1git-diff(1) 2=========== 3 4NAME 5---- 6git-diff - Show changes between commits, commit and working tree, etc 7 8 9SYNOPSIS 10-------- 11'git diff' [<common diff options>] <commit>{0,2} [--] [<path>...] 12 13DESCRIPTION 14----------- 15Show changes between two trees, a tree and the working tree, a 16tree and the index file, or the index file and the working tree. 17 18'git diff' [--options] [--] [<path>...]:: 19 20 This form is to view the changes you made relative to 21 the index (staging area for the next commit). In other 22 words, the differences are what you _could_ tell git to 23 further add to the index but you still haven't. You can 24 stage these changes by using linkgit:git-add[1]. 25+ 26If exactly two paths are given and at least one points outside 27the current repository, 'git diff' will compare the two files / 28directories. This behavior can be forced by --no-index. 29 30'git diff' [--options] --cached [<commit>] [--] [<path>...]:: 31 32 This form is to view the changes you staged for the next 33 commit relative to the named <commit>. Typically you 34 would want comparison with the latest commit, so if you 35 do not give <commit>, it defaults to HEAD. 36 --staged is a synonym of --cached. 37 38'git diff' [--options] <commit> [--] [<path>...]:: 39 40 This form is to view the changes you have in your 41 working tree relative to the named <commit>. You can 42 use HEAD to compare it with the latest commit, or a 43 branch name to compare with the tip of a different 44 branch. 45 46'git diff' [--options] <commit> <commit> [--] [<path>...]:: 47 48 This is to view the changes between two arbitrary 49 <commit>. 50 51'git diff' [--options] <commit>..<commit> [--] [<path>...]:: 52 53 This is synonymous to the previous form. If <commit> on 54 one side is omitted, it will have the same effect as 55 using HEAD instead. 56 57'git diff' [--options] <commit>\...<commit> [--] [<path>...]:: 58 59 This form is to view the changes on the branch containing 60 and up to the second <commit>, starting at a common ancestor 61 of both <commit>. "git diff A\...B" is equivalent to 62 "git diff $(git-merge-base A B) B". You can omit any one 63 of <commit>, which has the same effect as using HEAD instead. 64 65Just in case if you are doing something exotic, it should be 66noted that all of the <commit> in the above description, except 67in the last two forms that use ".." notations, can be any 68<tree>. The third form ('git diff <commit> <commit>') can also 69be used to compare two <blob> objects. 70 71For a more complete list of ways to spell <commit>, see 72"SPECIFYING REVISIONS" section in linkgit:gitrevisions[7]. 73However, "diff" is about comparing two _endpoints_, not ranges, 74and the range notations ("<commit>..<commit>" and 75"<commit>\...<commit>") do not mean a range as defined in the 76"SPECIFYING RANGES" section in linkgit:gitrevisions[7]. 77 78OPTIONS 79------- 80:git-diff: 1 81include::diff-options.txt[] 82 83<path>...:: 84 The <paths> parameters, when given, are used to limit 85 the diff to the named paths (you can give directory 86 names and get diff for all files under them). 87 88 89include::diff-format.txt[] 90 91EXAMPLES 92-------- 93 94Various ways to check your working tree:: 95+ 96------------ 97$ git diff <1> 98$ git diff --cached <2> 99$ git diff HEAD <3> 100------------ 101+ 102<1> Changes in the working tree not yet staged for the next commit. 103<2> Changes between the index and your last commit; what you 104would be committing if you run "git commit" without "-a" option. 105<3> Changes in the working tree since your last commit; what you 106would be committing if you run "git commit -a" 107 108Comparing with arbitrary commits:: 109+ 110------------ 111$ git diff test <1> 112$ git diff HEAD -- ./test <2> 113$ git diff HEAD^ HEAD <3> 114------------ 115+ 116<1> Instead of using the tip of the current branch, compare with the 117tip of "test" branch. 118<2> Instead of comparing with the tip of "test" branch, compare with 119the tip of the current branch, but limit the comparison to the 120file "test". 121<3> Compare the version before the last commit and the last commit. 122 123Comparing branches:: 124+ 125------------ 126$ git diff topic master <1> 127$ git diff topic..master <2> 128$ git diff topic...master <3> 129------------ 130+ 131<1> Changes between the tips of the topic and the master branches. 132<2> Same as above. 133<3> Changes that occurred on the master branch since when the topic 134branch was started off it. 135 136Limiting the diff output:: 137+ 138------------ 139$ git diff --diff-filter=MRC <1> 140$ git diff --name-status <2> 141$ git diff arch/i386 include/asm-i386 <3> 142------------ 143+ 144<1> Show only modification, rename and copy, but not addition 145nor deletion. 146<2> Show only names and the nature of change, but not actual 147diff output. 148<3> Limit diff output to named subtrees. 149 150Munging the diff output:: 151+ 152------------ 153$ git diff --find-copies-harder -B -C <1> 154$ git diff -R <2> 155------------ 156+ 157<1> Spend extra cycles to find renames, copies and complete 158rewrites (very expensive). 159<2> Output diff in reverse. 160 161SEE ALSO 162-------- 163diff(1), 164linkgit:git-difftool[1], 165linkgit:git-log[1], 166linkgit:gitdiffcore[7], 167linkgit:git-format-patch[1], 168linkgit:git-apply[1] 169 170Author 171------ 172Written by Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org> 173 174Documentation 175-------------- 176Documentation by Junio C Hamano and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>. 177 178GIT 179--- 180Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite