delta

Official

github.comDeveloper Tools32.6kdeltaUpdated 3w ago

About delta

Delta adds colored syntax highlighting to Git diff, blame, and grep output. It integrates with Git as a pager and can also compare files directly. The output is more readable, making code review and browsing changes faster.

Key features

01Highlight syntax in diff, blame, and grep output
02Group and fold diff hunks, collapse long files
03Integrate with Git as the default pager

Use cases

01Quickly understand large changes during code review
02Handle complex diff output from version control
03Improve readability of file comparisons in the terminal

Install

Pick your OS or package manager and run the command in a terminal.

brew install git-delta

Once installed, rundelta --versionto confirm it works.

Example commands

Common commands in the order you’d use them.

git -c core.pager=delta diff

delta file-a file-b

Details

From the project README

Get Started

Install it (the package is called "git-delta" in most package managers, but the executable is just delta) and add this to your ~/.gitconfig:

[core]
    pager = delta

[interactive]
    diffFilter = delta --color-only

[delta]
    navigate = true  # use n and N to move between diff sections
    dark = true      # or light = true, or omit for auto-detection

[merge]
    conflictStyle = zdiff3

Or run:

git config --global core.pager delta
git config --global interactive.diffFilter 'delta --color-only'
git config --global delta.navigate true
git config --global delta.dark true  # or `delta.light true`, or omit for auto-detection
git config --global merge.conflictStyle zdiff3

Delta has many features and is very customizable; please see delta -h (short help) or delta --help (full manual), or the online user manual.

Features

Language syntax highlighting with the same syntax-highlighting themes as bat
Word-level diff highlighting using a Levenshtein edit inference algorithm
Side-by-side view with line-wrapping
Line numbering
n and N keybindings to move between files in large diffs, and between diffs in log -p views (--navigate)
Improved merge conflict display
Improved git blame display (syntax highlighting; --hyperlinks formats commits as links to hosting provider etc. Supported hosting providers are: GitHub, GitLab, SourceHut, Codeberg)
Syntax-highlights grep output from rg, git grep, grep, etc
Support for Git's --color-moved feature.
Code can be copied directly from the diff (-/+ markers are removed by default).
diff-highlight and diff-so-fancy emulation modes
Commit hashes can be formatted as terminal hyperlinks to the hosting provider page (--hyperlinks). File paths can also be formatted as hyperlinks for opening in your OS.
Stylable box/line decorations to draw attention to commit, file and hunk header sections.
Style strings (foreground color, background color, font attributes) are supported for >20 stylable elements, using the same color/style language as git
Handles traditional unified diff output in addition to git output
Automatic detection of light/dark terminal background

A syntax-highlighting pager for git, diff, and grep output

Code evolves, and we all spend time studying diffs. Delta aims to make this both efficient and enjoyable: it allows you to make extensive changes to the layout and styling of diffs, as well as allowing you to stay arbitrarily close to the default git/diff output.