git-diff.html

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 306 </style>
 307 <title>git-diff(1)</title>
 308 </head>
 309 <body>
 310 <div id="header">
 311 <h1>
 312 git-diff(1) Manual Page
 313 </h1>
 314 <h2>NAME</h2>
 315 <div class="sectionbody">
 316 <p>git-diff -
 317    Show changes between commits, commit and working tree, etc
 318 </p>
 319 </div>
 320 </div>
 321 <h2>SYNOPSIS</h2>
 322 <div class="sectionbody">
 323 <div class="para"><p><em>git diff</em> [&lt;common diff options&gt;] &lt;commit&gt;{0,2} [--] [&lt;path&gt;&#8230;]</p></div>
 324 </div>
 325 <h2 id="_description">DESCRIPTION</h2>
 326 <div class="sectionbody">
 327 <div class="para"><p>Show changes between two trees, a tree and the working tree, a
 328 tree and the index file, or the index file and the working tree.</p></div>
 329 <div class="vlist"><dl>
 330 <dt>
 331 <em>git diff</em> [--options] [--] [&lt;path&gt;&#8230;]
 332 </dt>
 333 <dd>
 334 <p>
 335         This form is to view the changes you made relative to
 336         the index (staging area for the next commit).  In other
 337         words, the differences are what you _could_ tell git to
 338         further add to the index but you still haven't.  You can
 339         stage these changes by using <a href="git-add.html">git-add(1)</a>.
 340 </p>
 341 <div class="para"><p>If exactly two paths are given, and at least one is untracked,
 342 compare the two files / directories. This behavior can be
 343 forced by --no-index.</p></div>
 344 </dd>
 345 <dt>
 346 <em>git diff</em> [--options] --cached [&lt;commit&gt;] [--] [&lt;path&gt;&#8230;]
 347 </dt>
 348 <dd>
 349 <p>
 350         This form is to view the changes you staged for the next
 351         commit relative to the named &lt;commit&gt;.  Typically you
 352         would want comparison with the latest commit, so if you
 353         do not give &lt;commit&gt;, it defaults to HEAD.
 354         --staged is a synonym of --cached.
 355 </p>
 356 </dd>
 357 <dt>
 358 <em>git diff</em> [--options] &lt;commit&gt; [--] [&lt;path&gt;&#8230;]
 359 </dt>
 360 <dd>
 361 <p>
 362         This form is to view the changes you have in your
 363         working tree relative to the named &lt;commit&gt;.  You can
 364         use HEAD to compare it with the latest commit, or a
 365         branch name to compare with the tip of a different
 366         branch.
 367 </p>
 368 </dd>
 369 <dt>
 370 <em>git diff</em> [--options] &lt;commit&gt; &lt;commit&gt; [--] [&lt;path&gt;&#8230;]
 371 </dt>
 372 <dd>
 373 <p>
 374         This is to view the changes between two arbitrary
 375         &lt;commit&gt;.
 376 </p>
 377 </dd>
 378 <dt>
 379 <em>git diff</em> [--options] &lt;commit&gt;..&lt;commit&gt; [--] [&lt;path&gt;&#8230;]
 380 </dt>
 381 <dd>
 382 <p>
 383         This is synonymous to the previous form.  If &lt;commit&gt; on
 384         one side is omitted, it will have the same effect as
 385         using HEAD instead.
 386 </p>
 387 </dd>
 388 <dt>
 389 <em>git diff</em> [--options] &lt;commit&gt;...&lt;commit&gt; [--] [&lt;path&gt;&#8230;]
 390 </dt>
 391 <dd>
 392 <p>
 393         This form is to view the changes on the branch containing
 394         and up to the second &lt;commit&gt;, starting at a common ancestor
 395         of both &lt;commit&gt;.  "git diff A...B" is equivalent to
 396         "git diff $(git-merge-base A B) B".  You can omit any one
 397         of &lt;commit&gt;, which has the same effect as using HEAD instead.
 398 </p>
 399 </dd>
 400 </dl></div>
 401 <div class="para"><p>Just in case if you are doing something exotic, it should be
 402 noted that all of the &lt;commit&gt; in the above description, except
 403 for the last two forms that use ".." notations, can be any
 404 &lt;tree-ish&gt;.</p></div>
 405 <div class="para"><p>For a more complete list of ways to spell &lt;commit&gt;, see
 406 "SPECIFYING REVISIONS" section in <a href="git-rev-parse.html">git-rev-parse(1)</a>.
 407 However, "diff" is about comparing two _endpoints_, not ranges,
 408 and the range notations ("&lt;commit&gt;..&lt;commit&gt;" and
 409 "&lt;commit&gt;...&lt;commit&gt;") do not mean a range as defined in the
 410 "SPECIFYING RANGES" section in <a href="git-rev-parse.html">git-rev-parse(1)</a>.</p></div>
 411 </div>
 412 <h2 id="_options">OPTIONS</h2>
 413 <div class="sectionbody">
 414 <div class="vlist"><dl>
 415 <dt>
 416 -p
 417 </dt>
 418 <dt>
 419 -u
 420 </dt>
 421 <dd>
 422 <p>
 423         Generate patch (see section on generating patches).
 424          This is the default.
 425 </p>
 426 </dd>
 427 <dt>
 428 -U&lt;n&gt;
 429 </dt>
 430 <dt>
 431 --unified=&lt;n&gt;
 432 </dt>
 433 <dd>
 434 <p>
 435         Generate diffs with &lt;n&gt; lines of context instead of
 436         the usual three.
 437         Implies <tt>-p</tt>.
 438 </p>
 439 </dd>
 440 <dt>
 441 --raw
 442 </dt>
 443 <dd>
 444 <p>
 445         Generate the raw format.
 446
 447 </p>
 448 </dd>
 449 <dt>
 450 --patch-with-raw
 451 </dt>
 452 <dd>
 453 <p>
 454         Synonym for <tt>-p --raw</tt>.
 455 </p>
 456 </dd>
 457 <dt>
 458 --patience
 459 </dt>
 460 <dd>
 461 <p>
 462         Generate a diff using the "patience diff" algorithm.
 463 </p>
 464 </dd>
 465 <dt>
 466 --stat[=width[,name-width]]
 467 </dt>
 468 <dd>
 469 <p>
 470         Generate a diffstat.  You can override the default
 471         output width for 80-column terminal by <tt>--stat=width</tt>.
 472         The width of the filename part can be controlled by
 473         giving another width to it separated by a comma.
 474 </p>
 475 </dd>
 476 <dt>
 477 --numstat
 478 </dt>
 479 <dd>
 480 <p>
 481         Similar to <tt>--stat</tt>, but shows number of added and
 482         deleted lines in decimal notation and pathname without
 483         abbreviation, to make it more machine friendly.  For
 484         binary files, outputs two <tt>-</tt> instead of saying
 485         <tt>0 0</tt>.
 486 </p>
 487 </dd>
 488 <dt>
 489 --shortstat
 490 </dt>
 491 <dd>
 492 <p>
 493         Output only the last line of the <tt>--stat</tt> format containing total
 494         number of modified files, as well as number of added and deleted
 495         lines.
 496 </p>
 497 </dd>
 498 <dt>
 499 --dirstat[=limit]
 500 </dt>
 501 <dd>
 502 <p>
 503         Output the distribution of relative amount of changes (number of lines added or
 504         removed) for each sub-directory. Directories with changes below
 505         a cut-off percent (3% by default) are not shown. The cut-off percent
 506         can be set with <tt>--dirstat=limit</tt>. Changes in a child directory is not
 507         counted for the parent directory, unless <tt>--cumulative</tt> is used.
 508 </p>
 509 </dd>
 510 <dt>
 511 --dirstat-by-file[=limit]
 512 </dt>
 513 <dd>
 514 <p>
 515         Same as <tt>--dirstat</tt>, but counts changed files instead of lines.
 516 </p>
 517 </dd>
 518 <dt>
 519 --summary
 520 </dt>
 521 <dd>
 522 <p>
 523         Output a condensed summary of extended header information
 524         such as creations, renames and mode changes.
 525 </p>
 526 </dd>
 527 <dt>
 528 --patch-with-stat
 529 </dt>
 530 <dd>
 531 <p>
 532         Synonym for <tt>-p --stat</tt>.
 533 </p>
 534 </dd>
 535 <dt>
 536 -z
 537 </dt>
 538 <dd>
 539 <p>
 540         When <tt>--raw</tt> or <tt>--numstat</tt> has been given, do not munge
 541         pathnames and use NULs as output field terminators.
 542 </p>
 543 <div class="para"><p>Without this option, each pathname output will have TAB, LF, double quotes,
 544 and backslash characters replaced with <tt>\t</tt>, <tt>\n</tt>, <tt>\"</tt>, and <tt>\\</tt>,
 545 respectively, and the pathname will be enclosed in double quotes if
 546 any of those replacements occurred.</p></div>
 547 </dd>
 548 <dt>
 549 --name-only
 550 </dt>
 551 <dd>
 552 <p>
 553         Show only names of changed files.
 554 </p>
 555 </dd>
 556 <dt>
 557 --name-status
 558 </dt>
 559 <dd>
 560 <p>
 561         Show only names and status of changed files. See the description
 562         of the <tt>--diff-filter</tt> option on what the status letters mean.
 563 </p>
 564 </dd>
 565 <dt>
 566 --submodule[=&lt;format&gt;]
 567 </dt>
 568 <dd>
 569 <p>
 570         Chose the output format for submodule differences. &lt;format&gt; can be one of
 571         <em>short</em> and <em>log</em>. <em>short</em> just shows pairs of commit names, this format
 572         is used when this option is not given. <em>log</em> is the default value for this
 573         option and lists the commits in that commit range like the <em>summary</em>
 574         option of <a href="git-submodule.html">git-submodule(1)</a> does.
 575 </p>
 576 </dd>
 577 <dt>
 578 --color[=&lt;when&gt;]
 579 </dt>
 580 <dd>
 581 <p>
 582         Show colored diff.
 583         The value must be always (the default), never, or auto.
 584 </p>
 585 </dd>
 586 <dt>
 587 --no-color
 588 </dt>
 589 <dd>
 590 <p>
 591         Turn off colored diff, even when the configuration file
 592         gives the default to color output.
 593         Same as <tt>--color=never</tt>.
 594 </p>
 595 </dd>
 596 <dt>
 597 --color-words[=&lt;regex&gt;]
 598 </dt>
 599 <dd>
 600 <p>
 601         Show colored word diff, i.e., color words which have changed.
 602         By default, words are separated by whitespace.
 603 </p>
 604 <div class="para"><p>When a &lt;regex&gt; is specified, every non-overlapping match of the
 605 &lt;regex&gt; is considered a word.  Anything between these matches is
 606 considered whitespace and ignored(!) for the purposes of finding
 607 differences.  You may want to append <tt>|[^[:space:]]</tt> to your regular
 608 expression to make sure that it matches all non-whitespace characters.
 609 A match that contains a newline is silently truncated(!) at the
 610 newline.</p></div>
 611 <div class="para"><p>The regex can also be set via a diff driver or configuration option, see
 612 <a href="gitattributes.html">gitattributes(1)</a> or <a href="git-config.html">git-config(1)</a>.  Giving it explicitly
 613 overrides any diff driver or configuration setting.  Diff drivers
 614 override configuration settings.</p></div>
 615 </dd>
 616 <dt>
 617 --no-renames
 618 </dt>
 619 <dd>
 620 <p>
 621         Turn off rename detection, even when the configuration
 622         file gives the default to do so.
 623 </p>
 624 </dd>
 625 <dt>
 626 --check
 627 </dt>
 628 <dd>
 629 <p>
 630         Warn if changes introduce trailing whitespace
 631         or an indent that uses a space before a tab. Exits with
 632         non-zero status if problems are found. Not compatible with
 633         --exit-code.
 634 </p>
 635 </dd>
 636 <dt>
 637 --full-index
 638 </dt>
 639 <dd>
 640 <p>
 641         Instead of the first handful of characters, show the full
 642         pre- and post-image blob object names on the "index"
 643         line when generating patch format output.
 644 </p>
 645 </dd>
 646 <dt>
 647 --binary
 648 </dt>
 649 <dd>
 650 <p>
 651         In addition to <tt>--full-index</tt>, output a binary diff that
 652         can be applied with <tt>git-apply</tt>.
 653 </p>
 654 </dd>
 655 <dt>
 656 --abbrev[=&lt;n&gt;]
 657 </dt>
 658 <dd>
 659 <p>
 660         Instead of showing the full 40-byte hexadecimal object
 661         name in diff-raw format output and diff-tree header
 662         lines, show only a partial prefix.  This is
 663         independent of the <tt>--full-index</tt> option above, which controls
 664         the diff-patch output format.  Non default number of
 665         digits can be specified with <tt>--abbrev=&lt;n&gt;</tt>.
 666 </p>
 667 </dd>
 668 <dt>
 669 -B
 670 </dt>
 671 <dd>
 672 <p>
 673         Break complete rewrite changes into pairs of delete and create.
 674 </p>
 675 </dd>
 676 <dt>
 677 -M
 678 </dt>
 679 <dd>
 680 <p>
 681         Detect renames.
 682 </p>
 683 </dd>
 684 <dt>
 685 -C
 686 </dt>
 687 <dd>
 688 <p>
 689         Detect copies as well as renames.  See also <tt>--find-copies-harder</tt>.
 690 </p>
 691 </dd>
 692 <dt>
 693 --diff-filter=[ACDMRTUXB*]
 694 </dt>
 695 <dd>
 696 <p>
 697         Select only files that are Added (<tt>A</tt>), Copied (<tt>C</tt>),
 698         Deleted (<tt>D</tt>), Modified (<tt>M</tt>), Renamed (<tt>R</tt>), have their
 699         type (i.e. regular file, symlink, submodule, &#8230;) changed (<tt>T</tt>),
 700         are Unmerged (<tt>U</tt>), are
 701         Unknown (<tt>X</tt>), or have had their pairing Broken (<tt>B</tt>).
 702         Any combination of the filter characters may be used.
 703         When <tt>*</tt> (All-or-none) is added to the combination, all
 704         paths are selected if there is any file that matches
 705         other criteria in the comparison; if there is no file
 706         that matches other criteria, nothing is selected.
 707 </p>
 708 </dd>
 709 <dt>
 710 --find-copies-harder
 711 </dt>
 712 <dd>
 713 <p>
 714         For performance reasons, by default, <tt>-C</tt> option finds copies only
 715         if the original file of the copy was modified in the same
 716         changeset.  This flag makes the command
 717         inspect unmodified files as candidates for the source of
 718         copy.  This is a very expensive operation for large
 719         projects, so use it with caution.  Giving more than one
 720         <tt>-C</tt> option has the same effect.
 721 </p>
 722 </dd>
 723 <dt>
 724 -l&lt;num&gt;
 725 </dt>
 726 <dd>
 727 <p>
 728         The <tt>-M</tt> and <tt>-C</tt> options require O(n^2) processing time where n
 729         is the number of potential rename/copy targets.  This
 730         option prevents rename/copy detection from running if
 731         the number of rename/copy targets exceeds the specified
 732         number.
 733 </p>
 734 </dd>
 735 <dt>
 736 -S&lt;string&gt;
 737 </dt>
 738 <dd>
 739 <p>
 740         Look for differences that introduce or remove an instance of
 741         &lt;string&gt;. Note that this is different than the string simply
 742         appearing in diff output; see the <em>pickaxe</em> entry in
 743         <a href="gitdiffcore.html">gitdiffcore(7)</a> for more details.
 744 </p>
 745 </dd>
 746 <dt>
 747 --pickaxe-all
 748 </dt>
 749 <dd>
 750 <p>
 751         When <tt>-S</tt> finds a change, show all the changes in that
 752         changeset, not just the files that contain the change
 753         in &lt;string&gt;.
 754 </p>
 755 </dd>
 756 <dt>
 757 --pickaxe-regex
 758 </dt>
 759 <dd>
 760 <p>
 761         Make the &lt;string&gt; not a plain string but an extended POSIX
 762         regex to match.
 763 </p>
 764 </dd>
 765 <dt>
 766 -O&lt;orderfile&gt;
 767 </dt>
 768 <dd>
 769 <p>
 770         Output the patch in the order specified in the
 771         &lt;orderfile&gt;, which has one shell glob pattern per line.
 772 </p>
 773 </dd>
 774 <dt>
 775 -R
 776 </dt>
 777 <dd>
 778 <p>
 779         Swap two inputs; that is, show differences from index or
 780         on-disk file to tree contents.
 781 </p>
 782 </dd>
 783 <dt>
 784 --relative[=&lt;path&gt;]
 785 </dt>
 786 <dd>
 787 <p>
 788         When run from a subdirectory of the project, it can be
 789         told to exclude changes outside the directory and show
 790         pathnames relative to it with this option.  When you are
 791         not in a subdirectory (e.g. in a bare repository), you
 792         can name which subdirectory to make the output relative
 793         to by giving a &lt;path&gt; as an argument.
 794 </p>
 795 </dd>
 796 <dt>
 797 -a
 798 </dt>
 799 <dt>
 800 --text
 801 </dt>
 802 <dd>
 803 <p>
 804         Treat all files as text.
 805 </p>
 806 </dd>
 807 <dt>
 808 --ignore-space-at-eol
 809 </dt>
 810 <dd>
 811 <p>
 812         Ignore changes in whitespace at EOL.
 813 </p>
 814 </dd>
 815 <dt>
 816 -b
 817 </dt>
 818 <dt>
 819 --ignore-space-change
 820 </dt>
 821 <dd>
 822 <p>
 823         Ignore changes in amount of whitespace.  This ignores whitespace
 824         at line end, and considers all other sequences of one or
 825         more whitespace characters to be equivalent.
 826 </p>
 827 </dd>
 828 <dt>
 829 -w
 830 </dt>
 831 <dt>
 832 --ignore-all-space
 833 </dt>
 834 <dd>
 835 <p>
 836         Ignore whitespace when comparing lines.  This ignores
 837         differences even if one line has whitespace where the other
 838         line has none.
 839 </p>
 840 </dd>
 841 <dt>
 842 --inter-hunk-context=&lt;lines&gt;
 843 </dt>
 844 <dd>
 845 <p>
 846         Show the context between diff hunks, up to the specified number
 847         of lines, thereby fusing hunks that are close to each other.
 848 </p>
 849 </dd>
 850 <dt>
 851 --exit-code
 852 </dt>
 853 <dd>
 854 <p>
 855         Make the program exit with codes similar to diff(1).
 856         That is, it exits with 1 if there were differences and
 857         0 means no differences.
 858 </p>
 859 </dd>
 860 <dt>
 861 --quiet
 862 </dt>
 863 <dd>
 864 <p>
 865         Disable all output of the program. Implies <tt>--exit-code</tt>.
 866 </p>
 867 </dd>
 868 <dt>
 869 --ext-diff
 870 </dt>
 871 <dd>
 872 <p>
 873         Allow an external diff helper to be executed. If you set an
 874         external diff driver with <a href="gitattributes.html">gitattributes(5)</a>, you need
 875         to use this option with <a href="git-log.html">git-log(1)</a> and friends.
 876 </p>
 877 </dd>
 878 <dt>
 879 --no-ext-diff
 880 </dt>
 881 <dd>
 882 <p>
 883         Disallow external diff drivers.
 884 </p>
 885 </dd>
 886 <dt>
 887 --ignore-submodules
 888 </dt>
 889 <dd>
 890 <p>
 891         Ignore changes to submodules in the diff generation.
 892 </p>
 893 </dd>
 894 <dt>
 895 --src-prefix=&lt;prefix&gt;
 896 </dt>
 897 <dd>
 898 <p>
 899         Show the given source prefix instead of "a/".
 900 </p>
 901 </dd>
 902 <dt>
 903 --dst-prefix=&lt;prefix&gt;
 904 </dt>
 905 <dd>
 906 <p>
 907         Show the given destination prefix instead of "b/".
 908 </p>
 909 </dd>
 910 <dt>
 911 --no-prefix
 912 </dt>
 913 <dd>
 914 <p>
 915         Do not show any source or destination prefix.
 916 </p>
 917 </dd>
 918 </dl></div>
 919 <div class="para"><p>For more detailed explanation on these common options, see also
 920 <a href="gitdiffcore.html">gitdiffcore(7)</a>.</p></div>
 921 <div class="vlist"><dl>
 922 <dt>
 923 &lt;path&gt;&#8230;
 924 </dt>
 925 <dd>
 926 <p>
 927         The &lt;paths&gt; parameters, when given, are used to limit
 928         the diff to the named paths (you can give directory
 929         names and get diff for all files under them).
 930 </p>
 931 </dd>
 932 </dl></div>
 933 </div>
 934 <h2 id="_raw_output_format">Raw output format</h2>
 935 <div class="sectionbody">
 936 <div class="para"><p>The raw output format from "git-diff-index", "git-diff-tree",
 937 "git-diff-files" and "git diff --raw" are very similar.</p></div>
 938 <div class="para"><p>These commands all compare two sets of things; what is
 939 compared differs:</p></div>
 940 <div class="vlist"><dl>
 941 <dt>
 942 git-diff-index &lt;tree-ish&gt;
 943 </dt>
 944 <dd>
 945 <p>
 946         compares the &lt;tree-ish&gt; and the files on the filesystem.
 947 </p>
 948 </dd>
 949 <dt>
 950 git-diff-index --cached &lt;tree-ish&gt;
 951 </dt>
 952 <dd>
 953 <p>
 954         compares the &lt;tree-ish&gt; and the index.
 955 </p>
 956 </dd>
 957 <dt>
 958 git-diff-tree [-r] &lt;tree-ish-1&gt; &lt;tree-ish-2&gt; [&lt;pattern&gt;&#8230;]
 959 </dt>
 960 <dd>
 961 <p>
 962         compares the trees named by the two arguments.
 963 </p>
 964 </dd>
 965 <dt>
 966 git-diff-files [&lt;pattern&gt;&#8230;]
 967 </dt>
 968 <dd>
 969 <p>
 970         compares the index and the files on the filesystem.
 971 </p>
 972 </dd>
 973 </dl></div>
 974 <div class="para"><p>The "git-diff-tree" command begins its output by printing the hash of
 975 what is being compared. After that, all the commands print one output
 976 line per changed file.</p></div>
 977 <div class="para"><p>An output line is formatted this way:</p></div>
 978 <div class="listingblock">
 979 <div class="content">
 980 <pre><tt>in-place edit  :100644 100644 bcd1234... 0123456... M file0
 981 copy-edit      :100644 100644 abcd123... 1234567... C68 file1 file2
 982 rename-edit    :100644 100644 abcd123... 1234567... R86 file1 file3
 983 create         :000000 100644 0000000... 1234567... A file4
 984 delete         :100644 000000 1234567... 0000000... D file5
 985 unmerged       :000000 000000 0000000... 0000000... U file6</tt></pre>
 986 </div></div>
 987 <div class="para"><p>That is, from the left to the right:</p></div>
 988 <div class="olist"><ol>
 989 <li>
 990 <p>
 991 a colon.
 992 </p>
 993 </li>
 994 <li>
 995 <p>
 996 mode for "src"; 000000 if creation or unmerged.
 997 </p>
 998 </li>
 999 <li>
1000 <p>
1001 a space.
1002 </p>
1003 </li>
1004 <li>
1005 <p>
1006 mode for "dst"; 000000 if deletion or unmerged.
1007 </p>
1008 </li>
1009 <li>
1010 <p>
1011 a space.
1012 </p>
1013 </li>
1014 <li>
1015 <p>
1016 sha1 for "src"; 0{40} if creation or unmerged.
1017 </p>
1018 </li>
1019 <li>
1020 <p>
1021 a space.
1022 </p>
1023 </li>
1024 <li>
1025 <p>
1026 sha1 for "dst"; 0{40} if creation, unmerged or "look at work tree".
1027 </p>
1028 </li>
1029 <li>
1030 <p>
1031 a space.
1032 </p>
1033 </li>
1034 <li>
1035 <p>
1036 status, followed by optional "score" number.
1037 </p>
1038 </li>
1039 <li>
1040 <p>
1041 a tab or a NUL when <em>-z</em> option is used.
1042 </p>
1043 </li>
1044 <li>
1045 <p>
1046 path for "src"
1047 </p>
1048 </li>
1049 <li>
1050 <p>
1051 a tab or a NUL when <em>-z</em> option is used; only exists for C or R.
1052 </p>
1053 </li>
1054 <li>
1055 <p>
1056 path for "dst"; only exists for C or R.
1057 </p>
1058 </li>
1059 <li>
1060 <p>
1061 an LF or a NUL when <em>-z</em> option is used, to terminate the record.
1062 </p>
1063 </li>
1064 </ol></div>
1065 <div class="para"><p>Possible status letters are:</p></div>
1066 <div class="ilist"><ul>
1067 <li>
1068 <p>
1069 A: addition of a file
1070 </p>
1071 </li>
1072 <li>
1073 <p>
1074 C: copy of a file into a new one
1075 </p>
1076 </li>
1077 <li>
1078 <p>
1079 D: deletion of a file
1080 </p>
1081 </li>
1082 <li>
1083 <p>
1084 M: modification of the contents or mode of a file
1085 </p>
1086 </li>
1087 <li>
1088 <p>
1089 R: renaming of a file
1090 </p>
1091 </li>
1092 <li>
1093 <p>
1094 T: change in the type of the file
1095 </p>
1096 </li>
1097 <li>
1098 <p>
1099 U: file is unmerged (you must complete the merge before it can
1100 be committed)
1101 </p>
1102 </li>
1103 <li>
1104 <p>
1105 X: "unknown" change type (most probably a bug, please report it)
1106 </p>
1107 </li>
1108 </ul></div>
1109 <div class="para"><p>Status letters C and R are always followed by a score (denoting the
1110 percentage of similarity between the source and target of the move or
1111 copy), and are the only ones to be so.</p></div>
1112 <div class="para"><p>&lt;sha1&gt; is shown as all 0's if a file is new on the filesystem
1113 and it is out of sync with the index.</p></div>
1114 <div class="para"><p>Example:</p></div>
1115 <div class="listingblock">
1116 <div class="content">
1117 <pre><tt>:100644 100644 5be4a4...... 000000...... M file.c</tt></pre>
1118 </div></div>
1119 <div class="para"><p>When <tt>-z</tt> option is not used, TAB, LF, and backslash characters
1120 in pathnames are represented as <tt>\t</tt>, <tt>\n</tt>, and <tt>\\</tt>,
1121 respectively.</p></div>
1122 </div>
1123 <h2 id="_diff_format_for_merges">diff format for merges</h2>
1124 <div class="sectionbody">
1125 <div class="para"><p>"git-diff-tree", "git-diff-files" and "git-diff --raw"
1126 can take <em>-c</em> or <em>--cc</em> option
1127 to generate diff output also for merge commits.  The output differs
1128 from the format described above in the following way:</p></div>
1129 <div class="olist"><ol>
1130 <li>
1131 <p>
1132 there is a colon for each parent
1133 </p>
1134 </li>
1135 <li>
1136 <p>
1137 there are more "src" modes and "src" sha1
1138 </p>
1139 </li>
1140 <li>
1141 <p>
1142 status is concatenated status characters for each parent
1143 </p>
1144 </li>
1145 <li>
1146 <p>
1147 no optional "score" number
1148 </p>
1149 </li>
1150 <li>
1151 <p>
1152 single path, only for "dst"
1153 </p>
1154 </li>
1155 </ol></div>
1156 <div class="para"><p>Example:</p></div>
1157 <div class="listingblock">
1158 <div class="content">
1159 <pre><tt>::100644 100644 100644 fabadb8... cc95eb0... 4866510... MM      describe.c</tt></pre>
1160 </div></div>
1161 <div class="para"><p>Note that <em>combined diff</em> lists only files which were modified from
1162 all parents.</p></div>
1163 </div>
1164 <h2 id="_generating_patches_with_p">Generating patches with -p</h2>
1165 <div class="sectionbody">
1166 <div class="para"><p>When "git-diff-index", "git-diff-tree", or "git-diff-files" are run
1167 with a <em>-p</em> option, "git diff" without the <em>--raw</em> option, or
1168 "git log" with the "-p" option, they
1169 do not produce the output described above; instead they produce a
1170 patch file.  You can customize the creation of such patches via the
1171 GIT_EXTERNAL_DIFF and the GIT_DIFF_OPTS environment variables.</p></div>
1172 <div class="para"><p>What the -p option produces is slightly different from the traditional
1173 diff format.</p></div>
1174 <div class="olist"><ol>
1175 <li>
1176 <p>
1177 It is preceded with a "git diff" header, that looks like
1178      this:
1179 </p>
1180 <div class="literalblock">
1181 <div class="content">
1182 <pre><tt>diff --git a/file1 b/file2</tt></pre>
1183 </div></div>
1184 <div class="para"><p>The <tt>a/</tt> and <tt>b/</tt> filenames are the same unless rename/copy is
1185 involved.  Especially, even for a creation or a deletion,
1186 <tt>/dev/null</tt> is _not_ used in place of <tt>a/</tt> or <tt>b/</tt> filenames.</p></div>
1187 <div class="para"><p>When rename/copy is involved, <tt>file1</tt> and <tt>file2</tt> show the
1188 name of the source file of the rename/copy and the name of
1189 the file that rename/copy produces, respectively.</p></div>
1190 </li>
1191 <li>
1192 <p>
1193 It is followed by one or more extended header lines:
1194 </p>
1195 <div class="literalblock">
1196 <div class="content">
1197 <pre><tt>old mode &lt;mode&gt;
1198 new mode &lt;mode&gt;
1199 deleted file mode &lt;mode&gt;
1200 new file mode &lt;mode&gt;
1201 copy from &lt;path&gt;
1202 copy to &lt;path&gt;
1203 rename from &lt;path&gt;
1204 rename to &lt;path&gt;
1205 similarity index &lt;number&gt;
1206 dissimilarity index &lt;number&gt;
1207 index &lt;hash&gt;..&lt;hash&gt; &lt;mode&gt;</tt></pre>
1208 </div></div>
1209 </li>
1210 <li>
1211 <p>
1212 TAB, LF, double quote and backslash characters in pathnames
1213     are represented as <tt>\t</tt>, <tt>\n</tt>, <tt>\"</tt> and <tt>\\</tt>, respectively.
1214     If there is need for such substitution then the whole
1215     pathname is put in double quotes.
1216 </p>
1217 </li>
1218 </ol></div>
1219 <div class="para"><p>The similarity index is the percentage of unchanged lines, and
1220 the dissimilarity index is the percentage of changed lines.  It
1221 is a rounded down integer, followed by a percent sign.  The
1222 similarity index value of 100% is thus reserved for two equal
1223 files, while 100% dissimilarity means that no line from the old
1224 file made it into the new one.</p></div>
1225 </div>
1226 <h2 id="_combined_diff_format">combined diff format</h2>
1227 <div class="sectionbody">
1228 <div class="para"><p>"git-diff-tree", "git-diff-files" and "git-diff" can take <em>-c</em> or
1229 <em>--cc</em> option to produce <em>combined diff</em>.  For showing a merge commit
1230 with "git log -p", this is the default format; you can force showing
1231 full diff with the <em>-m</em> option.
1232 A <em>combined diff</em> format looks like this:</p></div>
1233 <div class="listingblock">
1234 <div class="content">
1235 <pre><tt>diff --combined describe.c
1236 index fabadb8,cc95eb0..4866510
1237 --- a/describe.c
1238 +++ b/describe.c
1239 @@@ -98,20 -98,12 +98,20 @@@
1240         return (a_date &gt; b_date) ? -1 : (a_date == b_date) ? 0 : 1;
1241   }
1242
1243 - static void describe(char *arg)
1244  -static void describe(struct commit *cmit, int last_one)
1245 ++static void describe(char *arg, int last_one)
1246   {
1247  +      unsigned char sha1[20];
1248  +      struct commit *cmit;
1249         struct commit_list *list;
1250         static int initialized = 0;
1251         struct commit_name *n;
1252
1253  +      if (get_sha1(arg, sha1) &lt; 0)
1254  +              usage(describe_usage);
1255  +      cmit = lookup_commit_reference(sha1);
1256  +      if (!cmit)
1257  +              usage(describe_usage);
1258  +
1259         if (!initialized) {
1260                 initialized = 1;
1261                 for_each_ref(get_name);</tt></pre>
1262 </div></div>
1263 <div class="olist"><ol>
1264 <li>
1265 <p>
1266 It is preceded with a "git diff" header, that looks like
1267      this (when <em>-c</em> option is used):
1268 </p>
1269 <div class="literalblock">
1270 <div class="content">
1271 <pre><tt>diff --combined file</tt></pre>
1272 </div></div>
1273 <div class="para"><p>or like this (when <em>--cc</em> option is used):</p></div>
1274 <div class="literalblock">
1275 <div class="content">
1276 <pre><tt>diff --cc file</tt></pre>
1277 </div></div>
1278 </li>
1279 <li>
1280 <p>
1281 It is followed by one or more extended header lines
1282      (this example shows a merge with two parents):
1283 </p>
1284 <div class="literalblock">
1285 <div class="content">
1286 <pre><tt>index &lt;hash&gt;,&lt;hash&gt;..&lt;hash&gt;
1287 mode &lt;mode&gt;,&lt;mode&gt;..&lt;mode&gt;
1288 new file mode &lt;mode&gt;
1289 deleted file mode &lt;mode&gt;,&lt;mode&gt;</tt></pre>
1290 </div></div>
1291 <div class="para"><p>The <tt>mode &lt;mode&gt;,&lt;mode&gt;..&lt;mode&gt;</tt> line appears only if at least one of
1292 the &lt;mode&gt; is different from the rest. Extended headers with
1293 information about detected contents movement (renames and
1294 copying detection) are designed to work with diff of two
1295 &lt;tree-ish&gt; and are not used by combined diff format.</p></div>
1296 </li>
1297 <li>
1298 <p>
1299 It is followed by two-line from-file/to-file header
1300 </p>
1301 <div class="literalblock">
1302 <div class="content">
1303 <pre><tt>--- a/file
1304 +++ b/file</tt></pre>
1305 </div></div>
1306 <div class="para"><p>Similar to two-line header for traditional <em>unified</em> diff
1307 format, <tt>/dev/null</tt> is used to signal created or deleted
1308 files.</p></div>
1309 </li>
1310 <li>
1311 <p>
1312 Chunk header format is modified to prevent people from
1313      accidentally feeding it to <tt>patch -p1</tt>. Combined diff format
1314      was created for review of merge commit changes, and was not
1315      meant for apply. The change is similar to the change in the
1316      extended <em>index</em> header:
1317 </p>
1318 <div class="literalblock">
1319 <div class="content">
1320 <pre><tt>@@@ &lt;from-file-range&gt; &lt;from-file-range&gt; &lt;to-file-range&gt; @@@</tt></pre>
1321 </div></div>
1322 <div class="para"><p>There are (number of parents + 1) <tt>@</tt> characters in the chunk
1323 header for combined diff format.</p></div>
1324 </li>
1325 </ol></div>
1326 <div class="para"><p>Unlike the traditional <em>unified</em> diff format, which shows two
1327 files A and B with a single column that has <tt>-</tt> (minus &#8212;
1328 appears in A but removed in B), <tt>+</tt> (plus &#8212; missing in A but
1329 added to B), or <tt>" "</tt> (space &#8212; unchanged) prefix, this format
1330 compares two or more files file1, file2,&#8230; with one file X, and
1331 shows how X differs from each of fileN.  One column for each of
1332 fileN is prepended to the output line to note how X's line is
1333 different from it.</p></div>
1334 <div class="para"><p>A <tt>-</tt> character in the column N means that the line appears in
1335 fileN but it does not appear in the result.  A <tt>+</tt> character
1336 in the column N means that the line appears in the result,
1337 and fileN does not have that line (in other words, the line was
1338 added, from the point of view of that parent).</p></div>
1339 <div class="para"><p>In the above example output, the function signature was changed
1340 from both files (hence two <tt>-</tt> removals from both file1 and
1341 file2, plus <tt>++</tt> to mean one line that was added does not appear
1342 in either file1 nor file2).  Also eight other lines are the same
1343 from file1 but do not appear in file2 (hence prefixed with <tt>&#43;</tt>).</p></div>
1344 <div class="para"><p>When shown by <tt>git diff-tree -c</tt>, it compares the parents of a
1345 merge commit with the merge result (i.e. file1..fileN are the
1346 parents).  When shown by <tt>git diff-files -c</tt>, it compares the
1347 two unresolved merge parents with the working tree file
1348 (i.e. file1 is stage 2 aka "our version", file2 is stage 3 aka
1349 "their version").</p></div>
1350 </div>
1351 <h2 id="_other_diff_formats">other diff formats</h2>
1352 <div class="sectionbody">
1353 <div class="para"><p>The <tt>--summary</tt> option describes newly added, deleted, renamed and
1354 copied files.  The <tt>--stat</tt> option adds diffstat(1) graph to the
1355 output.  These options can be combined with other options, such as
1356 <tt>-p</tt>, and are meant for human consumption.</p></div>
1357 <div class="para"><p>When showing a change that involves a rename or a copy, <tt>--stat</tt> output
1358 formats the pathnames compactly by combining common prefix and suffix of
1359 the pathnames.  For example, a change that moves <tt>arch/i386/Makefile</tt> to
1360 <tt>arch/x86/Makefile</tt> while modifying 4 lines will be shown like this:</p></div>
1361 <div class="listingblock">
1362 <div class="content">
1363 <pre><tt>arch/{i386 =&gt; x86}/Makefile    |   4 +--</tt></pre>
1364 </div></div>
1365 <div class="para"><p>The <tt>--numstat</tt> option gives the diffstat(1) information but is designed
1366 for easier machine consumption.  An entry in <tt>--numstat</tt> output looks
1367 like this:</p></div>
1368 <div class="listingblock">
1369 <div class="content">
1370 <pre><tt>1       2       README
1371 3       1       arch/{i386 =&gt; x86}/Makefile</tt></pre>
1372 </div></div>
1373 <div class="para"><p>That is, from left to right:</p></div>
1374 <div class="olist"><ol>
1375 <li>
1376 <p>
1377 the number of added lines;
1378 </p>
1379 </li>
1380 <li>
1381 <p>
1382 a tab;
1383 </p>
1384 </li>
1385 <li>
1386 <p>
1387 the number of deleted lines;
1388 </p>
1389 </li>
1390 <li>
1391 <p>
1392 a tab;
1393 </p>
1394 </li>
1395 <li>
1396 <p>
1397 pathname (possibly with rename/copy information);
1398 </p>
1399 </li>
1400 <li>
1401 <p>
1402 a newline.
1403 </p>
1404 </li>
1405 </ol></div>
1406 <div class="para"><p>When <tt>-z</tt> output option is in effect, the output is formatted this way:</p></div>
1407 <div class="listingblock">
1408 <div class="content">
1409 <pre><tt>1       2       README NUL
1410 3       1       NUL arch/i386/Makefile NUL arch/x86/Makefile NUL</tt></pre>
1411 </div></div>
1412 <div class="para"><p>That is:</p></div>
1413 <div class="olist"><ol>
1414 <li>
1415 <p>
1416 the number of added lines;
1417 </p>
1418 </li>
1419 <li>
1420 <p>
1421 a tab;
1422 </p>
1423 </li>
1424 <li>
1425 <p>
1426 the number of deleted lines;
1427 </p>
1428 </li>
1429 <li>
1430 <p>
1431 a tab;
1432 </p>
1433 </li>
1434 <li>
1435 <p>
1436 a NUL (only exists if renamed/copied);
1437 </p>
1438 </li>
1439 <li>
1440 <p>
1441 pathname in preimage;
1442 </p>
1443 </li>
1444 <li>
1445 <p>
1446 a NUL (only exists if renamed/copied);
1447 </p>
1448 </li>
1449 <li>
1450 <p>
1451 pathname in postimage (only exists if renamed/copied);
1452 </p>
1453 </li>
1454 <li>
1455 <p>
1456 a NUL.
1457 </p>
1458 </li>
1459 </ol></div>
1460 <div class="para"><p>The extra <tt>NUL</tt> before the preimage path in renamed case is to allow
1461 scripts that read the output to tell if the current record being read is
1462 a single-path record or a rename/copy record without reading ahead.
1463 After reading added and deleted lines, reading up to <tt>NUL</tt> would yield
1464 the pathname, but if that is <tt>NUL</tt>, the record will show two paths.</p></div>
1465 </div>
1466 <h2 id="_examples">EXAMPLES</h2>
1467 <div class="sectionbody">
1468 <div class="vlist"><dl>
1469 <dt>
1470 Various ways to check your working tree
1471 </dt>
1472 <dd>
1473 <div class="listingblock">
1474 <div class="content">
1475 <pre><tt>$ git diff            <b>(1)</b>
1476 $ git diff --cached   <b>(2)</b>
1477 $ git diff HEAD       <b>(3)</b></tt></pre>
1478 </div></div>
1479 <div class="colist"><ol>
1480 <li>
1481 <p>
1482 Changes in the working tree not yet staged for the next commit.
1483 </p>
1484 </li>
1485 <li>
1486 <p>
1487 Changes between the index and your last commit; what you
1488 would be committing if you run "git commit" without "-a" option.
1489 </p>
1490 </li>
1491 <li>
1492 <p>
1493 Changes in the working tree since your last commit; what you
1494 would be committing if you run "git commit -a"
1495 </p>
1496 </li>
1497 </ol></div>
1498 </dd>
1499 <dt>
1500 Comparing with arbitrary commits
1501 </dt>
1502 <dd>
1503 <div class="listingblock">
1504 <div class="content">
1505 <pre><tt>$ git diff test            <b>(1)</b>
1506 $ git diff HEAD -- ./test  <b>(2)</b>
1507 $ git diff HEAD^ HEAD      <b>(3)</b></tt></pre>
1508 </div></div>
1509 <div class="colist"><ol>
1510 <li>
1511 <p>
1512 Instead of using the tip of the current branch, compare with the
1513 tip of "test" branch.
1514 </p>
1515 </li>
1516 <li>
1517 <p>
1518 Instead of comparing with the tip of "test" branch, compare with
1519 the tip of the current branch, but limit the comparison to the
1520 file "test".
1521 </p>
1522 </li>
1523 <li>
1524 <p>
1525 Compare the version before the last commit and the last commit.
1526 </p>
1527 </li>
1528 </ol></div>
1529 </dd>
1530 <dt>
1531 Comparing branches
1532 </dt>
1533 <dd>
1534 <div class="listingblock">
1535 <div class="content">
1536 <pre><tt>$ git diff topic master    <b>(1)</b>
1537 $ git diff topic..master   <b>(2)</b>
1538 $ git diff topic...master  <b>(3)</b></tt></pre>
1539 </div></div>
1540 <div class="colist"><ol>
1541 <li>
1542 <p>
1543 Changes between the tips of the topic and the master branches.
1544 </p>
1545 </li>
1546 <li>
1547 <p>
1548 Same as above.
1549 </p>
1550 </li>
1551 <li>
1552 <p>
1553 Changes that occurred on the master branch since when the topic
1554 branch was started off it.
1555 </p>
1556 </li>
1557 </ol></div>
1558 </dd>
1559 <dt>
1560 Limiting the diff output
1561 </dt>
1562 <dd>
1563 <div class="listingblock">
1564 <div class="content">
1565 <pre><tt>$ git diff --diff-filter=MRC            <b>(1)</b>
1566 $ git diff --name-status                <b>(2)</b>
1567 $ git diff arch/i386 include/asm-i386   <b>(3)</b></tt></pre>
1568 </div></div>
1569 <div class="colist"><ol>
1570 <li>
1571 <p>
1572 Show only modification, rename and copy, but not addition
1573 nor deletion.
1574 </p>
1575 </li>
1576 <li>
1577 <p>
1578 Show only names and the nature of change, but not actual
1579 diff output.
1580 </p>
1581 </li>
1582 <li>
1583 <p>
1584 Limit diff output to named subtrees.
1585 </p>
1586 </li>
1587 </ol></div>
1588 </dd>
1589 <dt>
1590 Munging the diff output
1591 </dt>
1592 <dd>
1593 <div class="listingblock">
1594 <div class="content">
1595 <pre><tt>$ git diff --find-copies-harder -B -C  <b>(1)</b>
1596 $ git diff -R                          <b>(2)</b></tt></pre>
1597 </div></div>
1598 <div class="colist"><ol>
1599 <li>
1600 <p>
1601 Spend extra cycles to find renames, copies and complete
1602 rewrites (very expensive).
1603 </p>
1604 </li>
1605 <li>
1606 <p>
1607 Output diff in reverse.
1608 </p>
1609 </li>
1610 </ol></div>
1611 </dd>
1612 </dl></div>
1613 </div>
1614 <h2 id="_see_also">SEE ALSO</h2>
1615 <div class="sectionbody">
1616 <div class="vlist"><dl>
1617 <dt>
1618 <a href="git-difftool.html">git-difftool(1)</a>
1619 </dt>
1620 <dd>
1621 <p>
1622         Show changes using common diff tools
1623 </p>
1624 </dd>
1625 </dl></div>
1626 </div>
1627 <h2 id="_author">Author</h2>
1628 <div class="sectionbody">
1629 <div class="para"><p>Written by Linus Torvalds &lt;torvalds@osdl.org&gt;</p></div>
1630 </div>
1631 <h2 id="_documentation">Documentation</h2>
1632 <div class="sectionbody">
1633 <div class="para"><p>Documentation by Junio C Hamano and the git-list &lt;git@vger.kernel.org&gt;.</p></div>
1634 </div>
1635 <h2 id="_git">GIT</h2>
1636 <div class="sectionbody">
1637 <div class="para"><p>Part of the <a href="git.html">git(1)</a> suite</p></div>
1638 </div>
1639 <div id="footer">
1640 <div id="footer-text">
1641 Last updated 2010-03-25 00:38:22 UTC
1642 </div>
1643 </div>
1644 </body>
1645 </html>