---
name: "cg-diff"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "cogito"
version: "0.18.2-1"
release: "Debian 4.0 (Etch)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/cg-diff"
---

# cg-diff(1)

show changes in the diff format

## NAME

cg-diff - show changes in the diff format

## SYNOPSIS

cg-diff \[-c\] \[-m\] \[-s\] \[-p\] \[-r FROM\_ID\[..TO\_ID\]\] \[FILE\]....sp

## DESCRIPTION

Outputs a diff for converting the first tree to the second one. By default compares the current working tree to the state at the last commit. The output will automatically be displayed in a pager unless it is piped to a program..sp

## OPTIONS

- \-c

  Colorize the output. You can customize the colors using the $CG\_COLORS environment variable (see below).

- \--diffcore ARGS

  Pass the given diffcore arguments the called Git diff command. See e.g. [git-diff-tree(1)](/git-diff-tree/1.md) documentation for the list of possible arguments; *-R*, *-B*, and *-C* might be of particular interest (*-M* is already passed by default).

- \--no-renames

  By default, [**cg-diff**(1)](/cg-diff/1.md) will automatically detect file renames. Diff produced by the rename-aware [**cg-diff**(1)](/cg-diff/1.md) will be unappliable using [patch(1)](/patch/1.md) (you need to use [**cg-patch**(1)](/cg-patch/1.md)) and the renames detection can add slight extra performance penalty. This switch will turn the rename detection off.

- \-p

  Show diff to the parent of the current commit (or the commit specified by the -r parameter).

- \-s

  Summarize the diff by showing a histogram for removed and added lines (similar to the output of [diffstat(1)](/diffstat/1.md)) and information about added and renamed files and mode changes.

- \-r FROM\_ID\[..TO\_ID\]

  Specify the revisions to diff using either *-r rev1..rev2* or *-r rev1 -r rev2*. If no revision is specified, the current working tree is implied. Note that no revision is different from empty revision which means *-r rev..* compares between *rev* and *HEAD*, while *-r rev* compares between *rev* and working tree.

- \-m

  Base the diff at the merge base of the -r arguments (defaulting to HEAD and origin).

- \-h, --help

  Print usage summary.

- \--long-help

  Print user manual. The same as found in [**cg-diff**(1)](/cg-diff/1.md).

## ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

PAGER

The pager to display log information in, defaults to less.

PAGER\_FLAGS

Flags to pass to the pager.

CG\_COLORS

Colon-separated list of *name=color* pairs, where name is one of diffhdr, diffhdradd, diffhdrmod, diffhdrrem, diffadd, diffmod, diffrem, diffhunk, diffctx, default, and value is an ECMA-48 SGR sequence (see e.g. [console\_codes(4)](/console_codes/4.md)).

CG\_COLORS\_AUTO

Even if -c was passed or specified in ~/.cgrc, if this option is set, use colors only when the output is a terminal and it supports colors.

CG\_LESS

This is what the $LESS environment variable value will be set to before invoking $PAGER. It defaults to $LESS concatenated with the R flag to allow displaying of colorized output.

## CONFIGURATION VARIABLES

The following GIT configuration file variables are recognized:.sp

diff.usecolor

If enabled, colorify the output like with -c if the output is a terminal.

## NOTES

The *:* is equivalent to *..* in revisions range specification (to make things more comfortable to SVN users). See [cogito(7)](/cogito/7.md) for more details about revision specification..sp

## COPYRIGHT

Copyright © Petr Baudis, 2005.sp

## SEE ALSO

cg-diff is part of [**cogito**(7)](/cogito/7.md), a toolkit for managing [**git**(7)](/git/7.md) trees..sp