How to list only file names that have changed between two branches

Question

I have two branches in my repository which I want to diff for some files.

I want to list only newly added migrations between those two branches.

Something like:

git diff branch1 branch2 | grep /db/migrate

How can I do it?

Possible duplicate of [Showing which files have changed between two revisions](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/822811/showing-which-files-have-changed-between-two-revisions) — Tim Biegeleisen, Oct 21 '16 at 09:11
newly added migrations between two branches one old and one new — Deepak Mahakale, Oct 21 '16 at 09:13

score 54 · Accepted Answer · edited Aug 05 '19 at 21:05

54

This command will diff their whole history:

git diff branch1..branch2 --name-only

If you want to compare from their last common ancestor, then:

git diff branch1...branch2 --name-only

And now you can grep files that you want. From there it's easy to write a little shell script that diffs two branches, file by file.

 filenames=$(git diff branch1...branch2 --name-only | grep /db/migratons)
 IFS=' '
 read -r -a filearr <<< "$filenames"
 for filename in "${filearr[@]}"
 do
      echo $(git diff branch1...branch2 -- "$filename")
 done

Create the git-command-name file and put it into the user/bin folder (you should parametrize input - branches as variables).

Git will recognise it as a command that you can call with:

git command-name branch1 branch2

edited Aug 05 '19 at 21:05

Peter Mortensen

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answered Oct 21 '16 at 09:25

Zildyan

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Nice! I was looking for the `--name-only` option. – dotnetCarpenter Dec 16 '21 at 20:10
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ditto on `--name-only` – bitcruncher Jul 27 '22 at 18:04
I would change ", then:" to ", then (notice the extra period between the branch names) : " – Julien Lamarche Sep 07 '22 at 19:14
1

`--name-status` also shows whether files are modified, added, deleted, renamed, etc. – Frank Kusters Nov 25 '22 at 13:38

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 12 '22 at 21:13

3

It's even easier if you want to compare the current branch to another. While those familiar with git will think this obvious, I'm including this for people that are starting out with git.

git diff other_branch_name --name-only

answered Dec 12 '22 at 21:13

SMBiggs

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The "obvious" part is that in git commands: if only 1 parameter is supplied, the current branch is assumed as the source (1st param), and the specified branch is the destination (2nd). – SMBiggs Dec 14 '22 at 15:58

How to list only file names that have changed between two branches

2 Answers2