git diff --raw is a command used in Git, a popular version control system. It provides a way to view changes between commits, commit and working tree, etc., in a ‘raw’ format.
The git diff command is primarily used to show changes between two things. It could be between two commits, between the current working directory and the index, or other combinations.
Adding the --raw option changes the output format to a ‘raw’ style, which is a simple and readable format that git internally uses. This raw format provides information about what happened to the files between two snapshots in a very succinct way.
Each line of the raw output generally looks like this:
:100644 100755 a3d6e8d 0123456 M file.txtThis line can be read as follows:
100644and100755: These are the old and new file modes, respectively, given in octal. The mode of a file refers to the file permissions, such as whether the file is readable, writable, or executable.a3d6e8dand0123456: These are the old and new blob object hashes, respectively. A blob object hash represents a version of the file.M: This is a status letter that tells what happened to the file. The most common status letters are:Afor added files,Mfor modified files,Dfor deleted files.file.txt: The name of the file that was changed.
You might use git diff --raw when you want to see a summary of changes in a compact, machine-friendly format. It’s useful when you’re scripting or automating tasks around git, because it’s easier for a script to parse this raw format.
Keep in mind that the git diff --raw output is designed to be compact and machine-readable. If you’re a human looking to understand changes in detail, you might find other options such as git diff or git diff --color-words more helpful, as they show added and removed lines in a more human-friendly way.
