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).
26 {git-diff? This is the default.}
27 endif::git-format-patch[]
31 Generate diffs with <n> lines of context instead of
33 ifndef::git-format-patch[]
35 endif::git-format-patch[]
37 ifndef::git-format-patch[]
39 Generate the raw format.
40 {git-diff-core? This is the default.}
41 endif::git-format-patch[]
43 ifndef::git-format-patch[]
45 Synonym for `-p --raw`.
46 endif::git-format-patch[]
49 Spend extra time to make sure the smallest possible
53 Generate a diff using the "patience diff" algorithm.
56 Generate a diff using the "histogram diff" algorithm.
58 --stat[=<width>[,<name-width>[,<count>]]]::
59 Generate a diffstat. By default, as much space as necessary
60 will be used for the filename part, and the rest for the graph
61 part. Maximum width defaults to terminal width, or 80 columns
62 if not connected to a terminal, and can be overriden by
63 `<width>`. The width of the filename part can be limited by
64 giving another width `<name-width>` after a comma. The width
65 of the graph part can be limited by using
66 `--stat-graph-width=<width>` (affects all commands generating
67 a stat graph) or by setting `diff.statGraphWidth=<width>`
68 (does not affect `git format-patch`).
69 By giving a third parameter `<count>`, you can limit the
70 output to the first `<count>` lines, followed by `...` if
73 These parameters can also be set individually with `--stat-width=<width>`,
74 `--stat-name-width=<name-width>` and `--stat-count=<count>`.
77 Similar to `\--stat`, but shows number of added and
78 deleted lines in decimal notation and pathname without
79 abbreviation, to make it more machine friendly. For
80 binary files, outputs two `-` instead of saying
84 Output only the last line of the `--stat` format containing total
85 number of modified files, as well as number of added and deleted
88 --dirstat[=<param1,param2,...>]::
89 Output the distribution of relative amount of changes for each
90 sub-directory. The behavior of `--dirstat` can be customized by
91 passing it a comma separated list of parameters.
92 The defaults are controlled by the `diff.dirstat` configuration
93 variable (see linkgit:git-config[1]).
94 The following parameters are available:
98 Compute the dirstat numbers by counting the lines that have been
99 removed from the source, or added to the destination. This ignores
100 the amount of pure code movements within a file. In other words,
101 rearranging lines in a file is not counted as much as other changes.
102 This is the default behavior when no parameter is given.
104 Compute the dirstat numbers by doing the regular line-based diff
105 analysis, and summing the removed/added line counts. (For binary
106 files, count 64-byte chunks instead, since binary files have no
107 natural concept of lines). This is a more expensive `--dirstat`
108 behavior than the `changes` behavior, but it does count rearranged
109 lines within a file as much as other changes. The resulting output
110 is consistent with what you get from the other `--*stat` options.
112 Compute the dirstat numbers by counting the number of files changed.
113 Each changed file counts equally in the dirstat analysis. This is
114 the computationally cheapest `--dirstat` behavior, since it does
115 not have to look at the file contents at all.
117 Count changes in a child directory for the parent directory as well.
118 Note that when using `cumulative`, the sum of the percentages
119 reported may exceed 100%. The default (non-cumulative) behavior can
120 be specified with the `noncumulative` parameter.
122 An integer parameter specifies a cut-off percent (3% by default).
123 Directories contributing less than this percentage of the changes
124 are not shown in the output.
127 Example: The following will count changed files, while ignoring
128 directories with less than 10% of the total amount of changed files,
129 and accumulating child directory counts in the parent directories:
130 `--dirstat=files,10,cumulative`.
133 Output a condensed summary of extended header information
134 such as creations, renames and mode changes.
136 ifndef::git-format-patch[]
138 Synonym for `-p --stat`.
139 endif::git-format-patch[]
141 ifndef::git-format-patch[]
145 Separate the commits with NULs instead of with new newlines.
147 Also, when `--raw` or `--numstat` has been given, do not munge
148 pathnames and use NULs as output field terminators.
151 When `--raw`, `--numstat`, `--name-only` or `--name-status` has been
152 given, do not munge pathnames and use NULs as output field terminators.
155 Without this option, each pathname output will have TAB, LF, double quotes,
156 and backslash characters replaced with `\t`, `\n`, `\"`, and `\\`,
157 respectively, and the pathname will be enclosed in double quotes if
158 any of those replacements occurred.
161 Show only names of changed files.
164 Show only names and status of changed files. See the description
165 of the `--diff-filter` option on what the status letters mean.
167 --submodule[=<format>]::
168 Chose the output format for submodule differences. <format> can be one of
169 'short' and 'log'. 'short' just shows pairs of commit names, this format
170 is used when this option is not given. 'log' is the default value for this
171 option and lists the commits in that commit range like the 'summary'
172 option of linkgit:git-submodule[1] does.
176 The value must be `always` (the default for `<when>`), `never`, or `auto`.
177 The default value is `never`.
179 It can be changed by the `color.ui` and `color.diff`
180 configuration settings.
184 Turn off colored diff.
186 This can be used to override configuration settings.
188 It is the same as `--color=never`.
190 --word-diff[=<mode>]::
191 Show a word diff, using the <mode> to delimit changed words.
192 By default, words are delimited by whitespace; see
193 `--word-diff-regex` below. The <mode> defaults to 'plain', and
198 Highlight changed words using only colors. Implies `--color`.
200 Show words as `[-removed-]` and `{+added+}`. Makes no
201 attempts to escape the delimiters if they appear in the input,
202 so the output may be ambiguous.
204 Use a special line-based format intended for script
205 consumption. Added/removed/unchanged runs are printed in the
206 usual unified diff format, starting with a `+`/`-`/` `
207 character at the beginning of the line and extending to the
208 end of the line. Newlines in the input are represented by a
209 tilde `~` on a line of its own.
211 Disable word diff again.
214 Note that despite the name of the first mode, color is used to
215 highlight the changed parts in all modes if enabled.
217 --word-diff-regex=<regex>::
218 Use <regex> to decide what a word is, instead of considering
219 runs of non-whitespace to be a word. Also implies
220 `--word-diff` unless it was already enabled.
222 Every non-overlapping match of the
223 <regex> is considered a word. Anything between these matches is
224 considered whitespace and ignored(!) for the purposes of finding
225 differences. You may want to append `|[^[:space:]]` to your regular
226 expression to make sure that it matches all non-whitespace characters.
227 A match that contains a newline is silently truncated(!) at the
230 The regex can also be set via a diff driver or configuration option, see
231 linkgit:gitattributes[1] or linkgit:git-config[1]. Giving it explicitly
232 overrides any diff driver or configuration setting. Diff drivers
233 override configuration settings.
235 --color-words[=<regex>]::
236 Equivalent to `--word-diff=color` plus (if a regex was
237 specified) `--word-diff-regex=<regex>`.
238 endif::git-format-patch[]
241 Turn off rename detection, even when the configuration
242 file gives the default to do so.
244 ifndef::git-format-patch[]
246 Warn if changes introduce whitespace errors. What are
247 considered whitespace errors is controlled by `core.whitespace`
248 configuration. By default, trailing whitespaces (including
249 lines that solely consist of whitespaces) and a space character
250 that is immediately followed by a tab character inside the
251 initial indent of the line are considered whitespace errors.
252 Exits with non-zero status if problems are found. Not compatible
254 endif::git-format-patch[]
257 Instead of the first handful of characters, show the full
258 pre- and post-image blob object names on the "index"
259 line when generating patch format output.
262 In addition to `--full-index`, output a binary diff that
263 can be applied with `git-apply`.
266 Instead of showing the full 40-byte hexadecimal object
267 name in diff-raw format output and diff-tree header
268 lines, show only a partial prefix. This is
269 independent of the `--full-index` option above, which controls
270 the diff-patch output format. Non default number of
271 digits can be specified with `--abbrev=<n>`.
274 --break-rewrites[=[<n>][/<m>]]::
275 Break complete rewrite changes into pairs of delete and
276 create. This serves two purposes:
278 It affects the way a change that amounts to a total rewrite of a file
279 not as a series of deletion and insertion mixed together with a very
280 few lines that happen to match textually as the context, but as a
281 single deletion of everything old followed by a single insertion of
282 everything new, and the number `m` controls this aspect of the -B
283 option (defaults to 60%). `-B/70%` specifies that less than 30% of the
284 original should remain in the result for git to consider it a total
285 rewrite (i.e. otherwise the resulting patch will be a series of
286 deletion and insertion mixed together with context lines).
288 When used with -M, a totally-rewritten file is also considered as the
289 source of a rename (usually -M only considers a file that disappeared
290 as the source of a rename), and the number `n` controls this aspect of
291 the -B option (defaults to 50%). `-B20%` specifies that a change with
292 addition and deletion compared to 20% or more of the file's size are
293 eligible for being picked up as a possible source of a rename to
297 --find-renames[=<n>]::
302 If generating diffs, detect and report renames for each commit.
303 For following files across renames while traversing history, see
306 If `n` is specified, it is a threshold on the similarity
307 index (i.e. amount of addition/deletions compared to the
308 file's size). For example, `-M90%` means git should consider a
309 delete/add pair to be a rename if more than 90% of the file
313 --find-copies[=<n>]::
314 Detect copies as well as renames. See also `--find-copies-harder`.
315 If `n` is specified, it has the same meaning as for `-M<n>`.
317 --find-copies-harder::
318 For performance reasons, by default, `-C` option finds copies only
319 if the original file of the copy was modified in the same
320 changeset. This flag makes the command
321 inspect unmodified files as candidates for the source of
322 copy. This is a very expensive operation for large
323 projects, so use it with caution. Giving more than one
324 `-C` option has the same effect.
327 --irreversible-delete::
328 Omit the preimage for deletes, i.e. print only the header but not
329 the diff between the preimage and `/dev/null`. The resulting patch
330 is not meant to be applied with `patch` nor `git apply`; this is
331 solely for people who want to just concentrate on reviewing the
332 text after the change. In addition, the output obviously lack
333 enough information to apply such a patch in reverse, even manually,
334 hence the name of the option.
336 When used together with `-B`, omit also the preimage in the deletion part
337 of a delete/create pair.
340 The `-M` and `-C` options require O(n^2) processing time where n
341 is the number of potential rename/copy targets. This
342 option prevents rename/copy detection from running if
343 the number of rename/copy targets exceeds the specified
346 ifndef::git-format-patch[]
347 --diff-filter=[(A|C|D|M|R|T|U|X|B)...[*]]::
348 Select only files that are Added (`A`), Copied (`C`),
349 Deleted (`D`), Modified (`M`), Renamed (`R`), have their
350 type (i.e. regular file, symlink, submodule, ...) changed (`T`),
351 are Unmerged (`U`), are
352 Unknown (`X`), or have had their pairing Broken (`B`).
353 Any combination of the filter characters (including none) can be used.
354 When `*` (All-or-none) is added to the combination, all
355 paths are selected if there is any file that matches
356 other criteria in the comparison; if there is no file
357 that matches other criteria, nothing is selected.
360 Look for differences that introduce or remove an instance of
361 <string>. Note that this is different than the string simply
362 appearing in diff output; see the 'pickaxe' entry in
363 linkgit:gitdiffcore[7] for more details.
366 Look for differences whose added or removed line matches
370 When `-S` or `-G` finds a change, show all the changes in that
371 changeset, not just the files that contain the change
375 Make the <string> not a plain string but an extended POSIX
377 endif::git-format-patch[]
380 Output the patch in the order specified in the
381 <orderfile>, which has one shell glob pattern per line.
383 ifndef::git-format-patch[]
385 Swap two inputs; that is, show differences from index or
386 on-disk file to tree contents.
388 --relative[=<path>]::
389 When run from a subdirectory of the project, it can be
390 told to exclude changes outside the directory and show
391 pathnames relative to it with this option. When you are
392 not in a subdirectory (e.g. in a bare repository), you
393 can name which subdirectory to make the output relative
394 to by giving a <path> as an argument.
395 endif::git-format-patch[]
399 Treat all files as text.
401 --ignore-space-at-eol::
402 Ignore changes in whitespace at EOL.
405 --ignore-space-change::
406 Ignore changes in amount of whitespace. This ignores whitespace
407 at line end, and considers all other sequences of one or
408 more whitespace characters to be equivalent.
412 Ignore whitespace when comparing lines. This ignores
413 differences even if one line has whitespace where the other
416 --inter-hunk-context=<lines>::
417 Show the context between diff hunks, up to the specified number
418 of lines, thereby fusing hunks that are close to each other.
422 Show whole surrounding functions of changes.
424 ifndef::git-format-patch[]
427 Make the program exit with codes similar to diff(1).
428 That is, it exits with 1 if there were differences and
429 0 means no differences.
432 Disable all output of the program. Implies `--exit-code`.
434 endif::git-format-patch[]
437 Allow an external diff helper to be executed. If you set an
438 external diff driver with linkgit:gitattributes[5], you need
439 to use this option with linkgit:git-log[1] and friends.
442 Disallow external diff drivers.
446 Allow (or disallow) external text conversion filters to be run
447 when comparing binary files. See linkgit:gitattributes[5] for
448 details. Because textconv filters are typically a one-way
449 conversion, the resulting diff is suitable for human
450 consumption, but cannot be applied. For this reason, textconv
451 filters are enabled by default only for linkgit:git-diff[1] and
452 linkgit:git-log[1], but not for linkgit:git-format-patch[1] or
453 diff plumbing commands.
455 --ignore-submodules[=<when>]::
456 Ignore changes to submodules in the diff generation. <when> can be
457 either "none", "untracked", "dirty" or "all", which is the default
458 Using "none" will consider the submodule modified when it either contains
459 untracked or modified files or its HEAD differs from the commit recorded
460 in the superproject and can be used to override any settings of the
461 'ignore' option in linkgit:git-config[1] or linkgit:gitmodules[5]. When
462 "untracked" is used submodules are not considered dirty when they only
463 contain untracked content (but they are still scanned for modified
464 content). Using "dirty" ignores all changes to the work tree of submodules,
465 only changes to the commits stored in the superproject are shown (this was
466 the behavior until 1.7.0). Using "all" hides all changes to submodules.
468 --src-prefix=<prefix>::
469 Show the given source prefix instead of "a/".
471 --dst-prefix=<prefix>::
472 Show the given destination prefix instead of "b/".
475 Do not show any source or destination prefix.
477 For more detailed explanation on these common options, see also
478 linkgit:gitdiffcore[7].