threads / discuss / 48287

Feature Request: Add diff.word-diff <mode> and perhaps diff.word-diff-regex <regex> configuration options to enable always using word-diffs in git diff

Subject: Feature Request: Add diff.word-diff <mode> and perhaps diff.word-diff-regex <regex> configuration options to enable always using word-diffs in git diff

## tl;dr

3 messages between Apr 14, 2018 and Apr 15, 2018.

replies: 2people: 3as markdown or json

Doron Behar· Apr 14, 2018, 20:02 UTC · lore

I've just came across the wonderful command line option for `git diff`: `--word-diff`. It could be great to have a configuration option that will enable this feature by default when running `git diff`.

Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason· Apr 14, 2018, 20:07 UTC · re: Doron Behar · lore

Re: Feature Request: Add diff.word-diff <mode> and perhaps diff.word-diff-regex <regex> configuration options to enable always using word-diffs in git diff

On Sat, Apr 14 2018, Doron Behar wrote:

> I've just came across the wonderful command line option for `git diff`:
> `--word-diff`. It could be great to have a configuration option that
> will enable this feature by default when running `git diff`.

Do you know you can do:

    git config --global alias.wdiff "diff --word-diff"

Junio C Hamano· Apr 15, 2018, 21:13 UTC · re: Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason · lore

Re: Feature Request: Add diff.word-diff <mode> and perhaps diff.word-diff-regex <regex> configuration options to enable always using word-diffs in git diff

Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason <avarab@gmail.com> writes:

Show 9 quoted lines

> On Sat, Apr 14 2018, Doron Behar wrote:
>
>> I've just came across the wonderful command line option for `git diff`:
>> `--word-diff`. It could be great to have a configuration option that
>> will enable this feature by default when running `git diff`.
>
> Do you know you can do:
>
>     git config --global alias.wdiff "diff --word-diff"

Correct, but it is a "you could instead do it this way" that is not accompanied by a "you do not want to do what you said you want to because.." answer. Having the latter is often helpful to learn why the suggestion is actually not a mere "you could" but is a "you are better off doing it this way".

Even though it is discouraged, people script using the Porcelain "git diff" command, and once users of such a configuration variable is used in Doron's fork of Git, those scripts will break for them.

Using alias like you showed won't have such a problem.