From: Junio C Hamano Date: Tue, 19 May 2026 03:11:15 GMT Subject: Re: [BUG] "git diff --word-diff" gives a diff while they are only space changes Message-ID: In-Reply-To: Chris Torek writes: > Call it an "implementation note" (or, if you like, a "practical > consideration"?). > Something along these lines might work... > > Implementation Note > > The --word-diff option currently operates by taking the same > line by line diff that you get without the option, then massaging > the result into a word-by-word difference. This may cause an > unnecessarily-larger diff than you would see with a more-clever > implementation. If and when Git acquires a more-clever > implementation, the output may change. Note that this is > similar to the --diff-algorithm option, which may change the > output. > > Regardless of which algorithm is used, _any_ diff simply shows > _a_ way to achieve some particular change. It's impossible for > any algorithm to tell whether someone deleted two lines and > then put one back exactly as it appeared earlier, saving the > resulting text, vs deleting a single line, for instance. Only a > keystroke-by-keystroke logger would be able to tell what the > human operator actually typed into some editor. Git does > not have that information, and having it is not desired. > > Chris I understand your frustration in the second paragraph ;-) but let's not go there. The first paragraph is excellent. It gives readers a clear enough explanation to understand what is happening and stop complaining where there is nothing to complain about (which is already hinted by the "Note that" at the end).