| Raw output format |
| ----------------- |
| |
| The raw output format from "git-diff-index", "git-diff-tree", |
| "git-diff-files" and "git diff --raw" are very similar. |
| |
| These commands all compare two sets of things; what is |
| compared differs: |
| |
| git-diff-index <tree-ish>:: |
| compares the <tree-ish> and the files on the filesystem. |
| |
| git-diff-index --cached <tree-ish>:: |
| compares the <tree-ish> and the index. |
| |
| git-diff-tree [-r] <tree-ish-1> <tree-ish-2> [<pattern>...]:: |
| compares the trees named by the two arguments. |
| |
| git-diff-files [<pattern>...]:: |
| compares the index and the files on the filesystem. |
| |
| The "git-diff-tree" command begins its output by printing the hash of |
| what is being compared. After that, all the commands print one output |
| line per changed file. |
| |
| An output line is formatted this way: |
| |
| ------------------------------------------------ |
| in-place edit :100644 100644 bcd1234... 0123456... M file0 |
| copy-edit :100644 100644 abcd123... 1234567... C68 file1 file2 |
| rename-edit :100644 100644 abcd123... 1234567... R86 file1 file3 |
| create :000000 100644 0000000... 1234567... A file4 |
| delete :100644 000000 1234567... 0000000... D file5 |
| unmerged :000000 000000 0000000... 0000000... U file6 |
| ------------------------------------------------ |
| |
| That is, from the left to the right: |
| |
| . a colon. |
| . mode for "src"; 000000 if creation or unmerged. |
| . a space. |
| . mode for "dst"; 000000 if deletion or unmerged. |
| . a space. |
| . sha1 for "src"; 0\{40\} if creation or unmerged. |
| . a space. |
| . sha1 for "dst"; 0\{40\} if creation, unmerged or "look at work tree". |
| . a space. |
| . status, followed by optional "score" number. |
| . a tab or a NUL when '-z' option is used. |
| . path for "src" |
| . a tab or a NUL when '-z' option is used; only exists for C or R. |
| . path for "dst"; only exists for C or R. |
| . an LF or a NUL when '-z' option is used, to terminate the record. |
| |
| Possible status letters are: |
| |
| - A: addition of a file |
| - C: copy of a file into a new one |
| - D: deletion of a file |
| - M: modification of the contents or mode of a file |
| - R: renaming of a file |
| - T: change in the type of the file |
| - U: file is unmerged (you must complete the merge before it can |
| be committed) |
| - X: "unknown" change type (most probably a bug, please report it) |
| |
| Status letters C and R are always followed by a score (denoting the |
| percentage of similarity between the source and target of the move or |
| copy). Status letter M may be followed by a score (denoting the |
| percentage of dissimilarity) for file rewrites. |
| |
| <sha1> is shown as all 0's if a file is new on the filesystem |
| and it is out of sync with the index. |
| |
| Example: |
| |
| ------------------------------------------------ |
| :100644 100644 5be4a4...... 000000...... M file.c |
| ------------------------------------------------ |
| |
| When `-z` option is not used, TAB, LF, and backslash characters |
| in pathnames are represented as `\t`, `\n`, and `\\`, |
| respectively. |
| |
| diff format for merges |
| ---------------------- |
| |
| "git-diff-tree", "git-diff-files" and "git-diff --raw" |
| can take '-c' or '--cc' option |
| to generate diff output also for merge commits. The output differs |
| from the format described above in the following way: |
| |
| . there is a colon for each parent |
| . there are more "src" modes and "src" sha1 |
| . status is concatenated status characters for each parent |
| . no optional "score" number |
| . single path, only for "dst" |
| |
| Example: |
| |
| ------------------------------------------------ |
| ::100644 100644 100644 fabadb8... cc95eb0... 4866510... MM describe.c |
| ------------------------------------------------ |
| |
| Note that 'combined diff' lists only files which were modified from |
| all parents. |
| |
| |
| include::diff-generate-patch.txt[] |
| |
| |
| other diff formats |
| ------------------ |
| |
| The `--summary` option describes newly added, deleted, renamed and |
| copied files. The `--stat` option adds diffstat(1) graph to the |
| output. These options can be combined with other options, such as |
| `-p`, and are meant for human consumption. |
| |
| When showing a change that involves a rename or a copy, `--stat` output |
| formats the pathnames compactly by combining common prefix and suffix of |
| the pathnames. For example, a change that moves `arch/i386/Makefile` to |
| `arch/x86/Makefile` while modifying 4 lines will be shown like this: |
| |
| ------------------------------------ |
| arch/{i386 => x86}/Makefile | 4 +-- |
| ------------------------------------ |
| |
| The `--numstat` option gives the diffstat(1) information but is designed |
| for easier machine consumption. An entry in `--numstat` output looks |
| like this: |
| |
| ---------------------------------------- |
| 1 2 README |
| 3 1 arch/{i386 => x86}/Makefile |
| ---------------------------------------- |
| |
| That is, from left to right: |
| |
| . the number of added lines; |
| . a tab; |
| . the number of deleted lines; |
| . a tab; |
| . pathname (possibly with rename/copy information); |
| . a newline. |
| |
| When `-z` output option is in effect, the output is formatted this way: |
| |
| ---------------------------------------- |
| 1 2 README NUL |
| 3 1 NUL arch/i386/Makefile NUL arch/x86/Makefile NUL |
| ---------------------------------------- |
| |
| That is: |
| |
| . the number of added lines; |
| . a tab; |
| . the number of deleted lines; |
| . a tab; |
| . a NUL (only exists if renamed/copied); |
| . pathname in preimage; |
| . a NUL (only exists if renamed/copied); |
| . pathname in postimage (only exists if renamed/copied); |
| . a NUL. |
| |
| The extra `NUL` before the preimage path in renamed case is to allow |
| scripts that read the output to tell if the current record being read is |
| a single-path record or a rename/copy record without reading ahead. |
| After reading added and deleted lines, reading up to `NUL` would yield |
| the pathname, but if that is `NUL`, the record will show two paths. |