Get all files that have been modified in git branch

Question

Is there a way to see what files have changed in a branch?

Improvisator

possible duplicate of How can I find out which files have been modified in a branch? – Aida

They are not my employees they are my colleagues and it's not them in particular so much as people in general. But yea, re-reading this post it does seem a bit agro. :) – Improvisator

Can you use github or bitbucket, gitlab? There are tools to manage exactly this situation. The developer makes a pull request. You get the request and you will have access to a very good interface that will show you a diff of all the changes made to each file. You can even comment, ask for changes etc. When the changes are good you can accept the request which will merge the changes into the requested branch (typically develop). That is the best practice way to handle this situation. – Jeep

Does this answer your question? How can I find out which files have been modified in a branch? – Eclampsia

Answer 1

An alternative to the answer by @Marco Ponti, and avoiding the checkout:

git diff --name-only <notMainDev> $(git merge-base <notMainDev> <mainDev>)

If your particular shell doesn't understand the $() construct, use back-ticks instead.

Hanky

ah! this is good fun, now how about if I want to have say <notMainDev> be the current branch I'm on. that is not have to specify it? – Improvisator

git diff --name-only <some-other-branch> will show you what files are different between your current branch and <some-other-branch>. So it's essentially the same command, but note that you can use this to find the files that are different between any two branches, even if they're not remotely related. Whether that comparison is useful or not depends on the topology of your branches... Also, note <some-other-branch> really could be any commit at all, or anything that resolves to one (tags, etc.). – Hanky

hmmm, well, I guess what I mean is that I would like to do git diff --name-only <notMainDev> $(git merge-base <notMainDev> <MY_CURRENT_CO_BRANCH>) where MY_CURRENT_CO_BRANCH would of course be my current checked out branch – Improvisator

You can do that, as well. That will find the point where <notMainDev> and <MY_CURRENT_CO_BRANCH> most recently had a common ancestor, and compare <notMainDev> to that ancestor. You'll have to provide your current branch name, though, as git merge-base expects two arguments - there's not a shortcut, at least in the current version. – Hanky

ok! I got it. Courtesy of my colleague what's his name. git merge-base <notMainDev> git branch | grep '\*' | awk '{print $2}' that will get the commit for the branch between <notMainDev> and my current branch. I can then do git diff --name-only <notMainDev> $(git merge-base <notMainDev> git branch | grep '\*' | awk '{print $2}') – Improvisator

and for the coop-detat [alias] diffbranch = "!sh -c 'git diff --name-only $1 git merge-base $1 $(git name-rev HEAD 2> /dev/null | cut -f2)`' -" !!! – Improvisator

Nice answer! I'm using Windows was only able to get the $() syntax working by using a git bash session - any tips for how I might get it to work in a standard command window (so I can put it in a batch file)? – Armoured

Have now worked out how to run a bash command from a batch file - too long to put in a comment so added an answer below. – Armoured

Slightly shorter syntax for the current branch: git diff --name-only $(git merge-base master HEAD)... – Apterous

This gives the wrong status type for changes. See my answer for an alternative. – Noaccount

A tip for the uninitiated like me... git diff --name-only origin/branchX $(git merge-base origin/branchX origin/master) vs git diff --name-only branchX $(git merge-base branchX master) which gives fatal: Not a valid object name branchX. fatal: ambiguous argument 'branchX': unknown revision or path not in the working tree. – Smash

for me this did not work. It showed way to many files.. Don't know what could be the problem. – Spake

With Git 2.30 and newer, the above code can be replaced by git diff --merge-base <notMainDev> --name-only <mainDev>. – Obstinate

How to do this on bitbucket? – Salas

Beware git merge-base doesn't give the original forking point of the branch, but the closest common ancestor with the other (presumed main) branch. In many cases, both would be identical, but this solution won't work if the branch contains a commit merging main branch into it, in which case it will only list files that have been modified after the last merge, but any files modified in the branch before that merge commit (although not merged into main branch yet) won't be listed. – Attribute

Answer 2

All you have to do is the following:

git checkout <notMainDev>
git diff --name-only <mainDev>

This will show you only the filenames that are different between the two branches.

Contagion

wow quick and too the point. thank you. btw I love git. it's always quick and to the point – Improvisator

I believe that will also show stuff that has changed on <mainDev> since the branches diverged, though. You might want to use git diff --name-only <sha-of-branch-point> instead, or see the alternate answer I posted that avoids the checkout. – Hanky

Yes, that is true @Hanky it would show those changes if the branches are diverged. I was assuming the notMainDev would be kept up to date with the mainDev commits...I usually find it useful to see those differences as well though. – Contagion

can't you just specify --right-only to only show the files that were changed on the right side? – Hirohito

you get the <sha-of-branch-point> with git rev-parse <branch-name> – Illuminative

I love this one. Thank you. – Hieronymus

Answer 3

amazed this has not been said so far!

git diff main...branch

So see the changes only on branch

To check the current branch use

git diff main...

Thanks to jqr

This is short hand for

git diff $(git merge-base main branch) branch

so the merge base (the most recent common commit between the branches) and the branch tip

Also using origin/main instead of just master will help in case your local main is dated

Lapierre

While this shows what has changed, it shows the ALL changes, rather than a summary of the changed files... which is what lead me to this page in the first place :) – Umber

then add the --name-only flag to this. or --short-stat – Lapierre

git diff --name-only master.. if you just want the names of files that are different between the two branches. – Goosander

This won't work properly if your master had commits after you created your side-branch. – Whereto

@Whereto yes it does. thats exactly what this is solving – Lapierre

@Lapierre oh, indeed. Confused three and two dots. – Whereto

for me this did not work. It showed way to many files.. Don't know what could be the problem. – Spake

if the repo is public I am happy to take a look, did you use 3 dots ? – Lapierre

In case any one else pops in here to read comments. This worked perfect for me. I had a master branch and a feature branch. The master branch was way ahead by a bunch of commits. The feature branch was behind, but also had master merged into it a few times to pull updates. using git diff --name-status master...feature gave me exactly what Upsource was showing in the branch review. – Fremantle

Combined with other answers: git diff --name-only main... or, if you have diffstat, you could also pipe the result through diffstat: git diff main... | diffstat. – Grenade

This precise syntax actually dumps you into interactive mode, while the OP asked how to get the files. – Imagination

I'm guessing what ever your pager is is doing that. This command will just spit out files – Lapierre

Answer 4

I can't believe there are so many ways to do this. I use whatchanged as someone posted before, just with the following arguments:

git whatchanged --name-only --pretty="" origin..HEAD

This just lists the filenames, and only the ones that changed on the current branch.

Kobe

This appears to be the easiest answer here as it requires no additional information. The output looks correct and it's way easier to remember than the accepted answer! – Kimble

Thanks, this is interesting, more wordy. It provides output fro each commit, in reverse order. git-whatchanged - Show logs with difference each commit introduces git-scm.com/docs/git-whatchanged – Rampant

From the git docs: New users are encouraged to use git-log instead. The whatchanged command is essentially the same as git-log but defaults to show the raw format diff output and to skip merges. – Biffin

This seems to do what I'm looking for by only printing changes the branch makes alone. It does however print files twice, so I pipe it to sort -u – Smash

Yeah, the problem with whatchanged is as @Smash mentioned: it's actually git log, so it shows things commit by commit. If you've made multiple commits to the same file, you get multiple copies of those names (unlike with git diff). – Noland

This should have been the accepted answer – Impurity

This is the best answer – Heterophyllous

I concur, best answer. – Mccarthy

Answer 5

Update Nov 2020:

To get the list of files modified (and committed!) in the current branch you can use the shortest console command using standard git:

git diff --name-only master...

---

• If your local "master" branch is outdated (behind the remote), add a remote name (assuming it is "origin"):

  git diff --name-only origin/master...

• If you want to include uncommitted changes as well, remove the ...:

  git diff --name-only master

• If you use different main branch name (eg: "main"), substitute it:

  git diff --name-only main...

• If your want to output to stdout (so its copyable):

  git diff --name-only master... | cat

• If your want filenames to be clickable in VSCode terminal no matter what folder you are running this command from, add --relative:

  git diff --name-only --relative master... | cat

---

per really nice detailed explanation of different options https://blog.jpalardy.com/posts/git-how-to-find-modified-files-on-a-branch/

Cybele

diff has much more options and overall git-diff is super awesome ;) – Cybele

Answer 6

I really liked @twalberg's answer but I didn't want to have to type the current branch name all the time. So I'm using this:

git diff --name-only $(git merge-base master HEAD)

Occupier

Your solution works for me and I get the list of files that I expect to see. I'm a Git novice and have used git diff master... --name-only when run on the target branch and get the same result. Could you be so kind as to provide any feedback to what's good vs bad between your answer and the command I've provided? – Karmenkarna

Your command will work exactly the same, if master does not have any new commits since your branch was created. I think my command will be equivalent to git diff master.. --name-only (note there is only 2 dots instead of 3). To understand what the dots mean, see this answer – Waldrop

Awesome! Thanks for the quick reply and insight. Much appreciated. – Karmenkarna

Answer 7

git diff --name-only master...branch-name

to which we want to compare.

Aegeus

Seems like a partial of an existing answer, https://mcmap.net/q/92301/-get-all-files-that-have-been-modified-in-git-branch – Telepathist

This variation compares the HEAD of master to a current branch. The accepted answer compares the state of master at the point you forked. Either may have the answer you are looking for, depending on what you want to know. – Loftis

Answer 8

git whatchanged seems to be a good alternative.

Doubt

What was exactly that I was looking for. – Matildamatilde

From the git docs: New users are encouraged to use git-log instead. The whatchanged command is essentially the same as git-log but defaults to show the raw format diff output and to skip merges. – Biffin

Answer 9

What if it could be as easy as this?

git changed

If you're willing to assume that the main branch is called "master", and that you create your other branches from master, then you can add this alias to your ~/.gitconfig file to make it that easy:

cbranch = !"git branch | grep '*' | cut -f2 -d' '"
changed = !"git diff --name-only $(git cbranch) $(git merge-base $(git cbranch) master)"

Those assumptions will work for most people in most situations, but you must be aware that you're making them.

Also, you must use a shell that supports $(). It's very likely that your shell supports this.

Lingcod

Answer 10

For some reason no one mentioned git-tree. See https://mcmap.net/q/14241/-how-do-i-list-all-the-files-in-a-commit

git-tree is preferred because it's a plumbing command; meant to be programmatic (and, presumably, faster)

(assuming base branch is master)

git diff-tree --no-commit-id --name-only -r master..branch-name

However this will show you all files which were affected in the branch, if you want to see explicitly modified files only, you can use --diff-filter:

git diff-tree --no-commit-id --name-only -r master..branch-name --diff-filter=M

Also one can use --name-status instead of --name-only to see the status of the files (A/M/D and so on)

Lowery

This was just what I needed for linting changed files while excluding those that were deleted. rubocop --fail-level error $(git diff-tree --no-commit-id --name-only -r origin/master..HEAD --diff-filter=M) – Superficial

Answer 11

What about

git diff --name-only HEAD~1

Zenithal

Answer 12

Considering you're on a feature branch and you want to check which files have changed compared to master... just this:

git diff --name-only master

Racer

Answer 13

git show --stat origin/branch_name

This will give you a list of the files that have been added or modified under this branch.

Vidovic

This is wrong, this only shows the files changed in the head commit of that branch, not the whole branch. – Cecilycecity

Answer 14

The accepted answer - git diff --name-only <notMainDev> $(git merge-base <notMainDev> <mainDev>) - is very close, but I noticed that it got the status wrong for deletions. I added a file in a branch, and yet this command (using --name-status) gave the file I deleted "A" status and the file I added "D" status.

I had to use this command instead:

git diff --name-only $(git merge-base <notMainDev> <mainDev>)

Noaccount

Answer 15

I use grep so I only get the lines with diff --git which are the files path:

git diff branchA branchB | grep 'diff --git'
// OUTPUTS ALL FILES WITH CHANGES, SIMPLE HA :)
diff --git a/package-lock.json b/package-lock.json

Unbated

Answer 16

Expanding off of what @twalberg and @iconoclast had, if you're using cmd for whatever reason, you can use:

FOR /F "usebackq" %x IN (`"git branch | grep '*' | cut -f2 -d' '"`) DO FOR /F "usebackq" %y IN (`"git merge-base %x master"`) DO git diff --name-only %x %y

Brave

Answer 17

The following batch file is based on twalberg's answer but will work in Windows:

@ECHO OFF
C:                               :: <== OR USE A DIFFERENT DRIVE
CD \path\to\where\git\files\are  :: <== CHANGE TO THE ACTUAL PATH
SET /p b="Enter full path of an ALREADY MERGED branch to compare with origin/master: "
bash --login -i -c "git diff --name-only %b% $(git merge-base %b1% origin/drop2/master)"
PAUSE

The above assumes that the main branch is origin/master and that git bash was included when Git was installed (and its location is in the path environment). I actually needed to show the actual differences using a configured diff tool (kdiff3) so substituted the following bash command above:

bash --login -i -c "git difftool --dir-diff %b% $(git merge-base %b1% origin/drop2/master)"

Armoured