Git diff: Write output and exit instead of interactive mode

Question

When I run git diff on my OSX command line, the output is displayed inside a less or vim interface. The interface lets me to scroll up and down, and quit using the q key.

This is very annoying, especially when there is no diff and git opens a blank screen.

Can I just write the diff (color) output the the screen without entering the interactive mode?

Possible duplicate [How do I prevent git diff from using a pager?](http://stackoverflow.com/q/2183900) — Joseph Quinsey, Feb 22 '14 at 04:10
Possible duplicate of [How do I prevent git diff from using a pager?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2183900/how-do-i-prevent-git-diff-from-using-a-pager) — Dyno Fu, Dec 28 '16 at 17:53

score 29 · Accepted Answer · answered May 02 '18 at 01:34

Disable the interactive pager with the --no-pager option.

Usage: git --no-pager diff (note how it's not specific to git-diff, so it's usable with any git command!)

Documentation: https://git-scm.com/docs/git

Copied from https://stackoverflow.com/a/2183920/2221472

score 16 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 20 '14 at 08:05

16

You can also use:

git diff --exit-code

answered Feb 20 '14 at 08:05

Manveer Chawla

404
2
6

+1 Is there a way to configure this as the standard behaviour for `git diff`? – Adam Matan Feb 20 '14 at 08:22

score 6 · Answer 3 · answered Feb 20 '14 at 07:54

6

Yes. Use:

git diff --color | cat

The --color is necessary, since by default git will not output colors if stdout is not a tty (with color support).

answered Feb 20 '14 at 07:54

fge

114,841
28
237
319

score 3 · Answer 4 · answered Feb 20 '14 at 09:44

3

I use this in some Makefiles with 'diff' and 'grep':

GIT_PAGER= git diff

answered Feb 20 '14 at 09:44

pixelbeat

29,113
9
48
60

Git diff: Write output and exit instead of interactive mode

4 Answers4