Documentation / diff-options.txton commit grep: avoid resolving revision names in --no-index case (d0ffc06)
   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
  66include::diff-heuristic-options.txt[]
  67
  68--minimal::
  69        Spend extra time to make sure the smallest possible
  70        diff is produced.
  71
  72--patience::
  73        Generate a diff using the "patience diff" algorithm.
  74
  75--histogram::
  76        Generate a diff using the "histogram diff" algorithm.
  77
  78--diff-algorithm={patience|minimal|histogram|myers}::
  79        Choose a diff algorithm. The variants are as follows:
  80+
  81--
  82`default`, `myers`;;
  83        The basic greedy diff algorithm. Currently, this is the default.
  84`minimal`;;
  85        Spend extra time to make sure the smallest possible diff is
  86        produced.
  87`patience`;;
  88        Use "patience diff" algorithm when generating patches.
  89`histogram`;;
  90        This algorithm extends the patience algorithm to "support
  91        low-occurrence common elements".
  92--
  93+
  94For instance, if you configured diff.algorithm variable to a
  95non-default value and want to use the default one, then you
  96have to use `--diff-algorithm=default` option.
  97
  98--stat[=<width>[,<name-width>[,<count>]]]::
  99        Generate a diffstat. By default, as much space as necessary
 100        will be used for the filename part, and the rest for the graph
 101        part. Maximum width defaults to terminal width, or 80 columns
 102        if not connected to a terminal, and can be overridden by
 103        `<width>`. The width of the filename part can be limited by
 104        giving another width `<name-width>` after a comma. The width
 105        of the graph part can be limited by using
 106        `--stat-graph-width=<width>` (affects all commands generating
 107        a stat graph) or by setting `diff.statGraphWidth=<width>`
 108        (does not affect `git format-patch`).
 109        By giving a third parameter `<count>`, you can limit the
 110        output to the first `<count>` lines, followed by `...` if
 111        there are more.
 112+
 113These parameters can also be set individually with `--stat-width=<width>`,
 114`--stat-name-width=<name-width>` and `--stat-count=<count>`.
 115
 116--numstat::
 117        Similar to `--stat`, but shows number of added and
 118        deleted lines in decimal notation and pathname without
 119        abbreviation, to make it more machine friendly.  For
 120        binary files, outputs two `-` instead of saying
 121        `0 0`.
 122
 123--shortstat::
 124        Output only the last line of the `--stat` format containing total
 125        number of modified files, as well as number of added and deleted
 126        lines.
 127
 128--dirstat[=<param1,param2,...>]::
 129        Output the distribution of relative amount of changes for each
 130        sub-directory. The behavior of `--dirstat` can be customized by
 131        passing it a comma separated list of parameters.
 132        The defaults are controlled by the `diff.dirstat` configuration
 133        variable (see linkgit:git-config[1]).
 134        The following parameters are available:
 135+
 136--
 137`changes`;;
 138        Compute the dirstat numbers by counting the lines that have been
 139        removed from the source, or added to the destination. This ignores
 140        the amount of pure code movements within a file.  In other words,
 141        rearranging lines in a file is not counted as much as other changes.
 142        This is the default behavior when no parameter is given.
 143`lines`;;
 144        Compute the dirstat numbers by doing the regular line-based diff
 145        analysis, and summing the removed/added line counts. (For binary
 146        files, count 64-byte chunks instead, since binary files have no
 147        natural concept of lines). This is a more expensive `--dirstat`
 148        behavior than the `changes` behavior, but it does count rearranged
 149        lines within a file as much as other changes. The resulting output
 150        is consistent with what you get from the other `--*stat` options.
 151`files`;;
 152        Compute the dirstat numbers by counting the number of files changed.
 153        Each changed file counts equally in the dirstat analysis. This is
 154        the computationally cheapest `--dirstat` behavior, since it does
 155        not have to look at the file contents at all.
 156`cumulative`;;
 157        Count changes in a child directory for the parent directory as well.
 158        Note that when using `cumulative`, the sum of the percentages
 159        reported may exceed 100%. The default (non-cumulative) behavior can
 160        be specified with the `noncumulative` parameter.
 161<limit>;;
 162        An integer parameter specifies a cut-off percent (3% by default).
 163        Directories contributing less than this percentage of the changes
 164        are not shown in the output.
 165--
 166+
 167Example: The following will count changed files, while ignoring
 168directories with less than 10% of the total amount of changed files,
 169and accumulating child directory counts in the parent directories:
 170`--dirstat=files,10,cumulative`.
 171
 172--summary::
 173        Output a condensed summary of extended header information
 174        such as creations, renames and mode changes.
 175
 176ifndef::git-format-patch[]
 177--patch-with-stat::
 178        Synonym for `-p --stat`.
 179endif::git-format-patch[]
 180
 181ifndef::git-format-patch[]
 182
 183-z::
 184ifdef::git-log[]
 185        Separate the commits with NULs instead of with new newlines.
 186+
 187Also, when `--raw` or `--numstat` has been given, do not munge
 188pathnames and use NULs as output field terminators.
 189endif::git-log[]
 190ifndef::git-log[]
 191        When `--raw`, `--numstat`, `--name-only` or `--name-status` has been
 192        given, do not munge pathnames and use NULs as output field terminators.
 193endif::git-log[]
 194+
 195Without this option, each pathname output will have TAB, LF, double quotes,
 196and backslash characters replaced with `\t`, `\n`, `\"`, and `\\`,
 197respectively, and the pathname will be enclosed in double quotes if
 198any of those replacements occurred.
 199
 200--name-only::
 201        Show only names of changed files.
 202
 203--name-status::
 204        Show only names and status of changed files. See the description
 205        of the `--diff-filter` option on what the status letters mean.
 206
 207--submodule[=<format>]::
 208        Specify how differences in submodules are shown.  When specifying
 209        `--submodule=short` the 'short' format is used.  This format just
 210        shows the names of the commits at the beginning and end of the range.
 211        When `--submodule` or `--submodule=log` is specified, the 'log'
 212        format is used.  This format lists the commits in the range like
 213        linkgit:git-submodule[1] `summary` does.  When `--submodule=diff`
 214        is specified, the 'diff' format is used.  This format shows an
 215        inline diff of the changes in the submodule contents between the
 216        commit range.  Defaults to `diff.submodule` or the 'short' format
 217        if the config option is unset.
 218
 219--color[=<when>]::
 220        Show colored diff.
 221        `--color` (i.e. without '=<when>') is the same as `--color=always`.
 222        '<when>' can be one of `always`, `never`, or `auto`.
 223ifdef::git-diff[]
 224        It can be changed by the `color.ui` and `color.diff`
 225        configuration settings.
 226endif::git-diff[]
 227
 228--no-color::
 229        Turn off colored diff.
 230ifdef::git-diff[]
 231        This can be used to override configuration settings.
 232endif::git-diff[]
 233        It is the same as `--color=never`.
 234
 235--word-diff[=<mode>]::
 236        Show a word diff, using the <mode> to delimit changed words.
 237        By default, words are delimited by whitespace; see
 238        `--word-diff-regex` below.  The <mode> defaults to 'plain', and
 239        must be one of:
 240+
 241--
 242color::
 243        Highlight changed words using only colors.  Implies `--color`.
 244plain::
 245        Show words as `[-removed-]` and `{+added+}`.  Makes no
 246        attempts to escape the delimiters if they appear in the input,
 247        so the output may be ambiguous.
 248porcelain::
 249        Use a special line-based format intended for script
 250        consumption.  Added/removed/unchanged runs are printed in the
 251        usual unified diff format, starting with a `+`/`-`/` `
 252        character at the beginning of the line and extending to the
 253        end of the line.  Newlines in the input are represented by a
 254        tilde `~` on a line of its own.
 255none::
 256        Disable word diff again.
 257--
 258+
 259Note that despite the name of the first mode, color is used to
 260highlight the changed parts in all modes if enabled.
 261
 262--word-diff-regex=<regex>::
 263        Use <regex> to decide what a word is, instead of considering
 264        runs of non-whitespace to be a word.  Also implies
 265        `--word-diff` unless it was already enabled.
 266+
 267Every non-overlapping match of the
 268<regex> is considered a word.  Anything between these matches is
 269considered whitespace and ignored(!) for the purposes of finding
 270differences.  You may want to append `|[^[:space:]]` to your regular
 271expression to make sure that it matches all non-whitespace characters.
 272A match that contains a newline is silently truncated(!) at the
 273newline.
 274+
 275For example, `--word-diff-regex=.` will treat each character as a word
 276and, correspondingly, show differences character by character.
 277+
 278The regex can also be set via a diff driver or configuration option, see
 279linkgit:gitattributes[5] or linkgit:git-config[1].  Giving it explicitly
 280overrides any diff driver or configuration setting.  Diff drivers
 281override configuration settings.
 282
 283--color-words[=<regex>]::
 284        Equivalent to `--word-diff=color` plus (if a regex was
 285        specified) `--word-diff-regex=<regex>`.
 286endif::git-format-patch[]
 287
 288--no-renames::
 289        Turn off rename detection, even when the configuration
 290        file gives the default to do so.
 291
 292ifndef::git-format-patch[]
 293--check::
 294        Warn if changes introduce conflict markers or whitespace errors.
 295        What are considered whitespace errors is controlled by `core.whitespace`
 296        configuration.  By default, trailing whitespaces (including
 297        lines that solely consist of whitespaces) and a space character
 298        that is immediately followed by a tab character inside the
 299        initial indent of the line are considered whitespace errors.
 300        Exits with non-zero status if problems are found. Not compatible
 301        with --exit-code.
 302
 303--ws-error-highlight=<kind>::
 304        Highlight whitespace errors on lines specified by <kind>
 305        in the color specified by `color.diff.whitespace`.  <kind>
 306        is a comma separated list of `old`, `new`, `context`.  When
 307        this option is not given, only whitespace errors in `new`
 308        lines are highlighted.  E.g. `--ws-error-highlight=new,old`
 309        highlights whitespace errors on both deleted and added lines.
 310        `all` can be used as a short-hand for `old,new,context`.
 311        The `diff.wsErrorHighlight` configuration variable can be
 312        used to specify the default behaviour.
 313
 314endif::git-format-patch[]
 315
 316--full-index::
 317        Instead of the first handful of characters, show the full
 318        pre- and post-image blob object names on the "index"
 319        line when generating patch format output.
 320
 321--binary::
 322        In addition to `--full-index`, output a binary diff that
 323        can be applied with `git-apply`.
 324
 325--abbrev[=<n>]::
 326        Instead of showing the full 40-byte hexadecimal object
 327        name in diff-raw format output and diff-tree header
 328        lines, show only a partial prefix.  This is
 329        independent of the `--full-index` option above, which controls
 330        the diff-patch output format.  Non default number of
 331        digits can be specified with `--abbrev=<n>`.
 332
 333-B[<n>][/<m>]::
 334--break-rewrites[=[<n>][/<m>]]::
 335        Break complete rewrite changes into pairs of delete and
 336        create. This serves two purposes:
 337+
 338It affects the way a change that amounts to a total rewrite of a file
 339not as a series of deletion and insertion mixed together with a very
 340few lines that happen to match textually as the context, but as a
 341single deletion of everything old followed by a single insertion of
 342everything new, and the number `m` controls this aspect of the -B
 343option (defaults to 60%). `-B/70%` specifies that less than 30% of the
 344original should remain in the result for Git to consider it a total
 345rewrite (i.e. otherwise the resulting patch will be a series of
 346deletion and insertion mixed together with context lines).
 347+
 348When used with -M, a totally-rewritten file is also considered as the
 349source of a rename (usually -M only considers a file that disappeared
 350as the source of a rename), and the number `n` controls this aspect of
 351the -B option (defaults to 50%). `-B20%` specifies that a change with
 352addition and deletion compared to 20% or more of the file's size are
 353eligible for being picked up as a possible source of a rename to
 354another file.
 355
 356-M[<n>]::
 357--find-renames[=<n>]::
 358ifndef::git-log[]
 359        Detect renames.
 360endif::git-log[]
 361ifdef::git-log[]
 362        If generating diffs, detect and report renames for each commit.
 363        For following files across renames while traversing history, see
 364        `--follow`.
 365endif::git-log[]
 366        If `n` is specified, it is a threshold on the similarity
 367        index (i.e. amount of addition/deletions compared to the
 368        file's size). For example, `-M90%` means Git should consider a
 369        delete/add pair to be a rename if more than 90% of the file
 370        hasn't changed.  Without a `%` sign, the number is to be read as
 371        a fraction, with a decimal point before it.  I.e., `-M5` becomes
 372        0.5, and is thus the same as `-M50%`.  Similarly, `-M05` is
 373        the same as `-M5%`.  To limit detection to exact renames, use
 374        `-M100%`.  The default similarity index is 50%.
 375
 376-C[<n>]::
 377--find-copies[=<n>]::
 378        Detect copies as well as renames.  See also `--find-copies-harder`.
 379        If `n` is specified, it has the same meaning as for `-M<n>`.
 380
 381--find-copies-harder::
 382        For performance reasons, by default, `-C` option finds copies only
 383        if the original file of the copy was modified in the same
 384        changeset.  This flag makes the command
 385        inspect unmodified files as candidates for the source of
 386        copy.  This is a very expensive operation for large
 387        projects, so use it with caution.  Giving more than one
 388        `-C` option has the same effect.
 389
 390-D::
 391--irreversible-delete::
 392        Omit the preimage for deletes, i.e. print only the header but not
 393        the diff between the preimage and `/dev/null`. The resulting patch
 394        is not meant to be applied with `patch` or `git apply`; this is
 395        solely for people who want to just concentrate on reviewing the
 396        text after the change. In addition, the output obviously lack
 397        enough information to apply such a patch in reverse, even manually,
 398        hence the name of the option.
 399+
 400When used together with `-B`, omit also the preimage in the deletion part
 401of a delete/create pair.
 402
 403-l<num>::
 404        The `-M` and `-C` options require O(n^2) processing time where n
 405        is the number of potential rename/copy targets.  This
 406        option prevents rename/copy detection from running if
 407        the number of rename/copy targets exceeds the specified
 408        number.
 409
 410ifndef::git-format-patch[]
 411--diff-filter=[(A|C|D|M|R|T|U|X|B)...[*]]::
 412        Select only files that are Added (`A`), Copied (`C`),
 413        Deleted (`D`), Modified (`M`), Renamed (`R`), have their
 414        type (i.e. regular file, symlink, submodule, ...) changed (`T`),
 415        are Unmerged (`U`), are
 416        Unknown (`X`), or have had their pairing Broken (`B`).
 417        Any combination of the filter characters (including none) can be used.
 418        When `*` (All-or-none) is added to the combination, all
 419        paths are selected if there is any file that matches
 420        other criteria in the comparison; if there is no file
 421        that matches other criteria, nothing is selected.
 422+
 423Also, these upper-case letters can be downcased to exclude.  E.g.
 424`--diff-filter=ad` excludes added and deleted paths.
 425
 426-S<string>::
 427        Look for differences that change the number of occurrences of
 428        the specified string (i.e. addition/deletion) in a file.
 429        Intended for the scripter's use.
 430+
 431It is useful when you're looking for an exact block of code (like a
 432struct), and want to know the history of that block since it first
 433came into being: use the feature iteratively to feed the interesting
 434block in the preimage back into `-S`, and keep going until you get the
 435very first version of the block.
 436
 437-G<regex>::
 438        Look for differences whose patch text contains added/removed
 439        lines that match <regex>.
 440+
 441To illustrate the difference between `-S<regex> --pickaxe-regex` and
 442`-G<regex>`, consider a commit with the following diff in the same
 443file:
 444+
 445----
 446+    return !regexec(regexp, two->ptr, 1, &regmatch, 0);
 447...
 448-    hit = !regexec(regexp, mf2.ptr, 1, &regmatch, 0);
 449----
 450+
 451While `git log -G"regexec\(regexp"` will show this commit, `git log
 452-S"regexec\(regexp" --pickaxe-regex` will not (because the number of
 453occurrences of that string did not change).
 454+
 455See the 'pickaxe' entry in linkgit:gitdiffcore[7] for more
 456information.
 457
 458--pickaxe-all::
 459        When `-S` or `-G` finds a change, show all the changes in that
 460        changeset, not just the files that contain the change
 461        in <string>.
 462
 463--pickaxe-regex::
 464        Treat the <string> given to `-S` as an extended POSIX regular
 465        expression to match.
 466endif::git-format-patch[]
 467
 468-O<orderfile>::
 469        Control the order in which files appear in the output.
 470        This overrides the `diff.orderFile` configuration variable
 471        (see linkgit:git-config[1]).  To cancel `diff.orderFile`,
 472        use `-O/dev/null`.
 473+
 474The output order is determined by the order of glob patterns in
 475<orderfile>.
 476All files with pathnames that match the first pattern are output
 477first, all files with pathnames that match the second pattern (but not
 478the first) are output next, and so on.
 479All files with pathnames that do not match any pattern are output
 480last, as if there was an implicit match-all pattern at the end of the
 481file.
 482If multiple pathnames have the same rank (they match the same pattern
 483but no earlier patterns), their output order relative to each other is
 484the normal order.
 485+
 486<orderfile> is parsed as follows:
 487+
 488--
 489 - Blank lines are ignored, so they can be used as separators for
 490   readability.
 491
 492 - Lines starting with a hash ("`#`") are ignored, so they can be used
 493   for comments.  Add a backslash ("`\`") to the beginning of the
 494   pattern if it starts with a hash.
 495
 496 - Each other line contains a single pattern.
 497--
 498+
 499Patterns have the same syntax and semantics as patterns used for
 500fnmantch(3) without the FNM_PATHNAME flag, except a pathname also
 501matches a pattern if removing any number of the final pathname
 502components matches the pattern.  For example, the pattern "`foo*bar`"
 503matches "`fooasdfbar`" and "`foo/bar/baz/asdf`" but not "`foobarx`".
 504
 505ifndef::git-format-patch[]
 506-R::
 507        Swap two inputs; that is, show differences from index or
 508        on-disk file to tree contents.
 509
 510--relative[=<path>]::
 511        When run from a subdirectory of the project, it can be
 512        told to exclude changes outside the directory and show
 513        pathnames relative to it with this option.  When you are
 514        not in a subdirectory (e.g. in a bare repository), you
 515        can name which subdirectory to make the output relative
 516        to by giving a <path> as an argument.
 517endif::git-format-patch[]
 518
 519-a::
 520--text::
 521        Treat all files as text.
 522
 523--ignore-space-at-eol::
 524        Ignore changes in whitespace at EOL.
 525
 526-b::
 527--ignore-space-change::
 528        Ignore changes in amount of whitespace.  This ignores whitespace
 529        at line end, and considers all other sequences of one or
 530        more whitespace characters to be equivalent.
 531
 532-w::
 533--ignore-all-space::
 534        Ignore whitespace when comparing lines.  This ignores
 535        differences even if one line has whitespace where the other
 536        line has none.
 537
 538--ignore-blank-lines::
 539        Ignore changes whose lines are all blank.
 540
 541--inter-hunk-context=<lines>::
 542        Show the context between diff hunks, up to the specified number
 543        of lines, thereby fusing hunks that are close to each other.
 544        Defaults to `diff.interHunkContext` or 0 if the config option
 545        is unset.
 546
 547-W::
 548--function-context::
 549        Show whole surrounding functions of changes.
 550
 551ifndef::git-format-patch[]
 552ifndef::git-log[]
 553--exit-code::
 554        Make the program exit with codes similar to diff(1).
 555        That is, it exits with 1 if there were differences and
 556        0 means no differences.
 557
 558--quiet::
 559        Disable all output of the program. Implies `--exit-code`.
 560endif::git-log[]
 561endif::git-format-patch[]
 562
 563--ext-diff::
 564        Allow an external diff helper to be executed. If you set an
 565        external diff driver with linkgit:gitattributes[5], you need
 566        to use this option with linkgit:git-log[1] and friends.
 567
 568--no-ext-diff::
 569        Disallow external diff drivers.
 570
 571--textconv::
 572--no-textconv::
 573        Allow (or disallow) external text conversion filters to be run
 574        when comparing binary files. See linkgit:gitattributes[5] for
 575        details. Because textconv filters are typically a one-way
 576        conversion, the resulting diff is suitable for human
 577        consumption, but cannot be applied. For this reason, textconv
 578        filters are enabled by default only for linkgit:git-diff[1] and
 579        linkgit:git-log[1], but not for linkgit:git-format-patch[1] or
 580        diff plumbing commands.
 581
 582--ignore-submodules[=<when>]::
 583        Ignore changes to submodules in the diff generation. <when> can be
 584        either "none", "untracked", "dirty" or "all", which is the default.
 585        Using "none" will consider the submodule modified when it either contains
 586        untracked or modified files or its HEAD differs from the commit recorded
 587        in the superproject and can be used to override any settings of the
 588        'ignore' option in linkgit:git-config[1] or linkgit:gitmodules[5]. When
 589        "untracked" is used submodules are not considered dirty when they only
 590        contain untracked content (but they are still scanned for modified
 591        content). Using "dirty" ignores all changes to the work tree of submodules,
 592        only changes to the commits stored in the superproject are shown (this was
 593        the behavior until 1.7.0). Using "all" hides all changes to submodules.
 594
 595--src-prefix=<prefix>::
 596        Show the given source prefix instead of "a/".
 597
 598--dst-prefix=<prefix>::
 599        Show the given destination prefix instead of "b/".
 600
 601--no-prefix::
 602        Do not show any source or destination prefix.
 603
 604--line-prefix=<prefix>::
 605        Prepend an additional prefix to every line of output.
 606
 607--ita-invisible-in-index::
 608        By default entries added by "git add -N" appear as an existing
 609        empty file in "git diff" and a new file in "git diff --cached".
 610        This option makes the entry appear as a new file in "git diff"
 611        and non-existent in "git diff --cached". This option could be
 612        reverted with `--ita-visible-in-index`. Both options are
 613        experimental and could be removed in future.
 614
 615For more detailed explanation on these common options, see also
 616linkgit:gitdiffcore[7].