Want to exclude file from “git diff”

Question

I am trying to exclude a file (db/irrelevant.php) from a Git diff. I have tried putting a file in the db subdirectory called .gitattributes

Answer 1

This one-line solution requires no other utils/downloads:

git diff `git status -s |grep -v ^\ D |grep -v file/to/exclude.txt |cut -b4-`

Where file/to/exclude.txt is the name of the file you would like to exclude, of course.

Edit: credit ksenzee for fixing deleted files breaking the diff.

Answer 2

Relative to the git root directory

git diff accepts an optional exclude

git diff -- ":(exclude)thingToExclude"

You might want to add some wild cards

git diff -- ":(exclude)*/thingToExclude/*"

Target specific file types

git diff -- ":(exclude)*/$1/*.png"

Or drop a little script for your dotfiles

Such as .bash_profile or .zshrc

gde() {
    # git diff exclude files or folders 
    # usage: 
    # gde fileOrFolderNameToExclude
    git diff -- ":(exclude)*/$1/*"
}

Answer 3

Building on existing answers, if you want to exclude a file pattern no matter where it is in the directory, use the corresponding git pathspec value of **:

git diff -- ':!**/yarn.lock'

Answer 4

You can also use filterdiff program of the patchutils program collection to exclude some parts of a diff. For example:

git diff | filterdiff -p 1 -x db/irrelevant.php

Answer 5

similar to Ben Roux's solution, but sharing anyway:

git status --porcelain | grep -v $PATTERN_TO_EXCLUDE | awk '{print $2}' | xargs git diff

or, if the changes have already be committed locally:

git diff --name-only origin/master | grep -v $PATTERN_TO_EXCLUDE | xargs git diff origin/master

Examples:

git status --porcelain | grep -v docs | awk '{print $2}' | xargs git diff origin/master

git diff --name-only origin/master | grep -v docs | xargs git diff origin/master

Answer 6

This method is shorter than the accepted answers.

git diff 987200fbfb 878cee40ba --stat -- ':!*.cs'

For more information about the different inclusion/exclusion possibilities read this other post