CODEWITHSUNDEEP
gitgithub
ShanZhengYang
ShanZhengYang

Reputation: 17621

How to compare two different commits on the same branch in github?

Comparing histories on the same branch is very confusing for me on GitHub. I struggle with this regularly:

If I use compare/master in the URL after the GitHub repo name, I can compare against other branches in the repo based on the options in the drop-down menus.

https://help.github.com/en/articles/comparing-commits-across-time

However, I usually want to compare several commits on master.

How is this easily done? Could I get a more clear example?

Upvotes: 193

Views: 127719

Answers (10)

DaveAlger
DaveAlger

Reputation: 2526

Use ~N to compare with N prior commits

Tips like these are often hidden in the docs so I wanted to note it here where people will find it.

compare main 1 commit ago to main now

https://github.com/facebook/react/compare/main~1..main

compare 4 commits prior to this sha 0415b18

https://github.com/facebook/react/compare/0415b18~4...0415b18

Upvotes: 5

stevec
stevec

Reputation: 52208

I visit this page often and the top answer is great.

Today I learned you can not only use the commit SHA, but also the release tag!

Here's an example:

https://github.com/rails/rails/compare/v7.0.4...v7.0.5

Upvotes: 1

Neo Tan
Neo Tan

Reputation: 301

If anyone needs a handy UI, here you go. I made it for my projects, searching and comparing are quite tricky when I troubleshoot for cases. It helps to quickly create comparisons between the branches/tags/commits(hashes) in several clicks.

Chrome extension: GitHub Compare Online

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/github-compare-online/dglncilbcfbjkdpiabohoofgkfabhpab

enter image description here

Upvotes: 0

wisbucky
wisbucky

Reputation: 37797

TLDR: Just add /compare at the end of the URL.

You can use the Github Compare UI, which will generate the URL for you. Replace ORG and REPO with your values. The UI only lists branches, but you can also type in any valid Tags (e.g. v1.0.0) or Commit IDs (e.g. 1a2b3c).

https://github.com/ORG/REPO/compare/

GitHub GUI showing compare options

The URLs that get generated are in this format. You can also manually edit the URL with the REFs.

https://github.com/ORG/REPO/compare/REF1...REF2

You can also use "2 dots" (direct diff) instead of "3 dots" (diff from last common commit). Same as git diff A..B vs git diff A...B.

https://github.com/ORG/REPO/compare/REF1..REF2

If you want to compare across forks, then you need to add ORG2:

https://github.com/ORG/REPO/compare/REF1...ORG2:REF2

There is documentation, but I didn't think it was that clear: https://help.github.com/en/github/committing-changes-to-your-project/comparing-commits-across-time

Upvotes: 44

Pankaj Singhal
Pankaj Singhal

Reputation: 16053

You can use the following URL structure to compare commits in the same branch:

github.com/<username>/<repo_name>/compare/<commit1>...<commit2>

Replace values for username, repo_name, commit1(old commit) & commit2(new commit) acc. to your project.

The separator between the two commits is ... i.e. 3 dots.

Upvotes: 337

dsaket
dsaket

Reputation: 1896

If you need to compare changes within a branch but on different dates, this is how you can do it:

https://github.com/<ORG_NAME>/<REPO_NAME>/compare/HEAD..HEAD@{4 weeks ago}
https://github.com/<ORG_NAME>/<REPO_NAME>/compare/HEAD@{1 week ago}..HEAD@{2021-06-01}

Upvotes: 0

enzotrout
enzotrout

Reputation: 49

Custom tabs.

Peeps, we can add a compare "custom tab" to the repository, so that we can quickly access this compare tooling.

Here is how.

  • Goto your repo landing page. https://github.com/<YOUR_ORG_NAME/<YOUR_REPO_NAME>
  • Click the "Settings" tab.
  • Click on "Custom tabs".
  • Fill in the "New tab" name.
  • Fill in the URL for compare. https://github.com/<YOUR_ORG_NAME>/<YOUR_REPO_NAME>/compare
  • Click the "Add tab" button

Now go to your repo landing page and you should now see your newly created custom tab along side the other default tabs (Pull requests, Settings and such)

Upvotes: 2

Dyno Cris
Dyno Cris

Reputation: 2404

Just go to https://github.com/USERNAME/REPOSITORY_NAME/compare to achive the comparing page

enter image description here

Upvotes: 3

Kim Paulissen
Kim Paulissen

Reputation: 618

to see the difference between branches or tags

(branches if no pull request has been made)

Notes:

  • (if a pull request has been made you can see the changes inside the PR, no longer via the compare url)

  • You can use the dropdowns to select different branches or tags: enter image description here

  • take care of the order, eg. https://github.com/PyCQA/mccabe/compare/master...0.6.1 will give no results

  • you can choose between 2-dot (..) or 3-dot (...) notation

to see the difference between commits:

Upvotes: 2

Schwern
Schwern

Reputation: 164639

The article you linked has instructions for comparing commits.

The GitHub comparison tool will accept any revision. Branches, tags, commit IDs, even dates. If you want to compare between two commits, give it the commit IDs. Here's their example.

Upvotes: 5

Related Questions