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Editorial Team
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Asked: 2026-05-19T17:32:36+00:00

I like the output formatting of git diff . The color and the +

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I like the output formatting of git diff. The color and the +/- representation of changes between lines is easier to read than GNU diff.

I can run git diff using --no-index flag outside of a git repo and it works fine. However, it appears to be missing the --exclude option for excluding files or subdirectories from a recursive diff.

Is there a way to get the best of both worlds? (color options and +/- format of git diff and --exclude option of GNU diff).

I’ve experimented with colordiff, but I still prefer the output format of git diff

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    This will do the +/- rather than < and >.

    diff -u file1 file2

    Since GNU diffutils 3.4 the flag --color has been added. Combining both makes the following:

    diff --color -u file1 file2

    The flag --color also takes an argument, valid options are never, always, or auto. Useful when you want to be more explicit on what needs to be done.

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