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 is untracked, 27compare the two files / directories. This behavior can be 28forced 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 37'git-diff' [--options] <commit> [--] [<path>...]:: 38 39 This form is to view the changes you have in your 40 working tree relative to the named <commit>. You can 41 use HEAD to compare it with the latest commit, or a 42 branch name to compare with the tip of a different 43 branch. 44 45'git-diff' [--options] <commit> <commit> [--] [<path>...]:: 46 47 This is to view the changes between two arbitrary 48 <commit>. 49 50'git-diff' [--options] <commit>..<commit> [--] [<path>...]:: 51 52 This is synonymous to the previous form. If <commit> on 53 one side is omitted, it will have the same effect as 54 using HEAD instead. 55 56'git-diff' [--options] <commit>\...<commit> [--] [<path>...]:: 57 58 This form is to view the changes on the branch containing 59 and up to the second <commit>, starting at a common ancestor 60 of both <commit>. "git-diff A\...B" is equivalent to 61 "git-diff $(git-merge-base A B) B". You can omit any one 62 of <commit>, which has the same effect as using HEAD instead. 63 64Just in case if you are doing something exotic, it should be 65noted that all of the <commit> in the above description, except 66for the last two forms that use ".." notations, can be any 67<tree-ish>. 68 69For a more complete list of ways to spell <commit>, see 70"SPECIFYING REVISIONS" section in linkgit:git-rev-parse[1]. 71However, "diff" is about comparing two _endpoints_, not ranges, 72and the range notations ("<commit>..<commit>" and 73"<commit>\...<commit>") do not mean a range as defined in the 74"SPECIFYING RANGES" section in linkgit:git-rev-parse[1]. 75 76OPTIONS 77------- 78:git-diff: 1 79include::diff-options.txt[] 80 81<path>...:: 82 The <paths> parameters, when given, are used to limit 83 the diff to the named paths (you can give directory 84 names and get diff for all files under them). 85 86Output format 87------------- 88include::diff-format.txt[] 89 90EXAMPLES 91-------- 92 93Various ways to check your working tree:: 94+ 95------------ 96$ git diff <1> 97$ git diff --cached <2> 98$ git diff HEAD <3> 99------------ 100+ 101<1> Changes in the working tree not yet staged for the next commit. 102<2> Changes between the index and your last commit; what you 103would be committing if you run "git commit" without "-a" option. 104<3> Changes in the working tree since your last commit; what you 105would be committing if you run "git commit -a" 106 107Comparing with arbitrary commits:: 108+ 109------------ 110$ git diff test <1> 111$ git diff HEAD -- ./test <2> 112$ git diff HEAD^ HEAD <3> 113------------ 114+ 115<1> Instead of using the tip of the current branch, compare with the 116tip of "test" branch. 117<2> Instead of comparing with the tip of "test" branch, compare with 118the tip of the current branch, but limit the comparison to the 119file "test". 120<3> Compare the version before the last commit and the last commit. 121 122Comparing branches:: 123+ 124------------ 125$ git diff topic master <1> 126$ git diff topic..master <2> 127$ git diff topic...master <3> 128------------ 129+ 130<1> Changes between the tips of the topic and the master branches. 131<2> Same as above. 132<3> Changes that occurred on the master branch since when the topic 133branch was started off it. 134 135Limiting the diff output:: 136+ 137------------ 138$ git diff --diff-filter=MRC <1> 139$ git diff --name-status <2> 140$ git diff arch/i386 include/asm-i386 <3> 141------------ 142+ 143<1> Show only modification, rename and copy, but not addition 144nor deletion. 145<2> Show only names and the nature of change, but not actual 146diff output. 147<3> Limit diff output to named subtrees. 148 149Munging the diff output:: 150+ 151------------ 152$ git diff --find-copies-harder -B -C <1> 153$ git diff -R <2> 154------------ 155+ 156<1> Spend extra cycles to find renames, copies and complete 157rewrites (very expensive). 158<2> Output diff in reverse. 159 160 161Author 162------ 163Written by Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org> 164 165Documentation 166-------------- 167Documentation by Junio C Hamano and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>. 168 169GIT 170--- 171Part of the linkgit:git[7] suite