Manual: git-difftool

GIT-DIFFTOOL(1)					 Git Manual				     GIT-DIFFTOOL(1)

NAME
       git-difftool - Show changes using common diff tools

SYNOPSIS
       git difftool [] [ []] [--] [...]

DESCRIPTION
       git difftool is a Git command that allows you to compare and edit files between revisions using
       common diff tools. git difftool is a frontend to git diff and accepts the same options and arguments.
       See git-diff(1).

OPTIONS
       -d, --dir-diff
	   Copy the modified files to a temporary location and perform a directory diff on them. This mode
	   never prompts before launching the diff tool.

       -y, --no-prompt
	   Do not prompt before launching a diff tool.

       --prompt
	   Prompt before each invocation of the diff tool. This is the default behaviour; the option is
	   provided to override any configuration settings.

       --rotate-to=
	   Start showing the diff for the given path, the paths before it will move to the end and output.

       --skip-to=
	   Start showing the diff for the given path, skipping all the paths before it.

       -t , --tool=
	   Use the diff tool specified by . Valid values include emerge, kompare, meld, and vimdiff.
	   Run git difftool --tool-help for the list of valid  settings.

	   If a diff tool is not specified, git difftool will use the configuration variable diff.tool. If
	   the configuration variable diff.tool is not set, git difftool will pick a suitable default.

	   You can explicitly provide a full path to the tool by setting the configuration variable
	   difftool..path. For example, you can configure the absolute path to kdiff3 by setting
	   difftool.kdiff3.path. Otherwise, git difftool assumes the tool is available in PATH.

	   Instead of running one of the known diff tools, git difftool can be customized to run an
	   alternative program by specifying the command line to invoke in a configuration variable
	   difftool..cmd.

	   When git difftool 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.

       --tool-help
	   Print a list of diff tools that may be used with --tool.

       --symlinks, --no-symlinks
	   git difftool's default behavior is to 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.

	   Specifying --no-symlinks instructs git difftool to create copies instead.  --no-symlinks is the
	   default on Windows.

       -x , --extcmd=
	   Specify a custom command for viewing diffs.	git-difftool ignores the configured defaults and
	   runs  $LOCAL $REMOTE when this option is specified. Additionally, $BASE is set in the
	   environment.

       -g, --gui, --no-gui
	   When git-difftool 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. This may be selected automatically
	   using the configuration variable difftool.guiDefault. The --no-gui option can be used to override
	   these settings. If diff.guitool is not set, we will fallback in the order of merge.guitool,
	   diff.tool, merge.tool until a tool is found.

       --trust-exit-code, --no-trust-exit-code
	   Errors reported by the diff tool are ignored by default. Use --trust-exit-code to make
	   git-difftool exit when an invoked diff tool returns a non-zero exit code.

	   git-difftool will forward the exit code of the invoked tool when --trust-exit-code is used.

       See git-diff(1) for the full list of supported options.

CONFIGURATION
       git difftool falls back to git mergetool config variables when the difftool equivalents have not been
       defined.

       Everything above this line in this section isn’t included from the git-config(1) documentation. The
       content that follows is the same as what’s found there:

       diff.tool
	   Controls which diff tool is used by git-difftool(1). This variable overrides the value configured
	   in merge.tool. The list below shows the valid built-in values. Any other value is treated as a
	   custom diff tool and requires that a corresponding difftool..cmd variable is defined.

       diff.guitool
	   Controls which diff tool is used by git-difftool(1) when the -g/--gui flag is specified. This
	   variable overrides the value configured in merge.guitool. The list below shows the valid built-in
	   values. Any other value is treated as a custom diff tool and requires that a corresponding
	   difftool..cmd variable is defined.

	   araxis
	       Use Araxis Merge (requires a graphical session)

	   bc
	       Use Beyond Compare (requires a graphical session)

	   bc3
	       Use Beyond Compare (requires a graphical session)

	   bc4
	       Use Beyond Compare (requires a graphical session)

	   codecompare
	       Use Code Compare (requires a graphical session)

	   deltawalker
	       Use DeltaWalker (requires a graphical session)

	   diffmerge
	       Use DiffMerge (requires a graphical session)

	   diffuse
	       Use Diffuse (requires a graphical session)

	   ecmerge
	       Use ECMerge (requires a graphical session)

	   emerge
	       Use Emacs' Emerge

	   examdiff
	       Use ExamDiff Pro (requires a graphical session)

	   guiffy
	       Use Guiffy’s Diff Tool (requires a graphical session)

	   gvimdiff
	       Use gVim (requires a graphical session)

	   kdiff3
	       Use KDiff3 (requires a graphical session)

	   kompare
	       Use Kompare (requires a graphical session)

	   meld
	       Use Meld (requires a graphical session)

	   nvimdiff
	       Use Neovim

	   opendiff
	       Use FileMerge (requires a graphical session)

	   p4merge
	       Use HelixCore P4Merge (requires a graphical session)

	   smerge
	       Use Sublime Merge (requires a graphical session)

	   tkdiff
	       Use TkDiff (requires a graphical session)

	   vimdiff
	       Use Vim

	   vscode
	       Use Visual Studio Code (requires a graphical session)

	   winmerge
	       Use WinMerge (requires a graphical session)

	   xxdiff
	       Use xxdiff (requires a graphical session)

       difftool..cmd
	   Specify the command to invoke the specified diff tool. The specified command is evaluated in
	   shell 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.

	   See the --tool= option in git-difftool(1) for more details.

       difftool..path
	   Override the path for the given tool. This is useful in case your tool is not in the PATH.

       difftool.trustExitCode
	   Exit difftool if the invoked diff tool returns a non-zero exit status.

	   See the --trust-exit-code option in git-difftool(1) for more details.

       difftool.prompt
	   Prompt before each invocation of the diff tool.

       difftool.guiDefault
	   Set true to use the diff.guitool by default (equivalent to specifying the --gui argument), or
	   auto to select diff.guitool or diff.tool depending on the presence of a DISPLAY environment
	   variable value. The default is false, where the --gui argument must be provided explicitly for
	   the diff.guitool to be used.

SEE ALSO
       git-diff(1)
	   Show changes between commits, commit and working tree, etc

       git-mergetool(1)
	   Run merge conflict resolution tools to resolve merge conflicts

       git-config(1)
	   Get and set repository or global options

GIT
       Part of the git(1) suite

Git 2.53.0					 03/02/2026				     GIT-DIFFTOOL(1)