--
  98+
  99For instance, if you configured diff.algorithm variable to a
 100non-default value and want to use the default one, then you
 101have to use `--diff-algorithm=default` option.
 102
 103--stat[=<width>[,<name-width>[,<count>]]]::
 104        Generate a diffstat. By default, as much space as necessary
 105        will be used for the filename part, and the rest for the graph
 106        part. Maximum width defaults to terminal width, or 80 columns
 107        if not connected to a terminal, and can be overridden by
 108        `<width>`. The width of the filename part can be limited by
 109        giving another width `<name-width>` after a comma. The width
 110        of the graph part can be limited by using
 111        `--stat-graph-width=<width>` (affects all commands generating
 112        a stat graph) or by setting `diff.statGraphWidth=<width>`
 113        (does not affect `git format-patch`).
 114        By giving a third parameter `<count>`, you can limit the
 115        output to the first `<count>` lines, followed by `...` if
 116        there are more.
 117+
 118These parameters can also be set individually with `--stat-width=<width>`,
 119`--stat-name-width=<name-width>` and `--stat-count=<count>`.
 120
 121--numstat::
 122        Similar to `--stat`, but shows number of added and
 123        deleted lines in decimal notation and pathname without
 124        abbreviation, to make it more machine friendly.  For
 125        binary files, outputs two `-` instead of saying
 126        `0 0`.
 127
 128--shortstat::
 129        Output only the last line of the `--stat` format containing total
 130        number of modified files, as well as number of added and deleted
 131        lines.
 132
 133--dirstat[=<param1,param2,...>]::
 134        Output the distribution of relative amount of changes for each
 135        sub-directory. The behavior of `--dirstat` can be customized by
 136        passing it a comma separated list of parameters.
 137        The defaults are controlled by the `diff.dirstat` configuration
 138        variable (see linkgit:git-config[1]).
 139        The following parameters are available:
 140+
 141--
 142`changes`;;
 143        Compute the dirstat numbers by counting the lines that have been
 144        removed from the source, or added to the destination. This ignores
 145        the amount of pure code movements within a file.  In other words,
 146        rearranging lines in a file is not counted as much as other changes.
 147        This is the default behavior when no parameter is given.
 148`lines`;;
 149        Compute the dirstat numbers by doing the regular line-based diff
 150        analysis, and summing the removed/added line counts. (For binary
 151        files, count 64-byte chunks instead, since binary files have no
 152        natural concept of lines). This is a more expensive `--dirstat`
 153        behavior than the `changes` behavior, but it does count rearranged
 154        lines within a file as much as other changes. The resulting output
 155        is consistent with what you get from the other `--*stat` options.
 156`files`;;
 157        Compute the dirstat numbers by counting the number of files changed.
 158        Each changed file counts equally in the dirstat analysis. This is
 159        the computationally cheapest `--dirstat` behavior, since it does
 160        not have to look at the file contents at all.
 161`cumulative`;;
 162        Count changes in a child directory for the parent directory as well.
 163        Note that when using `cumulative`, the sum of the percentages
 164        reported may exceed 100%. The default (non-cumulative) behavior can
 165        be specified with the `noncumulative` parameter.
 166<limit>;;
 167        An integer parameter specifies a cut-off percent (3% by default).
 168        Directories contributing less than this percentage of the changes
 169        are not shown in the output.
 170--
 171+
 172Example: The following will count changed files, while ignoring
 173directories with less than 10% of the total amount of changed files,
 174and accumulating child directory counts in the parent directories:
 175`--dirstat=files,10,cumulative`.
 176
 177--summary::
 178        Output a condensed summary of extended header information
 179        such as creations, renames and mode changes.
 180
 181ifndef::git-format-patch[]
 182--patch-with-stat::
 183        Synonym for `-p --stat`.
 184endif::git-format-patch[]
 185
 186ifndef::git-format-patch[]
 187
 188-z::
 189ifdef::git-log[]
 190        Separate the commits with NULs instead of with new newlines.
 191+
 192Also, when `--raw` or `--numstat` has been given, do not munge
 193pathnames and use NULs as output field terminators.
 194endif::git-log[]
 195ifndef::git-log[]
 196        When `--raw`, `--numstat`, `--name-only` or `--name-status` has been
 197        given, do not munge pathnames and use NULs as output field terminators.
 198endif::git-log[]
 199+
 200Without this option, each pathname output will have TAB, LF, double quotes,
 201and backslash characters replaced with `\t`, `\n`, `\"`, and `\\`,
 202respectively, and the pathname will be enclosed in double quotes if
 203any of those replacements occurred.
 204
 205--name-only::
 206        Show only names of changed files.
 207
 208--name-status::
 209        Show only names and status of changed files. See the description
 210        of the `--diff-filter` option on what the status letters mean.
 211
 212--submodule[=<format>]::
 213        Specify how differences in submodules are shown.  When specifying
 214        `--submodule=short` the 'short' format is used.  This format just
 215        shows the names of the commits at the beginning and end of the range.
 216        When `--submodule` or `--submodule=log` is specified, the 'log'
 217        format is used.  This format lists the commits in the range like
 218        linkgit:git-submodule[1] `summary` does.  When `--submodule=diff`
 219        is specified, the 'diff' format is used.  This format shows an
 220        inline diff of the changes in the submodule contents between the
 221        commit range.  Defaults to `diff.submodule` or the 'short' format
 222        if the config option is unset.
 223
 224--color[=<when>]::
 225        Show colored diff.
 226        `--color` (i.e. without '=<when>') is the same as `--color=always`.
 227        '<when>' can be one of `always`, `never`, or `auto`.
 228ifdef::git-diff[]
 229        It can be changed by the `color.ui` and `color.diff`
 230        configuration settings.
 231endif::git-diff[]
 232
 233--no-color::
 234        Turn off colored diff.
 235ifdef::git-diff[]
 236        This can be used to override configuration settings.
 237endif::git-diff[]
 238        It is the same as `--color=never`.
 239
 240--word-diff[=<mode>]::
 241        Show a word diff, using the <mode> to delimit changed words.
 242        By default, words are delimited by whitespace; see
 243        `--word-diff-regex` below.  The <mode> defaults to 'plain', and
 244        must be one of:
 245+
 246--
 247color::
 248        Highlight changed words using only colors.  Implies `--color`.
 249plain::
 250        Show words as `[-removed-]` and `{+added+}`.  Makes no
 251        attempts to escape the delimiters if they appear in the input,
 252        so the output may be ambiguous.
 253porcelain::
 254        Use a special line-based format intended for script
 255        consumption.  Added/removed/unchanged runs are printed in the
 256        usual unified diff format, starting with a `+`/`-`/` `
 257        character at the beginning of the line and extending to the
 258        end of the line.  Newlines in the input are represented by a
 259        tilde `~` on a line of its own.
 260none::
 261        Disable word diff again.
 262--
 263+
 264Note that despite the name of the first mode, color is used to
 265highlight the changed parts in all modes if enabled.
 266
 267--word-diff-regex=<regex>::
 268        Use <regex> to decide what a word is, instead of considering
 269        runs of non-whitespace to be a word.  Also implies
 270        `--word-diff` unless it was already enabled.
 271+
 272Every non-overlapping match of the
 273<regex> is considered a word.  Anything between these matches is
 274considered whitespace and ignored(!) for the purposes of finding
 275differences.  You may want to append `|[^[:space:]]` to your regular
 276expression to make sure that it matches all non-whitespace characters.
 277A match that contains a newline is silently truncated(!) at the
 278newline.
 279+
 280For example, `--word-diff-regex=.` will treat each character as a word
 281and, correspondingly, show differences character by character.
 282+
 283The regex can also be set via a diff driver or configuration option, see
 284linkgit:gitattributes[5] or linkgit:git-config[1].  Giving it explicitly
 285overrides any diff driver or configuration setting.  Diff drivers
 286override configuration settings.
 287
 288--color-words[=<regex>]::
 289        Equivalent to `--word-diff=color` plus (if a regex was
 290        specified) `--word-diff-regex=<regex>`.
 291endif::git-format-patch[]
 292
 293--no-renames::
 294        Turn off rename detection, even when the configuration
 295        file gives the default to do so.
 296
 297ifndef::git-format-patch[]
 298--check::
 299        Warn if changes introduce conflict markers or whitespace errors.
 300        What are considered whitespace errors is controlled by `core.whitespace`
 301        configuration.  By default, trailing whitespaces (including
 302        lines that solely consist of whitespaces) and a space character
 303        that is immediately followed by a tab character inside the
 304        initial indent of the line are considered whitespace errors.
 305        Exits with non-zero status if problems are found. Not compatible
 306        with --exit-code.
 307
 308--ws-error-highlight=<kind>::
 309        Highlight whitespace errors on lines specified by <kind>
 310        in the color specified by `color.diff.whitespace`.  <kind>
 311        is a comma separated list of `old`, `new`, `context`.  When
 312        this option is not given, only whitespace errors in `new`
 313        lines are highlighted.  E.g. `--ws-error-highlight=new,old`
 314        highlights whitespace errors on both deleted and added lines.
 315        `all` can be used as a short-hand for `old,new,context`.
 316
 317endif::git-format-patch[]
 318
 319--full-index::
 320        Instead of the first handful of characters, show the full
 321        pre- and post-image blob object names on the "index"
 322        line when generating patch format output.
 323
 324--binary::
 325        In addition to `--full-index`, output a binary diff that
 326        can be applied with `git-apply`.
 327
 328--abbrev[=<n>]::
 329        Instead of showing the full 40-byte hexadecimal object
 330        name in diff-raw format output and diff-tree header
 331        lines, show only a partial prefix.  This is
 332        independent of the `--full-index` option above, which controls
 333        the diff-patch output format.  Non default number of
 334        digits can be specified with `--abbrev=<n>`.
 335
 336-B[<n>][/<m>]::
 337--break-rewrites[=[<n>][/<m>]]::
 338        Break complete rewrite changes into pairs of delete and
 339        create. This serves two purposes:
 340+
 341It affects the way a change that amounts to a total rewrite of a file
 342not as a series of deletion and insertion mixed together with a very
 343few lines that happen to match textually as the context, but as a
 344single deletion of everything old followed by a single insertion of
 345everything new, and the number `m` controls this aspect of the -B
 346option (defaults to 60%). `-B/70%` specifies that less than 30% of the
 347original should remain in the result for Git to consider it a total
 348rewrite (i.e. otherwise the resulting patch will be a series of
 349deletion and insertion mixed together with context lines).
 350+
 351When used with -M, a totally-rewritten file is also considered as the
 352source of a rename (usually -M only considers a file that disappeared
 353as the source of a rename), and the number `n` controls this aspect of
 354the -B option (defaults to 50%). `-B20%` specifies that a change with
 355addition and deletion compared to 20% or more of the file's size are
 356eligible for being picked up as a possible source of a rename to
 357another file.
 358
 359-M[<n>]::
 360--find-renames[=<n>]::
 361ifndef::git-log[]
 362        Detect renames.
 363endif::git-log[]
 364ifdef::git-log[]
 365        If generating diffs, detect and report renames for each commit.
 366        For following files across renames while traversing history, see
 367        `--follow`.
 368endif::git-log[]
 369        If `n` is specified, it is a threshold on the similarity
 370        index (i.e. amount of addition/deletions compared to the
 371        file's size). For example, `-M90%` means Git should consider a
 372        delete/add pair to be a rename if more than 90% of the file
 373        hasn't changed.  Without a `%` sign, the number is to be read as
 374        a fraction, with a decimal point before it.  I.e., `-M5` becomes
 375        0.5, and is thus the same as `-M50%`.  Similarly, `-M05` is
 376        the same as `-M5%`.  To limit detection to exact renames, use
 377        `-M100%`.  The default similarity index is 50%.
 378
 379-C[<n>]::
 380--find-copies[=<n>]::
 381        Detect copies as well as renames.  See also `--find-copies-harder`.
 382        If `n` is specified, it has the same meaning as for `-M<n>`.
 383
 384--find-copies-harder::
 385        For performance reasons, by default, `-C` option finds copies only
 386        if the original file of the copy was modified in the same
 387        changeset.  This flag makes the command
 388        inspect unmodified files as candidates for the source of
 389        copy.  This is a very expensive operation for large
 390        projects, so use it with caution.  Giving more than one
 391        `-C` option has the same effect.
 392
 393-D::
 394--irreversible-delete::
 395        Omit the preimage for deletes, i.e. print only the header but not
 396        the diff between the preimage and `/dev/null`. The resulting patch
 397        is not meant to be applied with `patch` or `git apply`; this is
 398        solely for people who want to just concentrate on reviewing the
 399        text after the change. In addition, the output obviously lack
 400        enough information to apply such a patch in reverse, even manually,
 401        hence the name of the option.
 402+
 403When used together with `-B`, omit also the preimage in the deletion part
 404of a delete/create pair.
 405
 406-l<num>::
 407        The `-M` and `-C` options require O(n^2) processing time where n
 408        is the number of potential rename/copy targets.  This
 409        option prevents rename/copy detection from running if
 410        the number of rename/copy targets exceeds the specified
 411        number.
 412
 413ifndef::git-format-patch[]
 414--diff-filter=[(A|C|D|M|R|T|U|X|B)...[*]]::
 415        Select only files that are Added (`A`), Copied (`C`),
 416        Deleted (`D`), Modified (`M`), Renamed (`R`), have their
 417        type (i.e. regular file, symlink, submodule, ...) changed (`T`),
 418        are Unmerged (`U`), are
 419        Unknown (`X`), or have had their pairing Broken (`B`).
 420        Any combination of the filter characters (including none) can be used.
 421        When `*` (All-or-none) is added to the combination, all
 422        paths are selected if there is any file that matches
 423        other criteria in the comparison; if there is no file
 424        that matches other criteria, nothing is selected.
 425+
 426Also, these upper-case letters can be downcased to exclude.  E.g.
 427`--diff-filter=ad` excludes added and deleted paths.
 428
 429-S<string>::
 430        Look for differences that change the number of occurrences of
 431        the specified string (i.e. addition/deletion) in a file.
 432        Intended for the scripter's use.
 433+
 434It is useful when you're looking for an exact block of code (like a
 435struct), and want to know the history of that block since it first
 436came into being: use the feature iteratively to feed the interesting
 437block in the preimage back into `-S`, and keep going until you get the
 438very first version of the block.
 439
 440-G<regex>::
 441        Look for differences whose patch text contains added/removed
 442        lines that match <regex>.
 443+
 444To illustrate the difference between `-S<regex> --pickaxe-regex` and
 445`-G<regex>`, consider a commit with the following diff in the same
 446file:
 447+
 448----
 449+    return !regexec(regexp, two->ptr, 1, &regmatch, 0);
 450...
 451-    hit = !regexec(regexp, mf2.ptr, 1, &regmatch, 0);
 452----
 453+
 454While `git log -G"regexec\(regexp"` will show this commit, `git log
 455-S"regexec\(regexp" --pickaxe-regex` will not (because the number of
 456occurrences of that string did not change).
 457+
 458See the 'pickaxe' entry in linkgit:gitdiffcore[7] for more
 459information.
 460
 461--pickaxe-all::
 462        When `-S` or `-G` finds a change, show all the changes in that
 463        changeset, not just the files that contain the change
 464        in <string>.
 465
 466--pickaxe-regex::
 467        Treat the <string> given to `-S` as an extended POSIX regular
 468        expression to match.
 469endif::git-format-patch[]
 470
 471-O<orderfile>::
 472        Output the patch in the order specified in the
 473        <orderfile>, which has one shell glob pattern per line.
 474        This overrides the `diff.orderFile` configuration variable
 475        (see linkgit:git-config[1]).  To cancel `diff.orderFile`,
 476        use `-O/dev/null`.
 477
 478ifndef::git-format-patch[]
 479-R::
 480        Swap two inputs; that is, show differences from index or
 481        on-disk file to tree contents.
 482
 483--relative[=<path>]::
 484        When run from a subdirectory of the project, it can be
 485        told to exclude changes outside the directory and show
 486        pathnames relative to it with this option.  When you are
 487        not in a subdirectory (e.g. in a bare repository), you
 488        can name which subdirectory to make the output relative
 489        to by giving a <path> as an argument.
 490endif::git-format-patch[]
 491
 492-a::
 493--text::
 494        Treat all files as text.
 495
 496--ignore-space-at-eol::
 497        Ignore changes in whitespace at EOL.
 498
 499-b::
 500--ignore-space-change::
 501        Ignore changes in amount of whitespace.  This ignores whitespace
 502        at line end, and considers all other sequences of one or
 503        more whitespace characters to be equivalent.
 504
 505-w::
 506--ignore-all-space::
 507        Ignore whitespace when comparing lines.  This ignores
 508        differences even if one line has whitespace where the other
 509        line has none.
 510
 511--ignore-blank-lines::
 512        Ignore changes whose lines are all blank.
 513
 514--inter-hunk-context=<lines>::
 515        Show the context between diff hunks, up to the specified number
 516        of lines, thereby fusing hunks that are close to each other.
 517
 518-W::
 519--function-context::
 520        Show whole surrounding functions of changes.
 521
 522ifndef::git-format-patch[]
 523ifndef::git-log[]
 524--exit-code::
 525        Make the program exit with codes similar to diff(1).
 526        That is, it exits with 1 if there were differences and
 527        0 means no differences.
 528
 529--quiet::
 530        Disable all output of the program. Implies `--exit-code`.
 531endif::git-log[]
 532endif::git-format-patch[]
 533
 534--ext-diff::
 535        Allow an external diff helper to be executed. If you set an
 536        external diff driver with linkgit:gitattributes[5], you need
 537        to use this option with linkgit:git-log[1] and friends.
 538
 539--no-ext-diff::
 540        Disallow external diff drivers.
 541
 542--textconv::
 543--no-textconv::
 544        Allow (or disallow) external text conversion filters to be run
 545        when comparing binary files. See linkgit:gitattributes[5] for
 546        details. Because textconv filters are typically a one-way
 547        conversion, the resulting diff is suitable for human
 548        consumption, but cannot be applied. For this reason, textconv
 549        filters are enabled by default only for linkgit:git-diff[1] and
 550        linkgit:git-log[1], but not for linkgit:git-format-patch[1] or
 551        diff plumbing commands.
 552
 553--ignore-submodules[=<when>]::
 554        Ignore changes to submodules in the diff generation. <when> can be
 555        either "none", "untracked", "dirty" or "all", which is the default.
 556        Using "none" will consider the submodule modified when it either contains
 557        untracked or modified files or its HEAD differs from the commit recorded
 558        in the superproject and can be used to override any settings of the
 559        'ignore' option in linkgit:git-config[1] or linkgit:gitmodules[5]. When
 560        "untracked" is used submodules are not considered dirty when they only
 561        contain untracked content (but they are still scanned for modified
 562        content). Using "dirty" ignores all changes to the work tree of submodules,
 563        only changes to the commits stored in the superproject are shown (this was
 564        the behavior until 1.7.0). Using "all" hides all changes to submodules.
 565
 566--src-prefix=<prefix>::
 567        Show the given source prefix instead of "a/".
 568
 569--dst-prefix=<prefix>::
 570        Show the given destination prefix instead of "b/".
 571
 572--no-prefix::
 573        Do not show any source or destination prefix.
 574
 575--line-prefix=<prefix>::
 576        Prepend an additional prefix to every line of output.
 577
 578For more detailed explanation on these common options, see also
 579linkgit:gitdiffcore[7].