Create a git patch from the uncommitted changes in the current working directory

Question

Say I have uncommitted changes in my working directory. How can I make a patch from those without having to create a commit?

Answer 1

If you haven't yet commited the changes, then:

git diff > mypatch.patch

But sometimes it happens that part of the stuff you're doing are new files that are untracked and won't be in your git diff output. So, one way to do a patch is to stage everything for a new commit (git add each file, or just git add .) but don't do the commit, and then:

git diff --cached > mypatch.patch

Add the 'binary' option if you want to add binary files to the patch (e.g. mp3 files):

git diff --cached --binary > mypatch.patch

You can later apply the patch:

git apply mypatch.patch