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