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How do I view previous diff commits using Git?

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Git & Version Control

Introduction

Git provides several commands to view diffs between commits. git log -p shows the patch (diff) for each commit. git diff <commit1> <commit2> compares two specific commits. git show <commit> displays a single commit's changes. These commands let you inspect what changed, when, and by whom — essential for debugging, code review, and understanding project history.

View Diff for Each Commit (git log -p)

bash
1# Show full diff for every commit
2git log -p
3
4# Limit to last 3 commits
5git log -p -3
6
7# Show diffs for a specific file
8git log -p -- src/app.js
9
10# Show diffs with stats summary
11git log -p --stat

git log -p combines the commit message with the full patch output. Press q to exit the pager.

View a Single Commit's Changes (git show)

bash
1# Show the latest commit
2git show
3
4# Show a specific commit by hash
5git show a1b2c3d
6
7# Show only the files changed (no diff content)
8git show --stat a1b2c3d
9
10# Show a specific file's change in that commit
11git show a1b2c3d -- src/app.js
12
13# Show the diff in a specific format
14git show a1b2c3d --format=oneline

Compare Two Commits (git diff)

bash
1# Diff between two commits
2git diff abc123 def456
3
4# Diff between a commit and HEAD
5git diff abc123 HEAD
6
7# Diff between a commit and its parent
8git diff abc123^..abc123
9# Or equivalently:
10git show abc123
11
12# Diff for a specific file between two commits
13git diff abc123 def456 -- src/app.js
14
15# Only show file names that changed
16git diff --name-only abc123 def456
17
18# Show file names with change type (Added, Modified, Deleted)
19git diff --name-status abc123 def456

Diff with Statistics

bash
1# Summary of changes (insertions/deletions per file)
2git diff --stat abc123 def456
3
4# Short stat (total files, insertions, deletions)
5git diff --shortstat abc123 def456
6
7# Example output:
8# 5 files changed, 120 insertions(+), 45 deletions(-)

View Commits Between Two Points

bash
1# All commits between two branches
2git log main..feature-branch
3
4# With diffs
5git log -p main..feature-branch
6
7# All commits on feature-branch not in main (same as above)
8git log feature-branch --not main
9
10# Commits in either branch but not both
11git log main...feature-branch

Search Commit Diffs

bash
1# Find commits where "TODO" was added or removed
2git log -p -S "TODO"
3
4# Find commits where a regex pattern changed
5git log -p -G "function\s+handleClick"
6
7# Find commits by author with diffs
8git log -p --author="Alice"
9
10# Find commits in a date range
11git log -p --since="2024-01-01" --until="2024-02-01"

Viewing Diffs with Context

bash
1# Show more context around changes (default is 3 lines)
2git diff -U10 abc123 def456  # 10 lines of context
3
4# Show word-level diff instead of line-level
5git diff --word-diff abc123 def456
6
7# Color-coded word diff
8git diff --word-diff=color abc123 def456
9
10# Show moved lines (Git 2.17+)
11git diff --color-moved abc123 def456

Using gitk and Other Viewers

bash
1# GUI commit browser with diffs
2gitk --all
3
4# TUI (terminal) viewer
5tig
6
7# VS Code diff viewer
8git difftool abc123 def456

Useful Aliases

bash
1# Add to ~/.gitconfig
2git config --global alias.lg "log --oneline --graph --all"
3git config --global alias.last "log -1 -p"
4git config --global alias.changes "diff --name-status"
5git config --global alias.review "log -p --reverse"
6
7# Usage
8git lg                    # Compact graph view
9git last                  # Diff of the latest commit
10git changes HEAD~3 HEAD   # Files changed in last 3 commits
11git review main..HEAD     # Review all changes since branching from main

Common Pitfalls

  • Confusing .. and ... range operators: git log A..B shows commits in B but not in A. git log A...B shows commits in either but not both. Using the wrong operator shows unexpected commit ranges.
  • Forgetting -- before file paths: git diff abc123 src/app.js tries to diff between commit abc123 and a ref called src/app.js. Use git diff abc123 -- src/app.js to specify a file path explicitly.
  • Large diffs overwhelming the terminal: git log -p on a long history produces enormous output. Always limit with -n 5, --since, or filter by file path. Or pipe to less for paging.
  • Not using --stat for quick overviews: Reading full diffs to understand what changed is slow. Start with git diff --stat or git log --stat for a summary, then drill into specific files.
  • Assuming git diff shows staged changes: git diff without arguments shows only unstaged changes. Use git diff --staged (or --cached) to see what is staged for the next commit.

Summary

  • git log -p shows the patch for each commit — add -n 5 to limit output
  • git show <commit> displays a single commit's diff and metadata
  • git diff <commit1> <commit2> compares any two commits
  • Use --stat for a quick summary and --name-only for just file names
  • Use -S "text" to find commits that added or removed specific strings
  • git diff shows unstaged changes; git diff --staged shows staged changes
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