Re: [BUG] "git diff --word-diff" gives a diff while they are only space changes

From: Michael Montalbo <mmontalbo@gmail.com>
Date: May 18, 2026, 03:30 UTC
Message-ID: <CAC2QwmKORPnsmV4SM_CnmhrbF+X754ae-n9m1fgjvVsL9d-wzg@mail.gmail.com>
In-Reply-To: <xmqq8q9migqk.fsf@gitster.g>

On Thu, May 14, 2026 at 12:37 AM Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com> wrote:

Show 16 quoted lines

>
> Michael Montalbo <mmontalbo@gmail.com> writes:
>
> > @@ -457,6 +457,11 @@ endif::git-diff[]
> >  +
> >  Note that despite the name of the first mode, color is used to
> >  highlight the changed parts in all modes if enabled.
> > ++
> > +Word diff works by finding word-level changes within each hunk of
> > +the line-level diff.  The line-level alignment determines which
> > +changed lines are compared to each other, which can affect the
> > +word-level output.
>
> The added text may not say anything wrong, but I am not sure how it
> helps the end user to know the way machinery works internally.
>

I see what you mean. Maybe the doc should focus more on calling out the user-facing implication:

  `--word-diff` finds word-level changes within each hunk of the
  line-level diff, so changes that only affect whitespace may still
  appear in the output.

I've intentionally omitted a whitespace workaround recommendation for now given the ongoing discussion in the thread.