Re: [PATCH] diff: add --no-indicators option

From: Chris Torek <chris.torek@gmail.com>
Date: Dec 19, 2025, 14:40 UTC
Message-ID: <CAPx1GvdNQbHY0avQ_Gt4bkLiuNHPW80E0v1vxrwyQYDD=zpc0g@mail.gmail.com>
In-Reply-To: <f141e335-9729-4f09-86b2-12a39f24837a@gmail.com>

On Fri, Dec 19, 2025 at 6:27 AM Phillip Wood <phillip.wood123@gmail.com> wrote:

Show 6 quoted lines

> If you want to restore some lines from a previous version of the file
> then it would be worth trying out "git restore -p" as Ben suggested. If
> there is some other use for this then it would be helpful to understand
> a bit more about it. I'm struggling to see why it would be useful to be
> able to copy and paste a mixture of insertions and deletions without the
> '+' and '-' indicators. ...

As someone who makes a lot of tpyos and hsa text that gets duplicaged because of copypasta duplicaged because of copypasta errors and on on (ahem), my personal preference tends towards:

    $ git show <rev1>:<path>  > file.oldver
    $ git show <rev2>:<path>  > file.newver
    $ vim file file.oldver file.newver

and then cut/paste old or new parts in the editor, rather than with a mouse that doesn't always get the proper edge points. The ability to "git show" specific versions of files is the key here.

(The patch modes of git add/restore are good for small things.)

Chris