CODEWITHSUNDEEP
gitgit-diff
Ondra Žižka
Ondra Žižka

Reputation: 46796

Git: How to diff two different files in different branches?

I have two different files in different branches. How can I diff them in one command?

Something like

# git diff branch1/foo.txt branch2/foo-another.txt

I could check out the other file, diff it and restore, but that's quite dirty solution.

Upvotes: 232

Views: 59171

Answers (5)

Romain Valeri
Romain Valeri

Reputation: 21908

Off-topic answer -- diffing the same file in different branches

Just to add it for I find it a very straightforward syntax :

git diff <branch1> <branch2> <filepath>

Also works with relative refs like for example :

# compare the previous committed state from HEAD with the state branch1 was 3 commits ago
git diff HEAD^ <branch1>~3 <filepath>

Upvotes: 12

JCF
JCF

Reputation: 368

You can specify a start and range for git diff to be applied to. The range is indicated with the .. notation.

branch1=somebranch
branch2=someotherbranch
git diff ${branch1}..${branch2} -- file_path

Upvotes: -1

Javier C.
Javier C.

Reputation: 8257

There are many ways to compare files from two diferents branchs. For example:

  • If the name is the same or different:

     git diff branch1:file branch2:file

    Example:

     git diff branch1:full/path/to/foo.txt branch2:full/path/to/foo-another.txt

  • Only if the name is the same and you want to compare your current working directory to some branch:

    git diff ..someBranch path/to/file

    Example: 

    git diff ..branch2 full/path/to/foo.txt

    In this example you are comparing the file from your actual branch to the file in the master branch.

You can check this response:

Compare a file from two different branchs in Git

Upvotes: 5

twaggs
twaggs

Reputation: 3733

git diff branch1:full/path/to/foo.txt branch2:full/path/to/foo-another.txt

You can also use relative paths:

git diff branch1:./relative/path/to/foo.txt branch2:./relative/path/to/foo-another.txt

Upvotes: 291

Campa
Campa

Reputation: 4495

Sidenote: no need for full paths, you can start with ./ for relative paths. It can be handy sometimes.

git diff branch1:./relative/path/to/foo.txt branch2:./relative/path/to/foo-another.txt

Upvotes: 26

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