How can I view the output of `git show` in a diff viewer like meld, kdiff3, etc

Question

There are many SO questions that show how to view the output of a git diff command in a diff viewer like meld using git difftool or otherwise. I am not asking about git diff though.

I want to see the output of git show <previous commit sha1> in a diff viewer like meld. How can I do this?

`gitk`, `gitg`, and others come to mind... – twalberg Jul 09 '13 at 21:40 — twalberg, Jul 09 '13 at 21:40

score 70 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 09 '13 at 21:37

70

You can use git difftool to show a single commit.

Say you want to see the commit with the sha1 abc123:

git difftool abc123~1 abc123

(~1 tells git to move to the previous commit, so abc123~1 is the commit before abc123)

If you use this regularly, you could make a custom git command to make it easier:

Create a file called git-showtool somewhere on your $PATH with the following contents:
```
git difftool $1~1 $1
```
Give that file execute permissions:
```
chmod +x ~/path/to/git-showtool
```
Use the command git showtool <sha1 or tag or ...>
Profit.

answered Jul 09 '13 at 21:37

georgebrock

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also, you should cross-check what commit you are going to view and whether it contains many changed files. because meld is going to open one after the other consecutively – user2291758 May 19 '15 at 14:16
Unfortunately I get the following error. Launch 'p4mergetool' [Y/n]? Y /mingw64/libexec/git-core/git-mergetool--lib: eval: line 124: unexpected EOF while looking for matching `"' /mingw64/libexec/git-core/git-mergetool--lib: eval: line 125: syntax error: unexpected end of file – jpierson Mar 06 '17 at 16:19
2

`git show $commit` is not equivalent to `git difftool $commit~1 $commit` if we are reviewing a merge commit. git show presents the merge commit in a special format as produced by `git diff-tree --cc $commit`. See https://git-scm.com/docs/git-show – Abdul Rauf Jul 18 '18 at 05:52
1

You can use the `^` to do parent commits also like `git difftool abc123^ abc123`. Apply multiple times to go up the tree higher like `abc123^^^` – jocull Aug 03 '18 at 14:57
Somebody should merge this nice and simple tool to mainline git – ericcurtin Oct 22 '20 at 12:50

score 30 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 15 '15 at 12:05

30

Building on georgebrock's response, you can create an alias in .gitconfig, something like this:

showtool = "!showci () { rev=${1:-HEAD}; git difftool $rev~1 $rev; }; showci $1"

Then you can run it with git showtool abc123 (without needing to create a separate shell script for this). If you leave out the revision it will default to HEAD.

answered Jan 15 '15 at 12:05

sagittarian

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1

I agree a git alias would probably be better. Thanks for the suggestion. – Buttons840 Jan 15 '15 at 19:31
I strongly prefer this solution :) And I passed --dir-diff to the difftool command to be even more convenient for me. – StormRider Aug 02 '17 at 07:58

score 14 · Answer 3 · answered Nov 28 '15 at 19:31

Translating sagittarian's suggestion for the less git savvy, add this to your global .gitconfig file which resides in C:\Users[user name] if you are a windows user:

[alias]
    showtool = "!showci () { rev=${1:-HEAD}; git difftool $rev~1 $rev; }; showci $1"

or you can execute the following command in the get bash shell:

git config --global alias.showtool '!showci () { rev=${1:-HEAD}; git difftool $rev~1 $rev; }; showci $1'

which will make the change to the .gitconfig file for you.

score 5 · Answer 4 · answered Mar 22 '17 at 15:48

5

Building on sagitarrian's answer, here's a small change for more generic rev syntax:

showtool = "!showci () { rev=$(git rev-parse \"${*:-HEAD}\"); git difftool $rev~1 $rev; }; showci"

I use rev-parse to transparently allow complex rev expressions.

I removed the $1 at the end, since the alias is called followed by the arguments; it passes unnoticed when using only $1 but breaks $* behaviour.

This allows doing nice things like:

git showtool :/some nasty bug

answered Mar 22 '17 at 15:48

John Gliksberg

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Equivalent shell command: `git config --global alias.showtool '!showci () { rev=$(git rev-parse "${*:-HEAD}"); git difftool $rev~1 $rev; }; showci'` (I wasn't able to suggest the edit) – David Cook Mar 03 '21 at 01:06

score 2 · Answer 5 · answered May 08 '17 at 08:21

Geogrebrock answer is fine, but can be improved thus:

commit=$1
shift
git difftool $commit~1 $commit $@

Put it in executable (chmod +x) file somewhere in $PATH.

Now you can pass additional arguments, for example specify what files you want to see (and ignore others):

$ git showtool 6a40ec6ffb9338b0548aefab92fded1bffb1648a -- src-cmn/

score 1 · Answer 6 · answered May 09 '19 at 08:46

1

The git-showcommit file (executable) in the PATH should be as follow:

#!/bin/bash

git difftool --dir-diff $1^..$1

then you can simply call the new tool by git showcommit HEAD or git showcommit a5b26d5

answered May 09 '19 at 08:46

fiorentinoing

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How can I view the output of `git show` in a diff viewer like meld, kdiff3, etc

6 Answers6