The raw output format from "git-diff-index", "git-diff-tree",
"git-diff-files" and "git diff --raw" are very similar.
These commands all compare two sets of things; what is compared
differs:
git-diff-index <tree-ish>
compares the <tree-ish> and the files on the filesystem.
git-diff-index --cached <tree-ish>
compares the <tree-ish> and the index.
git-diff-tree [-r] <tree-ish-1> <tree-ish-2> [<pattern>...]
compares the trees named by the two arguments.
git-diff-files [<pattern>...]
compares the index and the files on the filesystem.
The "git-diff-tree" command begins its output by printing the
hash of what is being compared. After that, all the commands
print one output line per changed file.
An output line is formatted this way:
in-place edit :100644 100644 bcd1234 0123456 M file0
copy-edit :100644 100644 abcd123 1234567 C68 file1 file2
rename-edit :100644 100644 abcd123 1234567 R86 file1 file3
create :000000 100644 0000000 1234567 A file4
delete :100644 000000 1234567 0000000 D file5
unmerged :000000 000000 0000000 0000000 U file6
That is, from the left to the right:
1. a colon.
2. mode for "src"; 000000 if creation or unmerged.
3. a space.
4. mode for "dst"; 000000 if deletion or unmerged.
5. a space.
6. sha1 for "src"; 0{40} if creation or unmerged.
7. a space.
8. sha1 for "dst"; 0{40} if creation, unmerged or "look at work
tree".
9. a space.
10. status, followed by optional "score" number.
11. a tab or a NUL when -z option is used.
12. path for "src"
13. a tab or a NUL when -z option is used; only exists for C or
R.
14. path for "dst"; only exists for C or R.
15. an LF or a NUL when -z option is used, to terminate the
record.
Possible status letters are:
• A: addition of a file
• C: copy of a file into a new one
• D: deletion of a file
• M: modification of the contents or mode of a file
• R: renaming of a file
• T: change in the type of the file
• U: file is unmerged (you must complete the merge before it
can be committed)
• X: "unknown" change type (most probably a bug, please report
it)
Status letters C and R are always followed by a score (denoting
the percentage of similarity between the source and target of the
move or copy). Status letter M may be followed by a score
(denoting the percentage of dissimilarity) for file rewrites.
<sha1> is shown as all 0's if a file is new on the filesystem and
it is out of sync with the index.
Example:
:100644 100644 5be4a4a 0000000 M file.c
Without the -z option, pathnames with "unusual" characters are
quoted as explained for the configuration variable core.quotePath
(see git-config(1)). Using -z the filename is output verbatim and
the line is terminated by a NUL byte.
