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.\"     Title: git-difftool
.\"    Author: [FIXME: author] [see http://docbook.sf.net/el/author]
.\" Generator: DocBook XSL Stylesheets v1.78.1 <http://docbook.sf.net/>
.\"      Date: 05/28/2018
.\"    Manual: Git Manual
.\"    Source: Git 2.1.4
.\"  Language: English
.\"
.TH "GIT\-DIFFTOOL" "1" "05/28/2018" "Git 2\&.1\&.4" "Git Manual"
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.SH "NAME"
git-difftool \- Show changes using common diff tools
.SH "SYNOPSIS"
.sp
.nf
\fIgit difftool\fR [<options>] [<commit> [<commit>]] [\-\-] [<path>\&...]
.fi
.sp
.SH "DESCRIPTION"
.sp
\fIgit difftool\fR is a Git command that allows you to compare and edit files between revisions using common diff tools\&. \fIgit difftool\fR is a frontend to \fIgit diff\fR and accepts the same options and arguments\&. See \fBgit-diff\fR(1)\&.
.SH "OPTIONS"
.PP
\-d, \-\-dir\-diff
.RS 4
Copy the modified files to a temporary location and perform a directory diff on them\&. This mode never prompts before launching the diff tool\&.
.RE
.PP
\-y, \-\-no\-prompt
.RS 4
Do not prompt before launching a diff tool\&.
.RE
.PP
\-\-prompt
.RS 4
Prompt before each invocation of the diff tool\&. This is the default behaviour; the option is provided to override any configuration settings\&.
.RE
.PP
\-t <tool>, \-\-tool=<tool>
.RS 4
Use the diff tool specified by <tool>\&. Valid values include emerge, kompare, meld, and vimdiff\&. Run
git difftool \-\-tool\-help
for the list of valid <tool> settings\&.
.sp
If a diff tool is not specified,
\fIgit difftool\fR
will use the configuration variable
diff\&.tool\&. If the configuration variable
diff\&.tool
is not set,
\fIgit difftool\fR
will pick a suitable default\&.
.sp
You can explicitly provide a full path to the tool by setting the configuration variable
difftool\&.<tool>\&.path\&. For example, you can configure the absolute path to kdiff3 by setting
difftool\&.kdiff3\&.path\&. Otherwise,
\fIgit difftool\fR
assumes the tool is available in PATH\&.
.sp
Instead of running one of the known diff tools,
\fIgit difftool\fR
can be customized to run an alternative program by specifying the command line to invoke in a configuration variable
difftool\&.<tool>\&.cmd\&.
.sp
When
\fIgit difftool\fR
is invoked with this tool (either through the
\-t
or
\-\-tool
option or the
diff\&.tool
configuration variable) the configured command line will be invoked with the following variables available:
$LOCAL
is set to the name of the temporary file containing the contents of the diff pre\-image and
$REMOTE
is set to the name of the temporary file containing the contents of the diff post\-image\&.
$MERGED
is the name of the file which is being compared\&.
$BASE
is provided for compatibility with custom merge tool commands and has the same value as
$MERGED\&.
.RE
.PP
\-\-tool\-help
.RS 4
Print a list of diff tools that may be used with
\-\-tool\&.
.RE
.PP
\-\-[no\-]symlinks
.RS 4
\fIgit difftool\fR\*(Aqs default behavior is create symlinks to the working tree when run in
\-\-dir\-diff
mode and the right\-hand side of the comparison yields the same content as the file in the working tree\&.
.sp
Specifying
\-\-no\-symlinks
instructs
\fIgit difftool\fR
to create copies instead\&.
\-\-no\-symlinks
is the default on Windows\&.
.RE
.PP
\-x <command>, \-\-extcmd=<command>
.RS 4
Specify a custom command for viewing diffs\&.
\fIgit\-difftool\fR
ignores the configured defaults and runs
$command $LOCAL $REMOTE
when this option is specified\&. Additionally,
$BASE
is set in the environment\&.
.RE
.PP
\-g, \-\-gui
.RS 4
When
\fIgit\-difftool\fR
is invoked with the
\-g
or
\-\-gui
option the default diff tool will be read from the configured
diff\&.guitool
variable instead of
diff\&.tool\&.
.RE
.sp
See \fBgit-diff\fR(1) for the full list of supported options\&.
.SH "CONFIG VARIABLES"
.sp
\fIgit difftool\fR falls back to \fIgit mergetool\fR config variables when the difftool equivalents have not been defined\&.
.PP
diff\&.tool
.RS 4
The default diff tool to use\&.
.RE
.PP
diff\&.guitool
.RS 4
The default diff tool to use when
\-\-gui
is specified\&.
.RE
.PP
difftool\&.<tool>\&.path
.RS 4
Override the path for the given tool\&. This is useful in case your tool is not in the PATH\&.
.RE
.PP
difftool\&.<tool>\&.cmd
.RS 4
Specify the command to invoke the specified diff tool\&.
.sp
See the
\-\-tool=<tool>
option above for more details\&.
.RE
.PP
difftool\&.prompt
.RS 4
Prompt before each invocation of the diff tool\&.
.RE
.SH "SEE ALSO"
.PP
\fBgit-diff\fR(1)
.RS 4
Show changes between commits, commit and working tree, etc
.RE
.PP
\fBgit-mergetool\fR(1)
.RS 4
Run merge conflict resolution tools to resolve merge conflicts
.RE
.PP
\fBgit-config\fR(1)
.RS 4
Get and set repository or global options
.RE
.SH "GIT"
.sp
Part of the \fBgit\fR(1) suite