How to list only file names that have changed between two branches

Question

I have two branches in my repository which I want to diff for some files.

I want to list only newly added migrations between those two branches.

Something like:

git diff branch1 branch2 | grep /db/migrate

How can I do it?

Possible duplicate of Showing which files have changed between two revisions — Tim Biegeleisen
– Tim Biegeleisen, Commented Oct 21, 2016 at 9:11
newly added migrations between two branches one old and one new — Deepak Mahakale
– Deepak Mahakale, Commented Oct 21, 2016 at 9:13

Peter Mortensen · Accepted Answer · 2019-08-05 21:05:27Z

55

This command will diff their whole history:

git diff branch1..branch2 --name-only

If you want to compare from their last common ancestor, then:

git diff branch1...branch2 --name-only

And now you can grep files that you want. From there it's easy to write a little shell script that diffs two branches, file by file.

 filenames=$(git diff branch1...branch2 --name-only | grep /db/migratons)
 IFS=' '
 read -r -a filearr <<< "$filenames"
 for filename in "${filearr[@]}"
 do
      echo $(git diff branch1...branch2 -- "$filename")
 done

Create the git-command-name file and put it into the user/bin folder (you should parametrize input - branches as variables).

Git will recognise it as a command that you can call with:

git command-name branch1 branch2

edited Aug 5, 2019 at 21:05

Peter Mortensen

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answered Oct 21, 2016 at 9:25

user4046031

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4 Comments

dotnetCarpenter Over a year ago

Nice! I was looking for the --name-only option.

bitcruncher Over a year ago

ditto on --name-only

Julien Lamarche Over a year ago

I would change ", then:" to ", then (notice the extra period between the branch names) : "

Frank Kusters Over a year ago

--name-status also shows whether files are modified, added, deleted, renamed, etc.

SMBiggs · Accepted Answer · 2022-12-12 21:13:17Z

3

It's even easier if you want to compare the current branch to another. While those familiar with git will think this obvious, I'm including this for people that are starting out with git.

git diff other_branch_name --name-only

answered Dec 12, 2022 at 21:13

SMBiggs

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1 Comment

SMBiggs Over a year ago

The "obvious" part is that in git commands: if only 1 parameter is supplied, the current branch is assumed as the source (1st param), and the specified branch is the destination (2nd).

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