[RFC/PATCH 5/4] Documentation: flesh out diff --no-index description
From: Jonathan Nieder <hidden>
Date: 2016-06-15 22:49:45
Subsystem:
documentation, the rest · Maintainers:
Jonathan Corbet, Linus Torvalds
Explain what diff --no-index is used for in more detail. Signed-off-by: Jonathan Nieder <redacted> --- Documentation/git-diff.txt | 21 +++++++++++++++++---- 1 files changed, 17 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)
diff --git a/Documentation/git-diff.txt b/Documentation/git-diff.txt
index dd1fb32..6700e8c 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-diff.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-diff.txt@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ tree and the index file, or the index file and the working tree. + If exactly two paths are given and at least one points outside the current repository, 'git diff' will compare the two files / -directories. This behavior can be forced by --no-index. +directories (see --no-index below). 'git diff' [--options] --cached [<commit>] [--] [<path>...]::
@@ -62,11 +62,24 @@ directories. This behavior can be forced by --no-index. "git diff $(git-merge-base A B) B". You can omit any one of <commit>, which has the same effect as using HEAD instead. +'git diff' [--options] --no-index [--] <path> <path>:: + + In this form, 'git diff' will compare a pair of files or + directories that are not necessarily being managed by git. + The tracked content of files in the index and the object + database are ignored. ++ +In other words, this form allows 'git diff' to be used as a +traditional 'diff' command (plus the familiar extras like --check, +color, pagination, automatic use of -r, --stat/--name-status, +--pickaxe, --binary, copy/rename detection, -Oorderfile, and +--patience). + Just in case if you are doing something exotic, it should be noted that all of the <commit> in the above description, except -in the last two forms that use ".." notations, can be any -<tree>. The third form ('git diff <commit> <commit>') can also -be used to compare two <blob> objects. +in the two forms that use ".." notations, can be any <tree>. +The third form ('git diff <commit> <commit>') can also be used +to compare two <blob> objects. For a more complete list of ways to spell <commit>, see "SPECIFYING REVISIONS" section in linkgit:gitrevisions[7].
--
1.7.2.3