Print the real filename that we failed to open.

[git.git] / Documentation / git-diff.txt

diff --git a/Documentation/git-diff.txt b/Documentation/git-diff.txt
index 044cee9b425bedc7addd9a4418b553557902711b..2808a5ec44d8a9e911faf4c7d24eb844d69390f2 100644 (file)
--- a/Documentation/git-diff.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-diff.txt
@@ -22,10 +22,10 @@ tree and the index file, or the index file and the working tree.
        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].
-
-       If exactly two paths are given, and at least one is untracked,
-       compare the two files / directories. This behavior can be
-       forced by --no-index.
++
+If exactly two paths are given, and at least one is untracked,
+compare the two files / directories. This behavior can be
+forced by --no-index.
 
 'git-diff' [--options] --cached [<commit>] [--] [<path>...]::
 
@@ -44,19 +44,38 @@ tree and the index file, or the index file and the working tree.
 
 'git-diff' [--options] <commit> <commit> [--] [<path>...]::
 
-       This form is to view the changes between two <commit>,
-       for example, tips of two branches.
+       This is to view the changes between two arbitrary
+       <commit>.
+
+'git-diff' [--options] <commit>..<commit> [--] [<path>...]::
+
+       This is synonymous to the previous form.  If <commit> on
+       one side is omitted, it will have the same effect as
+       using HEAD instead.
+
+'git-diff' [--options] <commit>\...<commit> [--] [<path>...]::
+
+       This form is to view the changes on the branch containing
+       and up to the second <commit>, starting at a common ancestor
+       of both <commit>.  "git-diff A\...B" is equivalent to
+       "git-diff $(git-merge-base A B) B".  You can omit any one
+       of <commit>, which has the same effect as using HEAD instead.
 
 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>.
+noted that all of the <commit> in the above description, except
+for the last two forms that use ".." notations, can be any
+<tree-ish>.
 
 For a more complete list of ways to spell <commit>, see
 "SPECIFYING REVISIONS" section in gitlink:git-rev-parse[1].
-
+However, "diff" is about comparing two _endpoints_, not ranges,
+and the range notations ("<commit>..<commit>" and
+"<commit>\...<commit>") do not mean a range as defined in the
+"SPECIFYING RANGES" section in gitlink:git-rev-parse[1].
 
 OPTIONS
 -------
+:git-diff: 1
 include::diff-options.txt[]
 
 <path>...::
@@ -64,6 +83,9 @@ include::diff-options.txt[]
        the diff to the named paths (you can give directory
        names and get diff for all files under them).
 
+Output format
+-------------
+include::diff-format.txt[]
 
 EXAMPLES
 --------
@@ -76,10 +98,10 @@ $ 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
+<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
+<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::
@@ -90,30 +112,39 @@ $ git diff HEAD -- ./test  <2>
 $ git diff HEAD^ HEAD      <3>
 ------------
 +
-<1> instead of using the tip of the current branch, compare with the
+<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
+<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.
+<3> Compare the version before the last commit and the last commit.
 
+Comparing branches::
++
+------------
+$ git diff topic master    <1>
+$ git diff topic..master   <2>
+$ git diff topic...master  <3>
+------------
++
+<1> Changes between the tips of the topic and the master branches.
+<2> Same as above.
+<3> Changes that occurred on the master branch since when the topic
+branch was started off it.
 
 Limiting the diff output::
 +
 ------------
 $ git diff --diff-filter=MRC            <1>
-$ git diff --name-status -r             <2>
+$ git diff --name-status                <2>
 $ git diff arch/i386 include/asm-i386   <3>
 ------------
 +
-<1> show only modification, rename and copy, but not addition
+<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.
+<2> Show only names and the nature of change, but not actual
+diff output.
+<3> Limit diff output to named subtrees.
 
 Munging the diff output::
 +
@@ -122,9 +153,9 @@ $ git diff --find-copies-harder -B -C  <1>
 $ git diff -R                          <2>
 ------------
 +
-<1> spend extra cycles to find renames, copies and complete
+<1> Spend extra cycles to find renames, copies and complete
 rewrites (very expensive).
-<2> output diff in reverse.
+<2> Output diff in reverse.
 
 
 Author
@@ -138,4 +169,3 @@ Documentation by Junio C Hamano and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>.
 GIT
 ---
 Part of the gitlink:git[7] suite
-