How to make git diff write to stdout?

Question

By default git diff prints all +- lines to the stdout however I have a (devian) machine (which I connect through ssh) where git diff leads me to an editor (which I don't know which is) and I need to press q to continue.

I've checker git config and it looks like :

$ git config --list
user.name=XXX
user.email=XXX@XXX
color.ui=false
difftool.prompt=false
mergetool.prompt=false
core.repositoryformatversion=0
core.filemode=true
core.bare=false
core.logallrefupdates=true
remote.origin.fetch=+refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/origin/*
remote.origin.url=XXX
branch.master.remote=origin
branch.master.merge=refs/heads/master
$ git config --global --list
user.name=XXX
user.email=XXX@XXX
color.ui=false
difftool.prompt=false
mergetool.prompt=false
$ git config --system --list
'/etc/gitconfig': No such file or directory

Is there a place I am missing? Maybe the unknown tool is a fallback or something because I my machine is missing something? Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

possible duplicate of [How do I prevent git diff from using a pager?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2183900/how-do-i-prevent-git-diff-from-using-a-pager) — Ciro Santilli OurBigBook.com, Dec 30 '14 at 19:36

score 241 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 13 '13 at 01:49

241

By default, Git sends its diff output (and generally any output that may be more than a screenful) to the system's pager, which is a utility that prints only one screenful of output at a time. If you want to disable the pager when you run a command, pass --no-pager to Git:

$ git --no-pager <subcommand> <options>

This can be run for any Git command.

If you want to disable it by default for diff only, you can set the diff pager to cat by running:

$ git config pager.diff false

If you want to disable it by default for all commands, you can set the Git pager to cat by running:

$ git config --global core.pager cat

answered Jun 13 '13 at 01:49

mipadi

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Didn't know about the pager. `git config --global core.pager cat` did it!. Thank you :) – nacho4d Jun 13 '13 at 02:02
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@aaronbauman: Did you pass it to `git` (_not_ the subcommand)? – mipadi May 01 '15 at 16:58
I see, "git --no-pager diff" is different than "git diff --no-pager". Thank you for the clarification – aaronbauman May 01 '15 at 21:18
1

Same thing works for `git branch`, e.g. `git config pager.branch false` – dinjas Oct 23 '18 at 19:23
OR add an alias in ~/.bashrc `alias git-np='git --no-pager'` – Deepak Mahakale Apr 27 '21 at 17:27

friederbluemle · Answer 2 · 2018-03-14T03:29:53.553

46

The following core.pager value uses less, which prints to stdout, and also has pager functionality (if required), enabling scrolling up and down (unlike cat):

$ git config --global core.pager "less -FRSX"

It immediately quits if the diff fits on the first screen (-F), outputs raw control characters (-R), chops long lines rather than wrapping (-S), and does not use termcap init/deinit strings (-X).

edited Mar 14 '18 at 03:29

answered Jul 14 '15 at 06:50

friederbluemle

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Thank you.. I was looking for this option all over internet :) – obai Nov 27 '18 at 19:03
1

This one is what I want – user3595632 Jul 07 '20 at 22:50

Shasak · Answer 3 · 2018-05-19T11:53:18.460

36

You can also simply use cat for any git command if you don't care about the colors.

So git diff | cat for your case.

Edit: as pointed out in the comments if you do care about the colors use:

git diff --color | cat

edited May 19 '18 at 11:53

answered Jul 08 '16 at 16:04

Shasak

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And if you do care about the colors, do `git diff --color | cat` (: – xjcl May 11 '17 at 10:32

stevec · Answer 4 · 2022-01-20T06:37:26.060

1

As @mipadi points out, It's this simple:

git --no-pager diff

edited Jan 20 '22 at 06:37

answered Jan 19 '22 at 00:17

stevec

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How to make git diff write to stdout?

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