Documentation / diff-options.txton commit Merge branch 'bg/t5540-osx-grep' (b43b8a2)
   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--patience::
  49        Generate a diff using the "patience diff" algorithm.
  50
  51--stat[=<width>[,<name-width>[,<count>]]]::
  52        Generate a diffstat.  You can override the default
  53        output width for 80-column terminal by `--stat=<width>`.
  54        The width of the filename part can be controlled by
  55        giving another width to it separated by a comma.
  56        By giving a third parameter `<count>`, you can limit the
  57        output to the first `<count>` lines, followed by
  58        `...` if there are more.
  59+
  60These parameters can also be set individually with `--stat-width=<width>`,
  61`--stat-name-width=<name-width>` and `--stat-count=<count>`.
  62
  63--numstat::
  64        Similar to `\--stat`, but shows number of added and
  65        deleted lines in decimal notation and pathname without
  66        abbreviation, to make it more machine friendly.  For
  67        binary files, outputs two `-` instead of saying
  68        `0 0`.
  69
  70--shortstat::
  71        Output only the last line of the `--stat` format containing total
  72        number of modified files, as well as number of added and deleted
  73        lines.
  74
  75--dirstat[=<param1,param2,...>]::
  76        Output the distribution of relative amount of changes for each
  77        sub-directory. The behavior of `--dirstat` can be customized by
  78        passing it a comma separated list of parameters.
  79        The defaults are controlled by the `diff.dirstat` configuration
  80        variable (see linkgit:git-config[1]).
  81        The following parameters are available:
  82+
  83--
  84`changes`;;
  85        Compute the dirstat numbers by counting the lines that have been
  86        removed from the source, or added to the destination. This ignores
  87        the amount of pure code movements within a file.  In other words,
  88        rearranging lines in a file is not counted as much as other changes.
  89        This is the default behavior when no parameter is given.
  90`lines`;;
  91        Compute the dirstat numbers by doing the regular line-based diff
  92        analysis, and summing the removed/added line counts. (For binary
  93        files, count 64-byte chunks instead, since binary files have no
  94        natural concept of lines). This is a more expensive `--dirstat`
  95        behavior than the `changes` behavior, but it does count rearranged
  96        lines within a file as much as other changes. The resulting output
  97        is consistent with what you get from the other `--*stat` options.
  98`files`;;
  99        Compute the dirstat numbers by counting the number of files changed.
 100        Each changed file counts equally in the dirstat analysis. This is
 101        the computationally cheapest `--dirstat` behavior, since it does
 102        not have to look at the file contents at all.
 103`cumulative`;;
 104        Count changes in a child directory for the parent directory as well.
 105        Note that when using `cumulative`, the sum of the percentages
 106        reported may exceed 100%. The default (non-cumulative) behavior can
 107        be specified with the `noncumulative` parameter.
 108<limit>;;
 109        An integer parameter specifies a cut-off percent (3% by default).
 110        Directories contributing less than this percentage of the changes
 111        are not shown in the output.
 112--
 113+
 114Example: The following will count changed files, while ignoring
 115directories with less than 10% of the total amount of changed files,
 116and accumulating child directory counts in the parent directories:
 117`--dirstat=files,10,cumulative`.
 118
 119--summary::
 120        Output a condensed summary of extended header information
 121        such as creations, renames and mode changes.
 122
 123ifndef::git-format-patch[]
 124--patch-with-stat::
 125        Synonym for `-p --stat`.
 126endif::git-format-patch[]
 127
 128ifndef::git-format-patch[]
 129
 130-z::
 131ifdef::git-log[]
 132        Separate the commits with NULs instead of with new newlines.
 133+
 134Also, when `--raw` or `--numstat` has been given, do not munge
 135pathnames and use NULs as output field terminators.
 136endif::git-log[]
 137ifndef::git-log[]
 138        When `--raw`, `--numstat`, `--name-only` or `--name-status` has been
 139        given, do not munge pathnames and use NULs as output field terminators.
 140endif::git-log[]
 141+
 142Without this option, each pathname output will have TAB, LF, double quotes,
 143and backslash characters replaced with `\t`, `\n`, `\"`, and `\\`,
 144respectively, and the pathname will be enclosed in double quotes if
 145any of those replacements occurred.
 146
 147--name-only::
 148        Show only names of changed files.
 149
 150--name-status::
 151        Show only names and status of changed files. See the description
 152        of the `--diff-filter` option on what the status letters mean.
 153
 154--submodule[=<format>]::
 155        Chose the output format for submodule differences. <format> can be one of
 156        'short' and 'log'. 'short' just shows pairs of commit names, this format
 157        is used when this option is not given. 'log' is the default value for this
 158        option and lists the commits in that commit range like the 'summary'
 159        option of linkgit:git-submodule[1] does.
 160
 161--color[=<when>]::
 162        Show colored diff.
 163        The value must be `always` (the default for `<when>`), `never`, or `auto`.
 164        The default value is `never`.
 165ifdef::git-diff[]
 166        It can be changed by the `color.ui` and `color.diff`
 167        configuration settings.
 168endif::git-diff[]
 169
 170--no-color::
 171        Turn off colored diff.
 172ifdef::git-diff[]
 173        This can be used to override configuration settings.
 174endif::git-diff[]
 175        It is the same as `--color=never`.
 176
 177--word-diff[=<mode>]::
 178        Show a word diff, using the <mode> to delimit changed words.
 179        By default, words are delimited by whitespace; see
 180        `--word-diff-regex` below.  The <mode> defaults to 'plain', and
 181        must be one of:
 182+
 183--
 184color::
 185        Highlight changed words using only colors.  Implies `--color`.
 186plain::
 187        Show words as `[-removed-]` and `{+added+}`.  Makes no
 188        attempts to escape the delimiters if they appear in the input,
 189        so the output may be ambiguous.
 190porcelain::
 191        Use a special line-based format intended for script
 192        consumption.  Added/removed/unchanged runs are printed in the
 193        usual unified diff format, starting with a `+`/`-`/` `
 194        character at the beginning of the line and extending to the
 195        end of the line.  Newlines in the input are represented by a
 196        tilde `~` on a line of its own.
 197none::
 198        Disable word diff again.
 199--
 200+
 201Note that despite the name of the first mode, color is used to
 202highlight the changed parts in all modes if enabled.
 203
 204--word-diff-regex=<regex>::
 205        Use <regex> to decide what a word is, instead of considering
 206        runs of non-whitespace to be a word.  Also implies
 207        `--word-diff` unless it was already enabled.
 208+
 209Every non-overlapping match of the
 210<regex> is considered a word.  Anything between these matches is
 211considered whitespace and ignored(!) for the purposes of finding
 212differences.  You may want to append `|[^[:space:]]` to your regular
 213expression to make sure that it matches all non-whitespace characters.
 214A match that contains a newline is silently truncated(!) at the
 215newline.
 216+
 217The regex can also be set via a diff driver or configuration option, see
 218linkgit:gitattributes[1] or linkgit:git-config[1].  Giving it explicitly
 219overrides any diff driver or configuration setting.  Diff drivers
 220override configuration settings.
 221
 222--color-words[=<regex>]::
 223        Equivalent to `--word-diff=color` plus (if a regex was
 224        specified) `--word-diff-regex=<regex>`.
 225endif::git-format-patch[]
 226
 227--no-renames::
 228        Turn off rename detection, even when the configuration
 229        file gives the default to do so.
 230
 231ifndef::git-format-patch[]
 232--check::
 233        Warn if changes introduce whitespace errors.  What are
 234        considered whitespace errors is controlled by `core.whitespace`
 235        configuration.  By default, trailing whitespaces (including
 236        lines that solely consist of whitespaces) and a space character
 237        that is immediately followed by a tab character inside the
 238        initial indent of the line are considered whitespace errors.
 239        Exits with non-zero status if problems are found. Not compatible
 240        with --exit-code.
 241endif::git-format-patch[]
 242
 243--full-index::
 244        Instead of the first handful of characters, show the full
 245        pre- and post-image blob object names on the "index"
 246        line when generating patch format output.
 247
 248--binary::
 249        In addition to `--full-index`, output a binary diff that
 250        can be applied with `git-apply`.
 251
 252--abbrev[=<n>]::
 253        Instead of showing the full 40-byte hexadecimal object
 254        name in diff-raw format output and diff-tree header
 255        lines, show only a partial prefix.  This is
 256        independent of the `--full-index` option above, which controls
 257        the diff-patch output format.  Non default number of
 258        digits can be specified with `--abbrev=<n>`.
 259
 260-B[<n>][/<m>]::
 261--break-rewrites[=[<n>][/<m>]]::
 262        Break complete rewrite changes into pairs of delete and
 263        create. This serves two purposes:
 264+
 265It affects the way a change that amounts to a total rewrite of a file
 266not as a series of deletion and insertion mixed together with a very
 267few lines that happen to match textually as the context, but as a
 268single deletion of everything old followed by a single insertion of
 269everything new, and the number `m` controls this aspect of the -B
 270option (defaults to 60%). `-B/70%` specifies that less than 30% of the
 271original should remain in the result for git to consider it a total
 272rewrite (i.e. otherwise the resulting patch will be a series of
 273deletion and insertion mixed together with context lines).
 274+
 275When used with -M, a totally-rewritten file is also considered as the
 276source of a rename (usually -M only considers a file that disappeared
 277as the source of a rename), and the number `n` controls this aspect of
 278the -B option (defaults to 50%). `-B20%` specifies that a change with
 279addition and deletion compared to 20% or more of the file's size are
 280eligible for being picked up as a possible source of a rename to
 281another file.
 282
 283-M[<n>]::
 284--find-renames[=<n>]::
 285ifndef::git-log[]
 286        Detect renames.
 287endif::git-log[]
 288ifdef::git-log[]
 289        If generating diffs, detect and report renames for each commit.
 290        For following files across renames while traversing history, see
 291        `--follow`.
 292endif::git-log[]
 293        If `n` is specified, it is a threshold on the similarity
 294        index (i.e. amount of addition/deletions compared to the
 295        file's size). For example, `-M90%` means git should consider a
 296        delete/add pair to be a rename if more than 90% of the file
 297        hasn't changed.
 298
 299-C[<n>]::
 300--find-copies[=<n>]::
 301        Detect copies as well as renames.  See also `--find-copies-harder`.
 302        If `n` is specified, it has the same meaning as for `-M<n>`.
 303
 304--find-copies-harder::
 305        For performance reasons, by default, `-C` option finds copies only
 306        if the original file of the copy was modified in the same
 307        changeset.  This flag makes the command
 308        inspect unmodified files as candidates for the source of
 309        copy.  This is a very expensive operation for large
 310        projects, so use it with caution.  Giving more than one
 311        `-C` option has the same effect.
 312
 313-D::
 314--irreversible-delete::
 315        Omit the preimage for deletes, i.e. print only the header but not
 316        the diff between the preimage and `/dev/null`. The resulting patch
 317        is not meant to be applied with `patch` nor `git apply`; this is
 318        solely for people who want to just concentrate on reviewing the
 319        text after the change. In addition, the output obviously lack
 320        enough information to apply such a patch in reverse, even manually,
 321        hence the name of the option.
 322+
 323When used together with `-B`, omit also the preimage in the deletion part
 324of a delete/create pair.
 325
 326-l<num>::
 327        The `-M` and `-C` options require O(n^2) processing time where n
 328        is the number of potential rename/copy targets.  This
 329        option prevents rename/copy detection from running if
 330        the number of rename/copy targets exceeds the specified
 331        number.
 332
 333ifndef::git-format-patch[]
 334--diff-filter=[(A|C|D|M|R|T|U|X|B)...[*]]::
 335        Select only files that are Added (`A`), Copied (`C`),
 336        Deleted (`D`), Modified (`M`), Renamed (`R`), have their
 337        type (i.e. regular file, symlink, submodule, ...) changed (`T`),
 338        are Unmerged (`U`), are
 339        Unknown (`X`), or have had their pairing Broken (`B`).
 340        Any combination of the filter characters (including none) can be used.
 341        When `*` (All-or-none) is added to the combination, all
 342        paths are selected if there is any file that matches
 343        other criteria in the comparison; if there is no file
 344        that matches other criteria, nothing is selected.
 345
 346-S<string>::
 347        Look for differences that introduce or remove an instance of
 348        <string>. Note that this is different than the string simply
 349        appearing in diff output; see the 'pickaxe' entry in
 350        linkgit:gitdiffcore[7] for more details.
 351
 352-G<regex>::
 353        Look for differences whose added or removed line matches
 354        the given <regex>.
 355
 356--pickaxe-all::
 357        When `-S` or `-G` finds a change, show all the changes in that
 358        changeset, not just the files that contain the change
 359        in <string>.
 360
 361--pickaxe-regex::
 362        Make the <string> not a plain string but an extended POSIX
 363        regex to match.
 364endif::git-format-patch[]
 365
 366-O<orderfile>::
 367        Output the patch in the order specified in the
 368        <orderfile>, which has one shell glob pattern per line.
 369
 370ifndef::git-format-patch[]
 371-R::
 372        Swap two inputs; that is, show differences from index or
 373        on-disk file to tree contents.
 374
 375--relative[=<path>]::
 376        When run from a subdirectory of the project, it can be
 377        told to exclude changes outside the directory and show
 378        pathnames relative to it with this option.  When you are
 379        not in a subdirectory (e.g. in a bare repository), you
 380        can name which subdirectory to make the output relative
 381        to by giving a <path> as an argument.
 382endif::git-format-patch[]
 383
 384-a::
 385--text::
 386        Treat all files as text.
 387
 388--ignore-space-at-eol::
 389        Ignore changes in whitespace at EOL.
 390
 391-b::
 392--ignore-space-change::
 393        Ignore changes in amount of whitespace.  This ignores whitespace
 394        at line end, and considers all other sequences of one or
 395        more whitespace characters to be equivalent.
 396
 397-w::
 398--ignore-all-space::
 399        Ignore whitespace when comparing lines.  This ignores
 400        differences even if one line has whitespace where the other
 401        line has none.
 402
 403--inter-hunk-context=<lines>::
 404        Show the context between diff hunks, up to the specified number
 405        of lines, thereby fusing hunks that are close to each other.
 406
 407ifndef::git-format-patch[]
 408--exit-code::
 409        Make the program exit with codes similar to diff(1).
 410        That is, it exits with 1 if there were differences and
 411        0 means no differences.
 412
 413--quiet::
 414        Disable all output of the program. Implies `--exit-code`.
 415endif::git-format-patch[]
 416
 417--ext-diff::
 418        Allow an external diff helper to be executed. If you set an
 419        external diff driver with linkgit:gitattributes[5], you need
 420        to use this option with linkgit:git-log[1] and friends.
 421
 422--no-ext-diff::
 423        Disallow external diff drivers.
 424
 425--textconv::
 426--no-textconv::
 427        Allow (or disallow) external text conversion filters to be run
 428        when comparing binary files. See linkgit:gitattributes[5] for
 429        details. Because textconv filters are typically a one-way
 430        conversion, the resulting diff is suitable for human
 431        consumption, but cannot be applied. For this reason, textconv
 432        filters are enabled by default only for linkgit:git-diff[1] and
 433        linkgit:git-log[1], but not for linkgit:git-format-patch[1] or
 434        diff plumbing commands.
 435
 436--ignore-submodules[=<when>]::
 437        Ignore changes to submodules in the diff generation. <when> can be
 438        either "none", "untracked", "dirty" or "all", which is the default
 439        Using "none" will consider the submodule modified when it either contains
 440        untracked or modified files or its HEAD differs from the commit recorded
 441        in the superproject and can be used to override any settings of the
 442        'ignore' option in linkgit:git-config[1] or linkgit:gitmodules[5]. When
 443        "untracked" is used submodules are not considered dirty when they only
 444        contain untracked content (but they are still scanned for modified
 445        content). Using "dirty" ignores all changes to the work tree of submodules,
 446        only changes to the commits stored in the superproject are shown (this was
 447        the behavior until 1.7.0). Using "all" hides all changes to submodules.
 448
 449--src-prefix=<prefix>::
 450        Show the given source prefix instead of "a/".
 451
 452--dst-prefix=<prefix>::
 453        Show the given destination prefix instead of "b/".
 454
 455--no-prefix::
 456        Do not show any source or destination prefix.
 457
 458For more detailed explanation on these common options, see also
 459linkgit:gitdiffcore[7].