Question

Because git is designed for source code, its default diff algorithm treats a line as the minimum indivisible unit.

I am trying to edit some markdown files that are word wrapped at column 80. Adding a sentence can cause the rest of the paragraph to be marked as changed.

Is there a way to have Git use a diff algorithm more suited to text? I need one that treats words or sentences as indivisible units rather than lines?

Answer 1

You might try git diff --word-diff instead.

$ git diff --word-diff
diff --git a/test.txt b/test.txt
index 54585bb..a8cd97e 100644
--- a/test.txt
+++ b/test.txt
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
Because git is designed for source code, its diff algorithms {+are bibbity +}
{+bobbity boo+} treat a line as the minimum indivisible unit. I am trying to edit 
some markdown files that are word wrapped at column 80. Adding a sentence can 
cause the rest of the paragraph to be marked as changed.

Is there a way to have Git use a diff algorithm more suited to text? One that 
treats words or sentences as indivisible units rather then lines?
 No newline at end of file