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].
-+
-If exactly two paths are given and at least one points outside
-the current repository, 'git diff' will compare the two files /
-directories. This behavior can be forced by --no-index.
+
+'git diff' --no-index [--options] [--] [<path>...]::
+
+ This form is to compare the given two paths on the
+ filesystem. You can omit the `--no-index` option when
+ running the command in a working tree controlled by Git and
+ at least one of the paths points outside the working tree,
+ or when running the command outside a working tree
+ controlled by Git.
'git diff' [--options] --cached [<commit>] [--] [<path>...]::
commit relative to the named <commit>. Typically you
would want comparison with the latest commit, so if you
do not give <commit>, it defaults to HEAD.
- If HEAD does not exist (e.g. unborned branches) and
+ If HEAD does not exist (e.g. unborn branches) and
<commit> is not given, it shows all staged changes.
--staged is a synonym of --cached.
$ git diff arch/i386 include/asm-i386 <3>
------------
+
-<1> Show only modification, rename and copy, but not addition
-nor deletion.
+<1> Show only modification, rename, and copy, but not addition
+or deletion.
<2> Show only names and the nature of change, but not actual
diff output.
<3> Limit diff output to named subtrees.