How to add color to bash output of `git diff --name-status` by file status?

Question

I would like to style the bash output for git diff --name-status so that the files with status D, M, and A are different colors.

To style general git bash I use the color options in .gitconfig.

# .gitconfig
[color]
  branch = auto
  diff = auto
  status = auto
[color "branch"]
  current = yellow reverse
  local = yellow
  remote = green
[color "diff"]
  meta = yellow bold
  frag = magenta bold
  old = red bold
  new = green bold
[color "status"]
  added = yellow
  changed = green
  untracked = cyan

To style an output for a command like git log I can use --pretty=format in an alias like below:

# .gitconfig
[alias]
  log = log --pretty=format:'%Cred%h%Creset -%C(yellow)%d%Creset %s %Cgreen(%cr) %C(bold blue)<%an>%Creset'

However, I have been unsuccessful using --pretty=format for git diff --name-status.

The output I would like to style is currently not styled and looks like:

$ git diff <branch> --name-status
M       .gitignore
M       README.md
A       diagnostic.js
D       diagnostic.md

Is there a way to style the output git diff --name-status by status type?

I have never crossed the git diff --name-status flag, but it looks a lot like git status --short which has built-in colors. Would that do the trick for you? — Joan Rieu
– Joan Rieu, Commented Jul 21, 2017 at 18:50
@JoanRieu that would if you could tell git status to show a specific commit. git status --short is great though; this is exactly what I'd want to see from a colorized --name-status option — Nolan Amy
– Nolan Amy, Commented Feb 15, 2023 at 21:52

Matthew · Accepted Answer · 2018-01-12 23:31:36Z

1

I'm not sure you can colorize the output of --name-status without entirely reproducing its output with --pretty=format:...

But if you want file names with colors summarizing changes, the --stats flag can be passed to many commands, including git diff <branch --stat and git log --stat.

It shows file names, with a colorized +++-- suffix, e.g.

$ git diff master --stat                                               
 lib/thing.go      |  5 +++--
 lib/thing_test.go | 23 +++++++++++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 28 insertions(+), 2 deletion(-)

and the +s and -s will colorize according to your git config

answered Jan 12, 2018 at 23:31

Matthew

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1 Comment

Nolan Amy Over a year ago

I don't think it's possible to reproduce the list of files using --pretty... see: git show --pretty (git diff doesn't seem to support --pretty)

Alexx Roche · Accepted Answer · 2017-09-15 10:05:56Z

-2

If you really really need colour in your life this might work:

# pick your colours
Red='\033[0;31m'; Colour_Off='\033[0m'; Cyan='\033[0;36m'; 

# find another branch (you could enter <branch>)
BRANCH=$(git br|grep -v '*');

# take the output of git diff and pain the first column red and the reset cyan.
git diff $BRANCH --name-status|awk "{print \"$Red\" \$1 \"\t\" \"$Cyan\" \$2 \"$Colour_Off\"}"

You could create an alias for this in bash or a paint.sh

answered Sep 15, 2017 at 10:05

Alexx Roche

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