X-Git-Url: https://git.verplant.org/?a=blobdiff_plain;f=Documentation%2Fgit-diff.txt;h=b04f393bc4a15c6bba6485d4ef0c609158073ee2;hb=e4e79a217576d24ef4d73b620766f62b155bcd98;hp=cf7527f5e9a4fe005b55f56e16a558454df9d6ba;hpb=5e80092f7e6db09a40a62e837ca3f74f0bc5ad73;p=git.git

diff --git a/Documentation/git-diff.txt b/Documentation/git-diff.txt
index cf7527f5..b04f393b 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-diff.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-diff.txt
@@ -40,6 +40,68 @@ OPTIONS
 	commands.
 
 
+EXAMPLES
+--------
+
+Various ways to check your working tree::
++
+------------
+$ git diff <1>
+$ git diff --cached <2>
+$ git diff HEAD <3>
+
+<1> changes in the working tree since your last git-update-index.
+<2> changes between the index and your last commit; what you
+would be committing if you run "git commit" without "-a" option.
+<3> changes in the working tree since your last commit; what you
+would be committing if you run "git commit -a"
+------------
+
+Comparing with arbitrary commits::
++
+------------
+$ git diff test <1>
+$ git diff HEAD -- ./test <2>
+$ git diff HEAD^ HEAD <3>
+
+<1> instead of using the tip of the current branch, compare with the
+tip of "test" branch.
+<2> instead of comparing with the tip of "test" branch, compare with
+the tip of the curren branch, but limit the comparison to the
+file "test".
+<3> compare the version before the last commit and the last commit.
+------------
+
+
+Limiting the diff output::
++
+------------
+$ git diff --diff-filter=MRC <1>
+$ git diff --name-status -r <2>
+$ git diff arch/i386 include/asm-i386 <3>
+
+<1> show only modification, rename and copy, but not addition
+nor deletion.
+<2> show only names and the nature of change, but not actual
+diff output.  --name-status disables usual patch generation
+which in turn also disables recursive behaviour, so without -r
+you would only see the directory name if there is a change in a
+file in a subdirectory.
+<3> limit diff output to named subtrees.
+------------
+
+Munging the diff output::
++
+------------
+$ git diff --find-copies-harder -B -C <1>
+$ git diff -R <2>
+
+<1> spend extra cycles to find renames, copies and complete
+rewrites (very expensive).
+<2> output diff in reverse.
+------------
+
+
 Author
 ------
 Written by Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>