6 git-diff - Show changes between commits, commit and working tree, etc
11 'git-diff' [ --diff-options ] <tree-ish>{0,2} [<path>...]
15 Show changes between two trees, a tree and the working tree, a
16 tree and the index file, or the index file and the working tree.
17 The combination of what is compared with what is determined by
18 the number of trees given to the command.
20 * When no <tree-ish> is given, the working tree and the index
21 file are compared, using `git-diff-files`.
23 * When one <tree-ish> is given, the working tree and the named
24 tree are compared, using `git-diff-index`. The option
25 `--cached` can be given to compare the index file and
28 * When two <tree-ish>s are given, these two trees are compared
29 using `git-diff-tree`.
34 '--diff-options' are passed to the `git-diff-files`,
35 `git-diff-index`, and `git-diff-tree` commands. See the
36 documentation for these commands for description.
39 The <path> arguments are also passed to `git-diff-\*`
46 Various ways to check your working tree::
50 $ git diff --cached <2>
54 <1> changes in the working tree since your last git-update-index.
55 <2> changes between the index and your last commit; what you
56 would be committing if you run "git commit" without "-a" option.
57 <3> changes in the working tree since your last commit; what you
58 would be committing if you run "git commit -a"
60 Comparing with arbitrary commits::
64 $ git diff HEAD -- ./test <2>
65 $ git diff HEAD^ HEAD <3>
68 <1> instead of using the tip of the current branch, compare with the
70 <2> instead of comparing with the tip of "test" branch, compare with
71 the tip of the current branch, but limit the comparison to the
73 <3> compare the version before the last commit and the last commit.
76 Limiting the diff output::
79 $ git diff --diff-filter=MRC <1>
80 $ git diff --name-status -r <2>
81 $ git diff arch/i386 include/asm-i386 <3>
84 <1> show only modification, rename and copy, but not addition
86 <2> show only names and the nature of change, but not actual
87 diff output. --name-status disables usual patch generation
88 which in turn also disables recursive behavior, so without -r
89 you would only see the directory name if there is a change in a
90 file in a subdirectory.
91 <3> limit diff output to named subtrees.
93 Munging the diff output::
96 $ git diff --find-copies-harder -B -C <1>
100 <1> spend extra cycles to find renames, copies and complete
101 rewrites (very expensive).
102 <2> output diff in reverse.
107 Written by Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>
111 Documentation by Junio C Hamano and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>.
115 Part of the gitlink:git[7] suite