What is the reason for the /a /b prefixes of git diff

Question

I\'ve been using git for some years now and always wondered why git diff prefixes the names of modified files with a/ and b/. I expected to eventually stumble upon a use-cas

Answer 1

As mentioned in the diff man page, a/ et b/ represent the prefix to differentiate source and destination.

Actually, you have the options:

--no-prefix

Do not show any source or destination prefix.

--src-prefix=

Show the given source prefix instead of "a/".

--dst-prefix=

Show the given destination prefix instead of "b/"