Documentation / diff-options.txton commit diff: --indent-heuristic is no longer experimental (bab7614)
   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--indent-heuristic::
  67        Enable the heuristic that shift diff hunk boundaries to make patches
  68        easier to read. This is the default.
  69
  70--no-indent-heuristic::
  71        Disable the indent heuristic.
  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, pathnames with "unusual" characters are quoted as
 201explained for the configuration variable `core.quotePath` (see
 202linkgit:git-config[1]).
 203
 204--name-only::
 205        Show only names of changed files.
 206
 207--name-status::
 208        Show only names and status of changed files. See the description
 209        of the `--diff-filter` option on what the status letters mean.
 210
 211--submodule[=<format>]::
 212        Specify how differences in submodules are shown.  When specifying
 213        `--submodule=short` the 'short' format is used.  This format just
 214        shows the names of the commits at the beginning and end of the range.
 215        When `--submodule` or `--submodule=log` is specified, the 'log'
 216        format is used.  This format lists the commits in the range like
 217        linkgit:git-submodule[1] `summary` does.  When `--submodule=diff`
 218        is specified, the 'diff' format is used.  This format shows an
 219        inline diff of the changes in the submodule contents between the
 220        commit range.  Defaults to `diff.submodule` or the 'short' format
 221        if the config option is unset.
 222
 223--color[=<when>]::
 224        Show colored diff.
 225        `--color` (i.e. without '=<when>') is the same as `--color=always`.
 226        '<when>' can be one of `always`, `never`, or `auto`.
 227ifdef::git-diff[]
 228        It can be changed by the `color.ui` and `color.diff`
 229        configuration settings.
 230endif::git-diff[]
 231
 232--no-color::
 233        Turn off colored diff.
 234ifdef::git-diff[]
 235        This can be used to override configuration settings.
 236endif::git-diff[]
 237        It is the same as `--color=never`.
 238
 239--word-diff[=<mode>]::
 240        Show a word diff, using the <mode> to delimit changed words.
 241        By default, words are delimited by whitespace; see
 242        `--word-diff-regex` below.  The <mode> defaults to 'plain', and
 243        must be one of:
 244+
 245--
 246color::
 247        Highlight changed words using only colors.  Implies `--color`.
 248plain::
 249        Show words as `[-removed-]` and `{+added+}`.  Makes no
 250        attempts to escape the delimiters if they appear in the input,
 251        so the output may be ambiguous.
 252porcelain::
 253        Use a special line-based format intended for script
 254        consumption.  Added/removed/unchanged runs are printed in the
 255        usual unified diff format, starting with a `+`/`-`/` `
 256        character at the beginning of the line and extending to the
 257        end of the line.  Newlines in the input are represented by a
 258        tilde `~` on a line of its own.
 259none::
 260        Disable word diff again.
 261--
 262+
 263Note that despite the name of the first mode, color is used to
 264highlight the changed parts in all modes if enabled.
 265
 266--word-diff-regex=<regex>::
 267        Use <regex> to decide what a word is, instead of considering
 268        runs of non-whitespace to be a word.  Also implies
 269        `--word-diff` unless it was already enabled.
 270+
 271Every non-overlapping match of the
 272<regex> is considered a word.  Anything between these matches is
 273considered whitespace and ignored(!) for the purposes of finding
 274differences.  You may want to append `|[^[:space:]]` to your regular
 275expression to make sure that it matches all non-whitespace characters.
 276A match that contains a newline is silently truncated(!) at the
 277newline.
 278+
 279For example, `--word-diff-regex=.` will treat each character as a word
 280and, correspondingly, show differences character by character.
 281+
 282The regex can also be set via a diff driver or configuration option, see
 283linkgit:gitattributes[5] or linkgit:git-config[1].  Giving it explicitly
 284overrides any diff driver or configuration setting.  Diff drivers
 285override configuration settings.
 286
 287--color-words[=<regex>]::
 288        Equivalent to `--word-diff=color` plus (if a regex was
 289        specified) `--word-diff-regex=<regex>`.
 290endif::git-format-patch[]
 291
 292--no-renames::
 293        Turn off rename detection, even when the configuration
 294        file gives the default to do so.
 295
 296ifndef::git-format-patch[]
 297--check::
 298        Warn if changes introduce conflict markers or whitespace errors.
 299        What are considered whitespace errors is controlled by `core.whitespace`
 300        configuration.  By default, trailing whitespaces (including
 301        lines that solely consist of whitespaces) and a space character
 302        that is immediately followed by a tab character inside the
 303        initial indent of the line are considered whitespace errors.
 304        Exits with non-zero status if problems are found. Not compatible
 305        with --exit-code.
 306
 307--ws-error-highlight=<kind>::
 308        Highlight whitespace errors in the `context`, `old` or `new`
 309        lines of the diff.  Multiple values are separated by comma,
 310        `none` resets previous values, `default` reset the list to
 311        `new` and `all` is a shorthand for `old,new,context`.  When
 312        this option is not given, and the configuration variable
 313        `diff.wsErrorHighlight` is not set, only whitespace errors in
 314        `new` lines are highlighted. The whitespace errors are colored
 315        whith `color.diff.whitespace`.
 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 lacks
 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        Control the order in which files appear in the output.
 473        This overrides the `diff.orderFile` configuration variable
 474        (see linkgit:git-config[1]).  To cancel `diff.orderFile`,
 475        use `-O/dev/null`.
 476+
 477The output order is determined by the order of glob patterns in
 478<orderfile>.
 479All files with pathnames that match the first pattern are output
 480first, all files with pathnames that match the second pattern (but not
 481the first) are output next, and so on.
 482All files with pathnames that do not match any pattern are output
 483last, as if there was an implicit match-all pattern at the end of the
 484file.
 485If multiple pathnames have the same rank (they match the same pattern
 486but no earlier patterns), their output order relative to each other is
 487the normal order.
 488+
 489<orderfile> is parsed as follows:
 490+
 491--
 492 - Blank lines are ignored, so they can be used as separators for
 493   readability.
 494
 495 - Lines starting with a hash ("`#`") are ignored, so they can be used
 496   for comments.  Add a backslash ("`\`") to the beginning of the
 497   pattern if it starts with a hash.
 498
 499 - Each other line contains a single pattern.
 500--
 501+
 502Patterns have the same syntax and semantics as patterns used for
 503fnmantch(3) without the FNM_PATHNAME flag, except a pathname also
 504matches a pattern if removing any number of the final pathname
 505components matches the pattern.  For example, the pattern "`foo*bar`"
 506matches "`fooasdfbar`" and "`foo/bar/baz/asdf`" but not "`foobarx`".
 507
 508ifndef::git-format-patch[]
 509-R::
 510        Swap two inputs; that is, show differences from index or
 511        on-disk file to tree contents.
 512
 513--relative[=<path>]::
 514        When run from a subdirectory of the project, it can be
 515        told to exclude changes outside the directory and show
 516        pathnames relative to it with this option.  When you are
 517        not in a subdirectory (e.g. in a bare repository), you
 518        can name which subdirectory to make the output relative
 519        to by giving a <path> as an argument.
 520endif::git-format-patch[]
 521
 522-a::
 523--text::
 524        Treat all files as text.
 525
 526--ignore-space-at-eol::
 527        Ignore changes in whitespace at EOL.
 528
 529-b::
 530--ignore-space-change::
 531        Ignore changes in amount of whitespace.  This ignores whitespace
 532        at line end, and considers all other sequences of one or
 533        more whitespace characters to be equivalent.
 534
 535-w::
 536--ignore-all-space::
 537        Ignore whitespace when comparing lines.  This ignores
 538        differences even if one line has whitespace where the other
 539        line has none.
 540
 541--ignore-blank-lines::
 542        Ignore changes whose lines are all blank.
 543
 544--inter-hunk-context=<lines>::
 545        Show the context between diff hunks, up to the specified number
 546        of lines, thereby fusing hunks that are close to each other.
 547        Defaults to `diff.interHunkContext` or 0 if the config option
 548        is unset.
 549
 550-W::
 551--function-context::
 552        Show whole surrounding functions of changes.
 553
 554ifndef::git-format-patch[]
 555ifndef::git-log[]
 556--exit-code::
 557        Make the program exit with codes similar to diff(1).
 558        That is, it exits with 1 if there were differences and
 559        0 means no differences.
 560
 561--quiet::
 562        Disable all output of the program. Implies `--exit-code`.
 563endif::git-log[]
 564endif::git-format-patch[]
 565
 566--ext-diff::
 567        Allow an external diff helper to be executed. If you set an
 568        external diff driver with linkgit:gitattributes[5], you need
 569        to use this option with linkgit:git-log[1] and friends.
 570
 571--no-ext-diff::
 572        Disallow external diff drivers.
 573
 574--textconv::
 575--no-textconv::
 576        Allow (or disallow) external text conversion filters to be run
 577        when comparing binary files. See linkgit:gitattributes[5] for
 578        details. Because textconv filters are typically a one-way
 579        conversion, the resulting diff is suitable for human
 580        consumption, but cannot be applied. For this reason, textconv
 581        filters are enabled by default only for linkgit:git-diff[1] and
 582        linkgit:git-log[1], but not for linkgit:git-format-patch[1] or
 583        diff plumbing commands.
 584
 585--ignore-submodules[=<when>]::
 586        Ignore changes to submodules in the diff generation. <when> can be
 587        either "none", "untracked", "dirty" or "all", which is the default.
 588        Using "none" will consider the submodule modified when it either contains
 589        untracked or modified files or its HEAD differs from the commit recorded
 590        in the superproject and can be used to override any settings of the
 591        'ignore' option in linkgit:git-config[1] or linkgit:gitmodules[5]. When
 592        "untracked" is used submodules are not considered dirty when they only
 593        contain untracked content (but they are still scanned for modified
 594        content). Using "dirty" ignores all changes to the work tree of submodules,
 595        only changes to the commits stored in the superproject are shown (this was
 596        the behavior until 1.7.0). Using "all" hides all changes to submodules.
 597
 598--src-prefix=<prefix>::
 599        Show the given source prefix instead of "a/".
 600
 601--dst-prefix=<prefix>::
 602        Show the given destination prefix instead of "b/".
 603
 604--no-prefix::
 605        Do not show any source or destination prefix.
 606
 607--line-prefix=<prefix>::
 608        Prepend an additional prefix to every line of output.
 609
 610--ita-invisible-in-index::
 611        By default entries added by "git add -N" appear as an existing
 612        empty file in "git diff" and a new file in "git diff --cached".
 613        This option makes the entry appear as a new file in "git diff"
 614        and non-existent in "git diff --cached". This option could be
 615        reverted with `--ita-visible-in-index`. Both options are
 616        experimental and could be removed in future.
 617
 618For more detailed explanation on these common options, see also
 619linkgit:gitdiffcore[7].