git-diff

Show changes between the working tree and the index or a tree, changes between the index and a tree, changes between two trees, changes resulting from a merge, changes between two blob objects, or changes between two files on disk.

git diff --stat
app/a.txt    | 2 +-
app/b.txt    | 8 ++----
2 files changed, 10 insertions(+), 84 deletions(-)

git diff --name-status
M src/app.py
A src/new_file.py
D docs/old.md

Where:

• A = Added
• M = Modified
• D = Deleted
• R = Renamed

For staged changes:

git diff --cached --name-status

Then compare your branch with the remote:

git diff --name-status origin/main..HEAD

Exit with a status (useful for scripts)

If you just want to know whether anything has changed in specific directories:

git diff --quiet -- src/ docs/

Then check the exit code:

• 0 → no changes
• 1 → changes exist

For staged changes:

git diff --cached --quiet -- src/ docs/