Viewing Changes

Quiz

...

Explorer

Git

18 lessons

git18

What is Git?Installing and Setting Up Git Creating a Repository Staging and Committing Viewing Status and History Viewing Changes Branching Merging Branches Resolving Merge Conflicts Working with Remotes Pushing and Pulling Cloning Repositories Stashing Changes Ignoring Files Undoing Changes with Reset Cherry-Picking Commits Rebasing Git Best Practices

~//tutorials/git/git-diff/edit

~ Contribute

Suggest a correction or improvement. The author reviews it before it goes live.

Loading...

Comment0 / 300

en/tutorials/git/6git-diff

# Viewing Changes

`git diff` shows what changed between different states of your repository. It's essential for reviewing changes before committing.

## Unstaged Changes

See changes not yet staged:

```bash
git diff
# diff --git a/file.txt b/file.txt
# --- a/file.txt
# +++ b/file.txt
# @@ -1 +1 @@
# -old line
# +new line
```

## Staged Changes

See changes that are staged for commit:

```bash
git diff --staged
```

## All Changes

See everything (staged and unstaged):

```bash
git diff HEAD
```

## Statistical Summary

Get a quick overview of what changed:

```bash
git diff --stat
# file.txt | 2 +-
# 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)
```

## Reading Diff Output

- `-` lines show what was removed
- `+` lines show what was added
- `@@` shows the line range affected
- Colors help distinguish additions (green) from deletions (red)

## Best Practices

- Review changes with `git diff` before staging
- Use `git diff --staged` before committing
- Use `git diff --stat` for quick overviews
- Compare specific commits with `git diff commit1 commit2`

## Common Mistakes

- Not reviewing changes before committing
- Confusing staged and unstaged diffs
- Ignoring whitespace changes that affect functionality
- Not using diff to understand merge conflicts

No changes yet

~ hackweb.dev

↑↓ navigate↵ openesc close