Showing which files have changed between two revisions

user_101126 0
Viewed 844437

I want to merge two branches that have been separated for a while and wanted to know which files have been modified.

Came across this link: http://linux.yyz.us/git-howto.html which was quite useful.

The tools to compare branches I've come across are:

  • git diff master..branch
  • git log master..branch
  • git shortlog master..branch

Was wondering if there's something like "git status master..branch" to only see those files that are different between the two branches.

Without creating a new tool, I think this is the closest you can get to do that now (which of course will show repeats if a file was modified more than once):

  • git diff master..branch | grep "^diff"

Was wondering if there's something I missed...

git-branch git-diff branch git
18 Answers

To compare the current branch against main branch:

$ git diff --name-status main

To compare any two branches:

$ git diff --name-status firstbranch..yourBranchName

There is more options to git diff in the official documentation (and specifically --name-status option).

jhs_29380

Try

$ git diff --stat --color master..branchName

This will give you more info about each change, while still using the same number of lines.

You can also flip the branches to get an even clearer picture of the difference if you were to merge the other way:

$ git diff --stat --color branchName..master
user_1095610

Note that git makes it easy to just try out the merge and back away from any problems if you don't like the result. It might be easier than looking for potential problems in advance.

user_167090

There are two branches lets say

  • A (Branch on which you are working)
  • B (Another branch with which you want to compare)

Being in branch A you can type

git diff --color B

then this will give you a output of

enter image description here

The important point about this is

  1. Text in green is inside present in Branch A

  2. Text in red is present in Branch B

user_41077810

If you are using Github / Github Enterprise, you can use the Web UI by hitting the url /compare of your repository path, for instance, https://github.com/http4s/http4s/compare. You can select the branch / commit / tag that you want to compare: Github Compare Screenshot

And the diff will be presented in the github interface at the url /compare/{x1}...{x2} where are x2 and x1 are the branch / commit / tag you want to compare, for instance: https://github.com/http4s/http4s/compare/main...dotty

You can see more in the Github Doc.

user_58263490

For people who are looking for a GUI solution, Git Cola has a very nice "Branch Diff Viewer (Diff -> Branches..).

user_35228180 
git diff revision_n revision_m

if revision_n and revision_m are successive commits then it outputs same as git show revision_m

user_20056830
user_51705710

If you like GUI and are using Windows, here is an easy way.

  1. Download WinMerge
  2. Check out the two branches into different folders
  3. Do a folder by folder compare using WinMerge. You can also easily make modifications if one of the branches is the one you are working on.
user_9537240

You can also easily compare branches for changed files using for example TortoiseGit. Just click on Browse References and pick the branches you want to compare.

For example if you compare your branch with master you will get as a result list of files that will be changed in master if you decide to merge your-branch into master.

Remmber that you will have different result if you compare master with your-branch and your-branch with master.

user_83631800
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