git-diff-index

Compare tree to working tree or index

TLDR

Compare index to commit

$ git diff-index HEAD

Compare working tree to commit

$ git diff-index [commit]

Check for differences

$ git diff-index --quiet HEAD

Raw output format

$ git diff-index --raw HEAD

SYNOPSIS

git diff-index [options] tree-ish [files...]

git diff-index compares a tree object to the working tree or index, operating as a low-level plumbing command used internally by git diff for commit comparisons. It accepts a tree-ish (commit, branch, tag, or tree object) and compares it against either the index (with --cached) or the working tree.The tool is particularly useful in automation scenarios that need to detect whether files have changed since a specific commit, such as CI/CD pipelines checking for uncommitted modifications or scripts validating clean working directories. Its --quiet flag enables simple boolean checks for changes without processing full diff output.

PARAMETERS

--cached

Compare tree to index only, instead of the working tree.

-m

Treat files not checked out (present in the index but missing from the working tree) as modified rather than deleted.

--merge-base

Use the merge base of tree-ish and HEAD as the starting point for comparison.

--raw

Raw diff output (this is the default for this command).

--quiet

Exit with 1 if differences.

--name-only

Show file names only.

--name-status

Show file names and status.

INSTALL

sudo apt install git

sudo dnf install git

sudo pacman -S git

sudo apk add git

sudo zypper install git

brew install git

nix profile install nixpkgs#git