1 // Please don't remove this comment as asciidoc behaves badly when
2 // the first non-empty line is ifdef/ifndef. The symptom is that
3 // without this comment the <git-diff-core> attribute conditionally
4 // defined below ends up being defined unconditionally.
5 // Last checked with asciidoc 7.0.2.
7 ifndef::git-format-patch[]
13 endif::git-format-patch[]
15 ifdef::git-format-patch[]
18 Generate plain patches without any diffstats.
19 endif::git-format-patch[]
21 ifndef::git-format-patch[]
25 Generate patch (see section on generating patches).
32 Suppress diff output. Useful for commands like `git show` that
33 show the patch by default, or to cancel the effect of `--patch`.
34 endif::git-format-patch[]
38 Generate diffs with <n> lines of context instead of
39 the usual three. Implies `--patch`.
40 ifndef::git-format-patch[]
42 endif::git-format-patch[]
45 Output to a specific file instead of stdout.
47 --output-indicator-new=<char>::
48 --output-indicator-old=<char>::
49 --output-indicator-context=<char>::
50 Specify the character used to indicate new, old or context
51 lines in the generated patch. Normally they are '+', '-' and
54 ifndef::git-format-patch[]
57 Generate the diff in raw format.
58 ifdef::git-diff-core[]
60 endif::git-diff-core[]
63 For each commit, show a summary of changes using the raw diff
64 format. See the "RAW OUTPUT FORMAT" section of
65 linkgit:git-diff[1]. This is different from showing the log
66 itself in raw format, which you can achieve with
69 endif::git-format-patch[]
71 ifndef::git-format-patch[]
73 Synonym for `-p --raw`.
74 endif::git-format-patch[]
77 Enable the heuristic that shifts diff hunk boundaries to make patches
78 easier to read. This is the default.
80 --no-indent-heuristic::
81 Disable the indent heuristic.
84 Spend extra time to make sure the smallest possible
88 Generate a diff using the "patience diff" algorithm.
91 Generate a diff using the "histogram diff" algorithm.
94 Generate a diff using the "anchored diff" algorithm.
96 This option may be specified more than once.
98 If a line exists in both the source and destination, exists only once,
99 and starts with this text, this algorithm attempts to prevent it from
100 appearing as a deletion or addition in the output. It uses the "patience
101 diff" algorithm internally.
103 --diff-algorithm={patience|minimal|histogram|myers}::
104 Choose a diff algorithm. The variants are as follows:
108 The basic greedy diff algorithm. Currently, this is the default.
110 Spend extra time to make sure the smallest possible diff is
113 Use "patience diff" algorithm when generating patches.
115 This algorithm extends the patience algorithm to "support
116 low-occurrence common elements".
119 For instance, if you configured the `diff.algorithm` variable to a
120 non-default value and want to use the default one, then you
121 have to use `--diff-algorithm=default` option.
123 --stat[=<width>[,<name-width>[,<count>]]]::
124 Generate a diffstat. By default, as much space as necessary
125 will be used for the filename part, and the rest for the graph
126 part. Maximum width defaults to terminal width, or 80 columns
127 if not connected to a terminal, and can be overridden by
128 `<width>`. The width of the filename part can be limited by
129 giving another width `<name-width>` after a comma. The width
130 of the graph part can be limited by using
131 `--stat-graph-width=<width>` (affects all commands generating
132 a stat graph) or by setting `diff.statGraphWidth=<width>`
133 (does not affect `git format-patch`).
134 By giving a third parameter `<count>`, you can limit the
135 output to the first `<count>` lines, followed by `...` if
138 These parameters can also be set individually with `--stat-width=<width>`,
139 `--stat-name-width=<name-width>` and `--stat-count=<count>`.
142 Output a condensed summary of extended header information such
143 as file creations or deletions ("new" or "gone", optionally "+l"
144 if it's a symlink) and mode changes ("+x" or "-x" for adding
145 or removing executable bit respectively) in diffstat. The
146 information is put between the filename part and the graph
147 part. Implies `--stat`.
150 Similar to `--stat`, but shows number of added and
151 deleted lines in decimal notation and pathname without
152 abbreviation, to make it more machine friendly. For
153 binary files, outputs two `-` instead of saying
157 Output only the last line of the `--stat` format containing total
158 number of modified files, as well as number of added and deleted
161 -X[<param1,param2,...>]::
162 --dirstat[=<param1,param2,...>]::
163 Output the distribution of relative amount of changes for each
164 sub-directory. The behavior of `--dirstat` can be customized by
165 passing it a comma separated list of parameters.
166 The defaults are controlled by the `diff.dirstat` configuration
167 variable (see linkgit:git-config[1]).
168 The following parameters are available:
172 Compute the dirstat numbers by counting the lines that have been
173 removed from the source, or added to the destination. This ignores
174 the amount of pure code movements within a file. In other words,
175 rearranging lines in a file is not counted as much as other changes.
176 This is the default behavior when no parameter is given.
178 Compute the dirstat numbers by doing the regular line-based diff
179 analysis, and summing the removed/added line counts. (For binary
180 files, count 64-byte chunks instead, since binary files have no
181 natural concept of lines). This is a more expensive `--dirstat`
182 behavior than the `changes` behavior, but it does count rearranged
183 lines within a file as much as other changes. The resulting output
184 is consistent with what you get from the other `--*stat` options.
186 Compute the dirstat numbers by counting the number of files changed.
187 Each changed file counts equally in the dirstat analysis. This is
188 the computationally cheapest `--dirstat` behavior, since it does
189 not have to look at the file contents at all.
191 Count changes in a child directory for the parent directory as well.
192 Note that when using `cumulative`, the sum of the percentages
193 reported may exceed 100%. The default (non-cumulative) behavior can
194 be specified with the `noncumulative` parameter.
196 An integer parameter specifies a cut-off percent (3% by default).
197 Directories contributing less than this percentage of the changes
198 are not shown in the output.
201 Example: The following will count changed files, while ignoring
202 directories with less than 10% of the total amount of changed files,
203 and accumulating child directory counts in the parent directories:
204 `--dirstat=files,10,cumulative`.
207 Synonym for --dirstat=cumulative
209 --dirstat-by-file[=<param1,param2>...]::
210 Synonym for --dirstat=files,param1,param2...
213 Output a condensed summary of extended header information
214 such as creations, renames and mode changes.
216 ifndef::git-format-patch[]
218 Synonym for `-p --stat`.
219 endif::git-format-patch[]
221 ifndef::git-format-patch[]
225 Separate the commits with NULs instead of with new newlines.
227 Also, when `--raw` or `--numstat` has been given, do not munge
228 pathnames and use NULs as output field terminators.
231 When `--raw`, `--numstat`, `--name-only` or `--name-status` has been
232 given, do not munge pathnames and use NULs as output field terminators.
235 Without this option, pathnames with "unusual" characters are quoted as
236 explained for the configuration variable `core.quotePath` (see
237 linkgit:git-config[1]).
240 Show only names of changed files.
243 Show only names and status of changed files. See the description
244 of the `--diff-filter` option on what the status letters mean.
246 --submodule[=<format>]::
247 Specify how differences in submodules are shown. When specifying
248 `--submodule=short` the 'short' format is used. This format just
249 shows the names of the commits at the beginning and end of the range.
250 When `--submodule` or `--submodule=log` is specified, the 'log'
251 format is used. This format lists the commits in the range like
252 linkgit:git-submodule[1] `summary` does. When `--submodule=diff`
253 is specified, the 'diff' format is used. This format shows an
254 inline diff of the changes in the submodule contents between the
255 commit range. Defaults to `diff.submodule` or the 'short' format
256 if the config option is unset.
260 `--color` (i.e. without '=<when>') is the same as `--color=always`.
261 '<when>' can be one of `always`, `never`, or `auto`.
263 It can be changed by the `color.ui` and `color.diff`
264 configuration settings.
268 Turn off colored diff.
270 This can be used to override configuration settings.
272 It is the same as `--color=never`.
274 --color-moved[=<mode>]::
275 Moved lines of code are colored differently.
277 It can be changed by the `diff.colorMoved` configuration setting.
279 The <mode> defaults to 'no' if the option is not given
280 and to 'zebra' if the option with no mode is given.
281 The mode must be one of:
285 Moved lines are not highlighted.
287 Is a synonym for `zebra`. This may change to a more sensible mode
290 Any line that is added in one location and was removed
291 in another location will be colored with 'color.diff.newMoved'.
292 Similarly 'color.diff.oldMoved' will be used for removed lines
293 that are added somewhere else in the diff. This mode picks up any
294 moved line, but it is not very useful in a review to determine
295 if a block of code was moved without permutation.
297 Blocks of moved text of at least 20 alphanumeric characters
298 are detected greedily. The detected blocks are
299 painted using either the 'color.diff.{old,new}Moved' color.
300 Adjacent blocks cannot be told apart.
302 Blocks of moved text are detected as in 'blocks' mode. The blocks
303 are painted using either the 'color.diff.{old,new}Moved' color or
304 'color.diff.{old,new}MovedAlternative'. The change between
305 the two colors indicates that a new block was detected.
307 Similar to 'zebra', but additional dimming of uninteresting parts
308 of moved code is performed. The bordering lines of two adjacent
309 blocks are considered interesting, the rest is uninteresting.
310 `dimmed_zebra` is a deprecated synonym.
314 Turn off move detection. This can be used to override configuration
315 settings. It is the same as `--color-moved=no`.
317 --color-moved-ws=<modes>::
318 This configures how whitespace is ignored when performing the
319 move detection for `--color-moved`.
321 It can be set by the `diff.colorMovedWS` configuration setting.
323 These modes can be given as a comma separated list:
327 Do not ignore whitespace when performing move detection.
328 ignore-space-at-eol::
329 Ignore changes in whitespace at EOL.
330 ignore-space-change::
331 Ignore changes in amount of whitespace. This ignores whitespace
332 at line end, and considers all other sequences of one or
333 more whitespace characters to be equivalent.
335 Ignore whitespace when comparing lines. This ignores differences
336 even if one line has whitespace where the other line has none.
337 allow-indentation-change::
338 Initially ignore any whitespace in the move detection, then
339 group the moved code blocks only into a block if the change in
340 whitespace is the same per line. This is incompatible with the
344 --no-color-moved-ws::
345 Do not ignore whitespace when performing move detection. This can be
346 used to override configuration settings. It is the same as
347 `--color-moved-ws=no`.
349 --word-diff[=<mode>]::
350 Show a word diff, using the <mode> to delimit changed words.
351 By default, words are delimited by whitespace; see
352 `--word-diff-regex` below. The <mode> defaults to 'plain', and
357 Highlight changed words using only colors. Implies `--color`.
359 Show words as `[-removed-]` and `{+added+}`. Makes no
360 attempts to escape the delimiters if they appear in the input,
361 so the output may be ambiguous.
363 Use a special line-based format intended for script
364 consumption. Added/removed/unchanged runs are printed in the
365 usual unified diff format, starting with a `+`/`-`/` `
366 character at the beginning of the line and extending to the
367 end of the line. Newlines in the input are represented by a
368 tilde `~` on a line of its own.
370 Disable word diff again.
373 Note that despite the name of the first mode, color is used to
374 highlight the changed parts in all modes if enabled.
376 --word-diff-regex=<regex>::
377 Use <regex> to decide what a word is, instead of considering
378 runs of non-whitespace to be a word. Also implies
379 `--word-diff` unless it was already enabled.
381 Every non-overlapping match of the
382 <regex> is considered a word. Anything between these matches is
383 considered whitespace and ignored(!) for the purposes of finding
384 differences. You may want to append `|[^[:space:]]` to your regular
385 expression to make sure that it matches all non-whitespace characters.
386 A match that contains a newline is silently truncated(!) at the
389 For example, `--word-diff-regex=.` will treat each character as a word
390 and, correspondingly, show differences character by character.
392 The regex can also be set via a diff driver or configuration option, see
393 linkgit:gitattributes[5] or linkgit:git-config[1]. Giving it explicitly
394 overrides any diff driver or configuration setting. Diff drivers
395 override configuration settings.
397 --color-words[=<regex>]::
398 Equivalent to `--word-diff=color` plus (if a regex was
399 specified) `--word-diff-regex=<regex>`.
400 endif::git-format-patch[]
403 Turn off rename detection, even when the configuration
404 file gives the default to do so.
406 --[no-]rename-empty::
407 Whether to use empty blobs as rename source.
409 ifndef::git-format-patch[]
411 Warn if changes introduce conflict markers or whitespace errors.
412 What are considered whitespace errors is controlled by `core.whitespace`
413 configuration. By default, trailing whitespaces (including
414 lines that consist solely of whitespaces) and a space character
415 that is immediately followed by a tab character inside the
416 initial indent of the line are considered whitespace errors.
417 Exits with non-zero status if problems are found. Not compatible
420 --ws-error-highlight=<kind>::
421 Highlight whitespace errors in the `context`, `old` or `new`
422 lines of the diff. Multiple values are separated by comma,
423 `none` resets previous values, `default` reset the list to
424 `new` and `all` is a shorthand for `old,new,context`. When
425 this option is not given, and the configuration variable
426 `diff.wsErrorHighlight` is not set, only whitespace errors in
427 `new` lines are highlighted. The whitespace errors are colored
428 with `color.diff.whitespace`.
430 endif::git-format-patch[]
433 Instead of the first handful of characters, show the full
434 pre- and post-image blob object names on the "index"
435 line when generating patch format output.
438 In addition to `--full-index`, output a binary diff that
439 can be applied with `git-apply`. Implies `--patch`.
442 Instead of showing the full 40-byte hexadecimal object
443 name in diff-raw format output and diff-tree header
444 lines, show only a partial prefix.
445 In diff-patch output format, `--full-index` takes higher
446 precedence, i.e. if `--full-index` is specified, full blob
447 names will be shown regardless of `--abbrev`.
448 Non default number of digits can be specified with `--abbrev=<n>`.
451 --break-rewrites[=[<n>][/<m>]]::
452 Break complete rewrite changes into pairs of delete and
453 create. This serves two purposes:
455 It affects the way a change that amounts to a total rewrite of a file
456 not as a series of deletion and insertion mixed together with a very
457 few lines that happen to match textually as the context, but as a
458 single deletion of everything old followed by a single insertion of
459 everything new, and the number `m` controls this aspect of the -B
460 option (defaults to 60%). `-B/70%` specifies that less than 30% of the
461 original should remain in the result for Git to consider it a total
462 rewrite (i.e. otherwise the resulting patch will be a series of
463 deletion and insertion mixed together with context lines).
465 When used with -M, a totally-rewritten file is also considered as the
466 source of a rename (usually -M only considers a file that disappeared
467 as the source of a rename), and the number `n` controls this aspect of
468 the -B option (defaults to 50%). `-B20%` specifies that a change with
469 addition and deletion compared to 20% or more of the file's size are
470 eligible for being picked up as a possible source of a rename to
474 --find-renames[=<n>]::
479 If generating diffs, detect and report renames for each commit.
480 For following files across renames while traversing history, see
483 If `n` is specified, it is a threshold on the similarity
484 index (i.e. amount of addition/deletions compared to the
485 file's size). For example, `-M90%` means Git should consider a
486 delete/add pair to be a rename if more than 90% of the file
487 hasn't changed. Without a `%` sign, the number is to be read as
488 a fraction, with a decimal point before it. I.e., `-M5` becomes
489 0.5, and is thus the same as `-M50%`. Similarly, `-M05` is
490 the same as `-M5%`. To limit detection to exact renames, use
491 `-M100%`. The default similarity index is 50%.
494 --find-copies[=<n>]::
495 Detect copies as well as renames. See also `--find-copies-harder`.
496 If `n` is specified, it has the same meaning as for `-M<n>`.
498 --find-copies-harder::
499 For performance reasons, by default, `-C` option finds copies only
500 if the original file of the copy was modified in the same
501 changeset. This flag makes the command
502 inspect unmodified files as candidates for the source of
503 copy. This is a very expensive operation for large
504 projects, so use it with caution. Giving more than one
505 `-C` option has the same effect.
508 --irreversible-delete::
509 Omit the preimage for deletes, i.e. print only the header but not
510 the diff between the preimage and `/dev/null`. The resulting patch
511 is not meant to be applied with `patch` or `git apply`; this is
512 solely for people who want to just concentrate on reviewing the
513 text after the change. In addition, the output obviously lacks
514 enough information to apply such a patch in reverse, even manually,
515 hence the name of the option.
517 When used together with `-B`, omit also the preimage in the deletion part
518 of a delete/create pair.
521 The `-M` and `-C` options require O(n^2) processing time where n
522 is the number of potential rename/copy targets. This
523 option prevents rename/copy detection from running if
524 the number of rename/copy targets exceeds the specified
527 ifndef::git-format-patch[]
528 --diff-filter=[(A|C|D|M|R|T|U|X|B)...[*]]::
529 Select only files that are Added (`A`), Copied (`C`),
530 Deleted (`D`), Modified (`M`), Renamed (`R`), have their
531 type (i.e. regular file, symlink, submodule, ...) changed (`T`),
532 are Unmerged (`U`), are
533 Unknown (`X`), or have had their pairing Broken (`B`).
534 Any combination of the filter characters (including none) can be used.
535 When `*` (All-or-none) is added to the combination, all
536 paths are selected if there is any file that matches
537 other criteria in the comparison; if there is no file
538 that matches other criteria, nothing is selected.
540 Also, these upper-case letters can be downcased to exclude. E.g.
541 `--diff-filter=ad` excludes added and deleted paths.
543 Note that not all diffs can feature all types. For instance, diffs
544 from the index to the working tree can never have Added entries
545 (because the set of paths included in the diff is limited by what is in
546 the index). Similarly, copied and renamed entries cannot appear if
547 detection for those types is disabled.
550 Look for differences that change the number of occurrences of
551 the specified string (i.e. addition/deletion) in a file.
552 Intended for the scripter's use.
554 It is useful when you're looking for an exact block of code (like a
555 struct), and want to know the history of that block since it first
556 came into being: use the feature iteratively to feed the interesting
557 block in the preimage back into `-S`, and keep going until you get the
558 very first version of the block.
560 Binary files are searched as well.
563 Look for differences whose patch text contains added/removed
564 lines that match <regex>.
566 To illustrate the difference between `-S<regex> --pickaxe-regex` and
567 `-G<regex>`, consider a commit with the following diff in the same
571 + return frotz(nitfol, two->ptr, 1, 0);
573 - hit = frotz(nitfol, mf2.ptr, 1, 0);
576 While `git log -G"frotz\(nitfol"` will show this commit, `git log
577 -S"frotz\(nitfol" --pickaxe-regex` will not (because the number of
578 occurrences of that string did not change).
580 Unless `--text` is supplied patches of binary files without a textconv
581 filter will be ignored.
583 See the 'pickaxe' entry in linkgit:gitdiffcore[7] for more
586 --find-object=<object-id>::
587 Look for differences that change the number of occurrences of
588 the specified object. Similar to `-S`, just the argument is different
589 in that it doesn't search for a specific string but for a specific
592 The object can be a blob or a submodule commit. It implies the `-t` option in
593 `git-log` to also find trees.
596 When `-S` or `-G` finds a change, show all the changes in that
597 changeset, not just the files that contain the change
601 Treat the <string> given to `-S` as an extended POSIX regular
604 endif::git-format-patch[]
607 Control the order in which files appear in the output.
608 This overrides the `diff.orderFile` configuration variable
609 (see linkgit:git-config[1]). To cancel `diff.orderFile`,
612 The output order is determined by the order of glob patterns in
614 All files with pathnames that match the first pattern are output
615 first, all files with pathnames that match the second pattern (but not
616 the first) are output next, and so on.
617 All files with pathnames that do not match any pattern are output
618 last, as if there was an implicit match-all pattern at the end of the
620 If multiple pathnames have the same rank (they match the same pattern
621 but no earlier patterns), their output order relative to each other is
624 <orderfile> is parsed as follows:
627 - Blank lines are ignored, so they can be used as separators for
630 - Lines starting with a hash ("`#`") are ignored, so they can be used
631 for comments. Add a backslash ("`\`") to the beginning of the
632 pattern if it starts with a hash.
634 - Each other line contains a single pattern.
637 Patterns have the same syntax and semantics as patterns used for
638 fnmatch(3) without the FNM_PATHNAME flag, except a pathname also
639 matches a pattern if removing any number of the final pathname
640 components matches the pattern. For example, the pattern "`foo*bar`"
641 matches "`fooasdfbar`" and "`foo/bar/baz/asdf`" but not "`foobarx`".
643 ifndef::git-format-patch[]
645 Swap two inputs; that is, show differences from index or
646 on-disk file to tree contents.
647 endif::git-format-patch[]
649 --relative[=<path>]::
651 When run from a subdirectory of the project, it can be
652 told to exclude changes outside the directory and show
653 pathnames relative to it with this option. When you are
654 not in a subdirectory (e.g. in a bare repository), you
655 can name which subdirectory to make the output relative
656 to by giving a <path> as an argument.
657 `--no-relative` can be used to countermand both `diff.relative` config
658 option and previous `--relative`.
662 Treat all files as text.
665 Ignore carriage-return at the end of line when doing a comparison.
667 --ignore-space-at-eol::
668 Ignore changes in whitespace at EOL.
671 --ignore-space-change::
672 Ignore changes in amount of whitespace. This ignores whitespace
673 at line end, and considers all other sequences of one or
674 more whitespace characters to be equivalent.
678 Ignore whitespace when comparing lines. This ignores
679 differences even if one line has whitespace where the other
682 --ignore-blank-lines::
683 Ignore changes whose lines are all blank.
685 --inter-hunk-context=<lines>::
686 Show the context between diff hunks, up to the specified number
687 of lines, thereby fusing hunks that are close to each other.
688 Defaults to `diff.interHunkContext` or 0 if the config option
693 Show whole surrounding functions of changes.
695 ifndef::git-format-patch[]
698 Make the program exit with codes similar to diff(1).
699 That is, it exits with 1 if there were differences and
700 0 means no differences.
703 Disable all output of the program. Implies `--exit-code`.
705 endif::git-format-patch[]
708 Allow an external diff helper to be executed. If you set an
709 external diff driver with linkgit:gitattributes[5], you need
710 to use this option with linkgit:git-log[1] and friends.
713 Disallow external diff drivers.
717 Allow (or disallow) external text conversion filters to be run
718 when comparing binary files. See linkgit:gitattributes[5] for
719 details. Because textconv filters are typically a one-way
720 conversion, the resulting diff is suitable for human
721 consumption, but cannot be applied. For this reason, textconv
722 filters are enabled by default only for linkgit:git-diff[1] and
723 linkgit:git-log[1], but not for linkgit:git-format-patch[1] or
724 diff plumbing commands.
726 --ignore-submodules[=<when>]::
727 Ignore changes to submodules in the diff generation. <when> can be
728 either "none", "untracked", "dirty" or "all", which is the default.
729 Using "none" will consider the submodule modified when it either contains
730 untracked or modified files or its HEAD differs from the commit recorded
731 in the superproject and can be used to override any settings of the
732 'ignore' option in linkgit:git-config[1] or linkgit:gitmodules[5]. When
733 "untracked" is used submodules are not considered dirty when they only
734 contain untracked content (but they are still scanned for modified
735 content). Using "dirty" ignores all changes to the work tree of submodules,
736 only changes to the commits stored in the superproject are shown (this was
737 the behavior until 1.7.0). Using "all" hides all changes to submodules.
739 --src-prefix=<prefix>::
740 Show the given source prefix instead of "a/".
742 --dst-prefix=<prefix>::
743 Show the given destination prefix instead of "b/".
746 Do not show any source or destination prefix.
748 --line-prefix=<prefix>::
749 Prepend an additional prefix to every line of output.
751 --ita-invisible-in-index::
752 By default entries added by "git add -N" appear as an existing
753 empty file in "git diff" and a new file in "git diff --cached".
754 This option makes the entry appear as a new file in "git diff"
755 and non-existent in "git diff --cached". This option could be
756 reverted with `--ita-visible-in-index`. Both options are
757 experimental and could be removed in future.
759 For more detailed explanation on these common options, see also
760 linkgit:gitdiffcore[7].