X-Git-Url: https://git.tokkee.org/?a=blobdiff_plain;f=Documentation%2Fgit-diff.txt;h=228c4d95bd41d40bbb32cfcb6b9a7dc648280fa5;hb=ce4231ffa80da1888a668cc7c33f5349800ab4a3;hp=cadaf59455c994c5c08fbdb84f9c0ed1bc974325;hpb=1301c6eb412e7c5511b952a12e42c70ad56f028b;p=git.git

diff --git a/Documentation/git-diff.txt b/Documentation/git-diff.txt
index cadaf5945..228c4d95b 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-diff.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-diff.txt
@@ -3,28 +3,30 @@ git-diff(1)
 
 NAME
 ----
-git-diff - Show changes between commits, commit and working tree, etc.
+git-diff - Show changes between commits, commit and working tree, etc
 
 
 SYNOPSIS
 --------
-'git-diff' [ --diff-options ] <ent>{0,2} [<path>...]
+'git-diff' [ --diff-options ] <tree-ish>{0,2} [<path>...]
 
 DESCRIPTION
 -----------
-Show changes between two ents, an ent and the working tree, an
-ent and the index file, or the index file and the working tree.
+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 ents given to the command.
+the number of trees given to the command.
 
-`----------------`--------`-----------------------------`------------------
-Number of ents    Options  What's Compared               Underlying command
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-0                 -        index file and working tree   git-diff-files
-1                 --cached ent and index file            git-diff-index
-1                 -        ent and working tree          git-diff-index
-2                 -        two ents                      git-diff-tree
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+* 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
 -------
@@ -38,6 +40,68 @@ OPTIONS
 	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.
+
+
 Author
 ------
 Written by Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>