From Linux Man Pages
git-diff - Show changes between commits, commit and working tree, etc
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. The combination of what is compared with what is determined by the number of trees given to the
command.
� When no <tree-ish> is given, the working tree and the index file are compared, using git-diff-files.
� When one <tree-ish> is given, the working tree and the named tree are compared, using git-diff-index. The
option --cached can be given to compare the index file and the named tree.
� When two <tree-ish>s are given, these two trees are compared using git-diff-tree.
OPTIONS
--diff-options
--diff-options are passed to the git-diff-files, git-diff-index, and git-diff-tree commands. See the
documentation for these commands for description.
<path>...
The <path> arguments are also passed to git-diff-* commands.
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 since your last git-update-index.
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.
DOCUMENTATION
Documentation by Junio C Hamano and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>.
GIT
Part of the git(7) suite
CATEGORY