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

Question

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.

@EugenKonkov It's not a duplicate because this question is asking how to diff **different files** in different branches. The linked question only asks how to diff the **same file** in different branches. — Steve, Jul 07 '18 at 03:58

twaggs · Accepted Answer · 2014-09-11T14:47:48.687

251

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

edited Sep 11 '14 at 14:47

answered Nov 15 '11 at 03:36

twaggs

11

Awesome! I was certainly not able to infer that from `git help diff`. By the way, those don't have to be branch names ahead of the colons, but can be any kind of commit references (e.g. SHA-1 values). – Steve Jorgensen Jun 29 '12 at 19:16
3

Important Note: Git on windows requires the full itemspec to be a unix name. i.e. branch1:full\path\to\foo.txt fails, while branch1:full/path/to/foo.txt works fine, as does full\path\to\foo.txt (no branch) – Eris Nov 20 '13 at 20:51
use `git difftool` and then drop the `branch2:` and that will allow you to edit a file in the current working tree (to bring over changes from `branch1`) – gMale Oct 06 '17 at 02:17
1

Tried on linux with git version 1.8.3.1, only relative paths allowed. – Sola Yang Nov 15 '17 at 22:20

score 24 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 10 '13 at 09:56

24

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

answered Jun 10 '13 at 09:56

Campa

Romain Valeri · Answer 3 · 2022-03-30T12:49:53.357

6

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>

edited Mar 30 '22 at 12:49

answered Jul 17 '18 at 06:29

Romain Valeri

2

The OP specifically asked for "different files". Your answer is about comparing the same file in two different branches. – Étienne Miret Oct 16 '19 at 08:35
@EtienneMiret You're absolutely right, I missed that important point. Off-topic answer. – Romain Valeri Oct 16 '19 at 08:51
1

Still, many people land on this question because they want to get the difference for the same file, and this answer is useful. – Matthieu Mar 30 '22 at 12:15

score 3 · Answer 4 · answered Apr 04 '18 at 13:50

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

You can check this response:

score 0 · Answer 5 · edited Mar 29 '19 at 19:08

0

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

edited Mar 29 '19 at 19:08

Bob Dalgleish

answered Mar 29 '19 at 17:57

JCF

This is only comparing the same file in two branches; the question was about two different files in two branches. – Piran Apr 08 '20 at 16:26
@Piran and I landed on this question because I wanted to compare the same file in two branches so I'm happy this answer exists. – Matthieu Mar 30 '22 at 12:16

5 Answers5