git diff fatal: ambiguous argument unknown revision or path not in working tree

Question

I am running git fetch origin in my production code and then am trying to a Git diff with my current branch with origin/master. I am facing this error while running the command:

fatal: ambiguous argument unknown revision or path not in working tree

Please find below the command used and the actual error.

Command tried:

git fetch origin
git diff --name only release/test origin/master

Expected output:

git diff should work

Actual output:

[localhost] local: git diff --name-only release/test origin/master |   ambiguous argument 'release/test': unknown revision or path not in the working tree.
Use '--' to separate paths from revisions, like this:
'git <command> [<revision>...] -- [<file>...]'

How can we correct the issue with my Git diff command?

Is `release/test` actually a branch in your repository? What happens if you do `git show release/test`? — Amber, Feb 08 '19 at 04:57
What happens if you add a `--` to the end of your command (`git diff --name-only release/test origin/master --`)? — Amber, Feb 08 '19 at 05:00
It throws fatal: bad revision 'releast/test' while trying git diff --name-only release/test origin/master -- @Amber — Manigandan Thanigai Arasu, Feb 12 '19 at 10:36
Okay, what happens if you do `git fetch release`? If that works, try the `diff` again? — Amber, Feb 13 '19 at 03:30

score 2 · Answer 1 · edited Nov 25 '21 at 14:13

2

You need to make sure you don't have:

Either a path within your Git repository folder which would match the branch name, that is a folder release/test
or, as noted by philant, a branch name matching the path of the file being diffed,
or a tag matching the branch name: git tag -l (Listing release/test)

Adding -- would make sure the two branch names are interpreted as literals, not options. In this case (git diff), as paths, not commits or other git diff options.

git diff --name-only release/test origin/master --

In your case, this should fail unless you actually have paths/folders named release/test and origin/master.

So git diff [<options>] <commit> <commit> remains the correct syntax.
You only need to make sure there is no path or tag already named like one of those two commits.

edited Nov 25 '21 at 14:13

Peter Mortensen

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answered Feb 08 '19 at 05:54

VonC

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For `git diff` double dashes `--` [separate](https://git-scm.com/docs/git-diff#git-diff-emgitdiffemltoptionsgtltcommitgtltcommitgt--ltpathgt82308203) commits from paths, not options from paramaters. – phd Feb 08 '19 at 06:59
@phd Agreed. I have edited the answer accordingly. I remembered https://stackoverflow.com/a/1192194/6309. – VonC Feb 08 '19 at 07:33
I am getting git diff --name-only release/test origin/master -- ->Fatal : bad revision 'release/test' error. – Manigandan Thanigai Arasu Feb 12 '19 at 10:34
@ManigandanThanigaiArasu can you check the output of git `tag -l`? Do you see a `release/test` in there? – VonC Feb 12 '19 at 10:42
Code used : ^local('git tag -l') : am getting Indentation error unexpected Indent – Manigandan Thanigai Arasu Feb 13 '19 at 05:06
Could also be a branch name matching the path of the file being diffed. – philant May 10 '20 at 07:04
@philant Thank you. I have included your comment in the answer for more visibility. – VonC May 10 '20 at 16:49

score 2 · Answer 2 · edited Nov 25 '21 at 14:14

The solution was first to checkout the branch, and then git diff commands would work.

$ git diff --name-only master...release/v1.1

fatal: ambiguous argument 'master...release/v1.1': unknown revision or path not in the working tree.
Use '--' to separate paths from revisions, like this:
'git <command> [<revision>...] -- [<file>...]'


$ git diff --name-only master release/v1.1 --

fatal: bad revision 'release/v1.1'


$ git checkout release/v1.1

Switched to a new branch 'release/v1.1'
Branch 'release/v1.1' set up to track remote branch 'release/v1.1' from 'origin'.


$ git diff --name-only master release/v1.1

foo
bar

It looks like that worked because you didn't have a local copy of release/v1.1. Another option would have been to use "origin/release/v1.1" — Poco, Aug 30 '23 at 17:04

git diff fatal: ambiguous argument unknown revision or path not in working tree

2 Answers2