'git diff' [options] [<commit>] [--] [<path>...]
'git diff' [options] --cached [<commit>] [--] [<path>...]
'git diff' [options] <commit> <commit> [--] [<path>...]
+'git diff' [options] <blob> <blob>
'git diff' [options] [--no-index] [--] <path> <path>
DESCRIPTION
This form is to view the changes you made relative to
the index (staging area for the next commit). In other
- words, the differences are what you _could_ tell git to
+ words, the differences are what you _could_ tell Git to
further add to the index but you still haven't. You can
stage these changes by using linkgit:git-add[1].
+
This is to view the changes between two arbitrary
<commit>.
+'git diff' [options] <blob> <blob>::
+
+ This form is to view the differences between the raw
+ contents of two blob objects.
+
'git diff' [--options] <commit>..<commit> [--] [<path>...]::
This is synonymous to the previous form. If <commit> on
Just in case if you are doing something exotic, it should be
noted that all of the <commit> in the above description, except
in the last two forms that use ".." notations, can be any
-<tree>. The third form ('git diff <commit> <commit>') can also
-be used to compare two <blob> objects.
+<tree>.
For a more complete list of ways to spell <commit>, see
"SPECIFYING REVISIONS" section in linkgit:gitrevisions[7].