General git tips

This is part of the Semicolon&Sons Code Diary - consisting of lessons learned on the job. You're in the git category.

Last Updated: 2024-05-02

Get a git diff with just the file-names

git diff --name-only

This is useful if you have an old PR that haven't had master merged in lately.

git diff master...topic

This will only show commits A,B,C here

      A---B---C topic
     /
D---E---F---G master

By contrast, wwo dots is the default in git diff. That is, if you do:

git diff master topic
# what you’ll get is the same as if you asked for:
git diff master..topic

Then you'll get output the difference from G to C (i.e. with effects of F and G).