git-difftool(1)

NAME

   git-difftool - Show changes using common diff tools

SYNOPSIS

   git difftool [<options>] [<commit> [<commit>]] [--] [<path>...]

DESCRIPTION

   git difftool is a Git command that allows you to compare and edit files
   between revisions using common diff tools. git difftool is a frontend
   to git diff and accepts the same options and arguments. See git-
   diff(1).

OPTIONS

   -d, --dir-diff
       Copy the modified files to a temporary location and perform a
       directory diff on them. This mode never prompts before launching
       the diff tool.

   -y, --no-prompt
       Do not prompt before launching a diff tool.

   --prompt
       Prompt before each invocation of the diff tool. This is the default
       behaviour; the option is provided to override any configuration
       settings.

   -t <tool>, --tool=<tool>
       Use the diff tool specified by <tool>. Valid values include emerge,
       kompare, meld, and vimdiff. Run git difftool --tool-help for the
       list of valid <tool> settings.

       If a diff tool is not specified, git difftool will use the
       configuration variable diff.tool. If the configuration variable
       diff.tool is not set, git difftool will pick a suitable default.

       You can explicitly provide a full path to the tool by setting the
       configuration variable difftool.<tool>.path. For example, you can
       configure the absolute path to kdiff3 by setting
       difftool.kdiff3.path. Otherwise, git difftool assumes the tool is
       available in PATH.

       Instead of running one of the known diff tools, git difftool can be
       customized to run an alternative program by specifying the command
       line to invoke in a configuration variable difftool.<tool>.cmd.

       When git difftool is invoked with this tool (either through the -t
       or --tool option or the diff.tool configuration variable) the
       configured command line will be invoked with the following
       variables available: $LOCAL is set to the name of the temporary
       file containing the contents of the diff pre-image and $REMOTE is
       set to the name of the temporary file containing the contents of
       the diff post-image.  $MERGED is the name of the file which is
       being compared.  $BASE is provided for compatibility with custom
       merge tool commands and has the same value as $MERGED.

   --tool-help
       Print a list of diff tools that may be used with --tool.

   --[no-]symlinks
       git difftool's default behavior is create symlinks to the working
       tree when run in --dir-diff mode and the right-hand side of the
       comparison yields the same content as the file in the working tree.

       Specifying --no-symlinks instructs git difftool to create copies
       instead.  --no-symlinks is the default on Windows.

   -x <command>, --extcmd=<command>
       Specify a custom command for viewing diffs.  git-difftool ignores
       the configured defaults and runs $command $LOCAL $REMOTE when this
       option is specified. Additionally, $BASE is set in the environment.

   -g, --gui
       When git-difftool is invoked with the -g or --gui option the
       default diff tool will be read from the configured diff.guitool
       variable instead of diff.tool.

   --[no-]trust-exit-code
       git-difftool invokes a diff tool individually on each file. Errors
       reported by the diff tool are ignored by default. Use
       --trust-exit-code to make git-difftool exit when an invoked diff
       tool returns a non-zero exit code.

       git-difftool will forward the exit code of the invoked tool when
       --trust-exit-code is used.

   See git-diff(1) for the full list of supported options.

CONFIG VARIABLES

   git difftool falls back to git mergetool config variables when the
   difftool equivalents have not been defined.

   diff.tool
       The default diff tool to use.

   diff.guitool
       The default diff tool to use when --gui is specified.

   difftool.<tool>.path
       Override the path for the given tool. This is useful in case your
       tool is not in the PATH.

   difftool.<tool>.cmd
       Specify the command to invoke the specified diff tool.

       See the --tool=<tool> option above for more details.

   difftool.prompt
       Prompt before each invocation of the diff tool.

   difftool.trustExitCode
       Exit difftool if the invoked diff tool returns a non-zero exit
       status.

       See the --trust-exit-code option above for more details.

SEE ALSO

   git-diff(1)
       Show changes between commits, commit and working tree, etc

   git-mergetool(1)
       Run merge conflict resolution tools to resolve merge conflicts

   git-config(1)
       Get and set repository or global options

GIT

   Part of the git(1) suite

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Free and Open Source Software