Lesson 9 / 26

diff & log

See exactly what changed, and browse the project's history.

git diff

Shows line-by-line changes not yet staged. Add --staged to see what's already in the staging area.

git diff
git diff --staged

Output:

-const port = 3000;
+const port = 8080;

git log

Browse commit history — author, date, message, and a unique hash for each commit.

git log --oneline -5

Output:

a1b2c3d Add landing page markup
9f8e7d6 Initial commit

Quick check: Which command shows staged changes not yet committed?

  • git diff
  • git diff --staged
  • git log
Answer

git diff --staged — Plain `git diff` compares working directory to the staging area; `--staged` compares staging area to the last commit.