Re: Wrong tabs in terminal output for git diff

From: Phil Hord <phil.hord@gmail.com>
Date: Jun 12, 2021, 23:10 UTC
Message-ID: <CABURp0pUDtKEDcFx+Yh3hZRXnHOzUxiOEU=epBz3SB1O5e2HqA@mail.gmail.com>
In-Reply-To: <8d3f8cf4-24ec-1271-ccd3-70db24f53523@gmail.com>

On Fri, Jun 11, 2021 at 12:30 PM Timothy Madden <terminatorul@gmail.com> wrote:

Show 7 quoted lines

> For git diff and git show commands, terminal output appears with wrong
> tab stops (missaligned).
>
> Because diff operation inserts a new column at character position 1, for
> the +, - and space characters, the diff content appears shifted to the
> right by 1 column. But not the tab stop positions. So relative to the
> text, the tab stops now appear off-by-one (shifted to the left).

I think "fixing" this would require modifying the diff output so it would no longer be correct. If we accept that a switch can make a incorrect diff for display only, though, it seems something could be done here.

I think the only approach that can fix the alignment, however, is to remove the +/- prefix markers altogether. We do this now with the `--color-words` switch. This kind of solution only works if there is some way to indicate added/removed lines other than the line-prefix marker; ANSI color codes, for example. Would that work for your needs, or were you thinking of something else?