Diff

Definition

A side-by-side view of exactly what changed between two versions of a file, with removed lines marked by a minus sign and added lines by a plus sign.

More from Git & Collaboration

• Branch

  A separate line of work inside a repository where you can make changes without affecting the main version until you merge them back.

• Changelog

  A file that lists what changed in each version of a project, in plain words, newest first, so people can see what's new or fixed without reading the code.

• Cherry-pick

  Copying one specific commit from another branch onto yours, without bringing along anything else from that branch.

• Clone vs Fork

  Cloning downloads a copy of a repository to your own computer; forking makes your own copy of someone else's repository on GitHub, which you can change and later offer back to them.

• Commit

  A saved snapshot of a project's files at one moment, with a short note describing what changed.

• Fast-Forward

  A merge where Git simply moves a branch forward to the newer commits because nothing new happened on it in the meantime, so no merge commit is needed.