git/list[1] front-page[2] threads[3] people[4] search[5] about
 

Re: Misleading documentation for git-diff-files (diff-filter)

From
Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Date
Jan 3, 2018, 23:53 UTC
Message-ID
<xmqqvagifqj8.fsf@gitster.mtv.corp.google.com>
In-Reply-To
<CAJzZBAT--X8GXg_knege_pZ8A=_Qk9nyMCLaoRMvjhUFGQYsZA@mail.gmail.com>
John Cheng <johnlicheng@gmail.com> writes:
> I wanted to know if git diff-files shows files that are not in the
> index but are in the working tree.

At least in the original design of Git, that would fundamentally be impossible, as Git _only_ cares about paths that are in the index, so a new file won't be in the picture until it is added. Because a change is shown as "A"dded by the diff family of commands only when the old side lacks a path that appears in the new side, there is no way "diff-files" that compares the index and the working tree would see a path that is missing from the old (i.e. the index) side.

Previous: John ChengNext: John Cheng
Message 2 of 6 in “Misleading documentation for git-diff-files (diff-filter)”
  1. John ChengJan 3, 2018
  2. Junio C HamanoJan 3, 2018
  3. John ChengJan 4, 2018
  4. Jeff KingJan 4, 2018
  5. Junio C HamanoJan 4, 2018
  6. John ChengJan 4, 2018

Read the whole thread, see it on lore, or plain text.

$ cat FOOTERMessages come from the public archive at lore.kernel.org/git, fetched every hour. The front page is chosen and written each morning by an AI editor and can be wrong; the threads themselves are the record. About and API. For agents: an MCP server at https://gitlist.dev/mcp, and any thread, story or person page as Markdown by adding .md to its URL (or sending Accept: text/markdown). Details in /llms.txt.