git-commit-vandalism/Documentation/git-diff.txt
Junio C Hamano f5e6b89b3a Update git-diff documentation
Porcelain documentation should talk in terms of end-user workflow, not
in terms of implementation details.  Do not suggest update-index, but
git-add instead.  Explain differences among 0-, 1- and 2-tree cases
not as differences of number of trees given to the command, but say
why user would want to give these number of trees to the command in
what situation.

Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <junkio@cox.net>
2006-12-14 01:51:44 -08:00

135 lines
3.6 KiB
Plaintext

git-diff(1)
===========
NAME
----
git-diff - Show changes between commits, commit and working tree, etc
SYNOPSIS
--------
'git-diff' [ --diff-options ] <tree-ish>{0,2} [<path>...]
DESCRIPTION
-----------
Show changes between two trees, a tree and the working tree, a
tree and the index file, or the index file and the working tree.
'git-diff' [--options] [--] [<path>...]::
This form is to view the changes you made relative to
the index (staging area for the next commit). In other
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 gitlink:git-add[1].
'git-diff' [--options] --cached [<commit>] [--] [<path>...]::
This form is to view the changes you staged for the next
commit relative to the named <tree-ish>. Typically you
would want comparison with the latest commit, so if you
do not give <commit>, it defaults to HEAD.
'git-diff' [--options] <commit> -- [<path>...]::
This form is to view the changes you have in your
working tree relative to the named <commit>. You can
use HEAD to compare it with the latest commit, or a
branch name to compare with the tip of a different
branch.
'git-diff' [--options] <commit> <commit> -- [<path>...]::
This form is to view the changes between two <commit>,
for example, tips of two branches.
Just in case if you are doing something exotic, it should be
noted that all of the <commit> in the above description can be
any <tree-ish>.
OPTIONS
-------
include::diff-options.txt[]
<path>...::
The <paths> parameters, when given, are used to limit
the diff to the named paths (you can give directory
names and get diff for all files under them).
EXAMPLES
--------
Various ways to check your working tree::
+
------------
$ git diff <1>
$ git diff --cached <2>
$ git diff HEAD <3>
------------
+
<1> changes in the working tree not yet staged for the next commit.
<2> changes between the index and your last commit; what you
would be committing if you run "git commit" without "-a" option.
<3> changes in the working tree since your last commit; what you
would be committing if you run "git commit -a"
Comparing with arbitrary commits::
+
------------
$ git diff test <1>
$ git diff HEAD -- ./test <2>
$ git diff HEAD^ HEAD <3>
------------
+
<1> instead of using the tip of the current branch, compare with the
tip of "test" branch.
<2> instead of comparing with the tip of "test" branch, compare with
the tip of the current branch, but limit the comparison to the
file "test".
<3> compare the version before the last commit and the last commit.
Limiting the diff output::
+
------------
$ git diff --diff-filter=MRC <1>
$ git diff --name-status -r <2>
$ git diff arch/i386 include/asm-i386 <3>
------------
+
<1> show only modification, rename and copy, but not addition
nor deletion.
<2> show only names and the nature of change, but not actual
diff output. --name-status disables usual patch generation
which in turn also disables recursive behavior, so without -r
you would only see the directory name if there is a change in a
file in a subdirectory.
<3> limit diff output to named subtrees.
Munging the diff output::
+
------------
$ git diff --find-copies-harder -B -C <1>
$ git diff -R <2>
------------
+
<1> spend extra cycles to find renames, copies and complete
rewrites (very expensive).
<2> output diff in reverse.
Author
------
Written by Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>
Documentation
--------------
Documentation by Junio C Hamano and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>.
GIT
---
Part of the gitlink:git[7] suite