Try the following command, which I have tested:
$ cp -pv --parents $(git diff --name-only) DESTINATION-DIRECTORY
Top answer 1 of 8
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Try the following command, which I have tested:
$ cp -pv --parents $(git diff --name-only) DESTINATION-DIRECTORY
2 of 8
19
The following should work fine:
git diff -z --name-only commit1 commit2 | xargs -0 -IREPLACE rsync -aR REPLACE /home/changes/protected/
To explain further:
The
-zto withgit diff --name-onlymeans to output the list of files separated with NUL bytes instead of newlines, just in case your filenames have unusual characters in them.The
-0toxargssays to interpret standard input as a NUL-separated list of parameters.The
-IREPLACEis needed since by defaultxargswould append the parameters to the end of thersynccommand. Instead, that says to put them where the laterREPLACEis. (That's a nice tip from this Server Fault answer.)The
-aparameter torsyncmeans to preserve permissions, ownership, etc. if possible. The-Rmeans to use the full relative path when creating the files in the destination.
Update: if you have an old version of xargs, you'll need to use the -i option instead of -I. (The former is deprecated in later versions of findutils.)
Reddit
reddit.com › r/git › name-only diff between branches shows changes, but regular diff for any specific file is empty
r/git on Reddit: name-only diff between branches shows changes, but regular diff for any specific file is empty
August 9, 2024 -
Edit [Solved]: As per u/ppww's comment, I wasn't in the root directory of the repo, so my paths were invalid.
If I do the following command, I get a really long list of changed files. Most of which I expect, but some shouldn't have changed:
git diff --name-only myBranch1 myBranch2
For example, one of the files mentioned in the diff is src/general/Log.php
But if I use the following command to check the difference in that particular file, it just prints an empty line and exits the diff:
git diff myBranch1 myBranch2 -- src/general/Log.php
Trying to diff a directory instead of a file does the same thing.
I did however confirm that if I do a full diff across the two branches (not name-only) it does actually show the differences, but as there is a lot in there, most of which isn't what I'm looking for, it would be really tedious to view the whole diff.
What am I doing wrong?
Top answer 1 of 2
3
Do git diff --raw Does it show different hash or mode?
2 of 2
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Are you running this from a subdirectory of the git repository?git diff defaults to showing paths relative to the root of the repository and ignores paths on the commandline that don't exist. This means that if you were in the subdirectory src/general when git diff --name-only shows src/general/Log.php you would need to run git diff myBranch1 myBranch2 -- Log.php. You can get git diff to show the relative paths by passing --relative but that also prunes the output to only show files below the current directory.
git diff --name-only and spaces
Hi I have a commit that includes several files One of them is a text file that i would like to commit as new instead of the previous one. This file has allot of changes from the previous version - ... More on github.com
1
1
git diff --name-only and spaces
I had to recover the set of files modified during a specific commit as follows: COMMIT=28cd71c36323b8ff4ff01cfabed0a1764d4744c3 git archive -o changed.zip $COMMIT $(git diff --name-only $COMMIT $CO... More on github.com
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November 24, 2018git - Magit diff with --name-only? - Emacs Stack Exchange
I am browsing the differences between two branches of a repository via git diff --name-only branch1 branch2 I also use the --name-status option sometimes, since I may need to see what sort of diff... More on emacs.stackexchange.com
Optimized git diff --name-only - Stack Overflow
I believe the two functions below is the same. But AI keep telling me they are different (that I think AI is wrong). get_changed_files() { local staged_files committed_files staged_files=$(... More on stackoverflow.com
git diff: everything you need to know
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Git Diff Explained: Viewing File Changes for Beginners - YouTube
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Understanding the Git Diff Command - YouTube
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How to Read Git Diff Output - YouTube
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Git Diff 2 Different Commits, Tags or Branches - YouTube
Git Branches and the Diff Command
Moakh
moakh.com › blog › git diff: only show filenames
Git Diff: Only Show Filenames | moakh
April 9, 2023 - Sometimes it’s useful to be able to list only the filenames of changed files when using the git diff command. The way to view just the filenames when using git diff is to add a --name-only flag like this:
Better Stack
betterstack.com › community › questions › list-names-of-changed-files-between-commits
How to List Only the Names of Files That Changed between Two Commits | Better Stack Community
June 24, 2024 - To list only the names of files that changed between two commits in Git, you can use the git diff command with the --name-only option.
Git
git-scm.com › docs › git-diff
Git - git-diff Documentation
Omit diff output for unmerged entries and just show "Unmerged". Can be used only when comparing the working tree with the index. ... The <path> parameters, when given, are used to limit the diff to the named paths (you can give directory names and get diff for all files under them).
GitHub
github.com › orgs › community › discussions › 21723
git diff --name-only and spaces · community · Discussion #21723
As for the rest of the file commited - it will use the diff as it is ... Beta Was this translation helpful? Give feedback. ... Welcome to the Github Community Forum!
Explain Shell
explainshell.com › explain
explainshell.com - git diff --cached --name-only; git diff --name-only
git diff(1) distro · arch latest · ubuntu 26.04 --cached --name-only; git diff(1) distro · arch latest · ubuntu 26.04 --name-only ·
Linux Hint
linuxhint.com › list-only-the-names-files-that-changed-between-two-commits
How to List Only the Names of Files that Changed Between Two Commits – Linux Hint
To list only the names of files that changed between two commits, the “$ git diff --name-only ” command can be utilized.
Quora
quora.com › How-do-you-list-only-the-file-name-changes-between-two-commits-in-git
How to list only the file name changes between two commits in git - Quora
Answer (1 of 8): > How do you list only the file name changes between two commits in git? With git diff, the solution is straightforward: [code]git diff --name-only commitA commitB [/code]If I may read between the lines and guess that you actually want the commit identifiers listed, along with ...
Git Scripts
gitscripts.com › git-diff-name-only
Understanding git diff --name-only for Quick Insights
September 11, 2025 - The `git diff --name-only` command lists only the names of files that have differences between the working directory and the staging area or between two commits, making it a useful tool for quickly identifying changed files.
GeeksforGeeks
geeksforgeeks.org › git › how-to-list-only-the-names-of-files-that-changed-between-two-commits
How To List Only The Names Of Files That Changed Between Two Commits? - GeeksforGeeks
June 18, 2024 - git diff-tree --no-commit-id --name-only -r <commit>
Tsuji
tsuji.tech › home › posts › git
Git Diff with Only File Names | tsuji.tech
November 11, 2024 - Print git diff with only file names. git diff --name-only
DataCamp
datacamp.com › tutorial › git-diff-guide
Git Diff Explained: A Complete Guide with Examples | DataCamp
March 5, 2025 - git diff --name-only - Show only names of changed files
Git Examples
gitexamples.com › examples › d4796b08-6044-43ff-a457-446124b4e252
git diff <commitA> --name-only
Show only the names of files that changed compared to a specific commit. This command is useful when you want a quick overview of which files changed relative to a given point in history, without being distracted by the full line-by-line diffs.
Makandra
makandracards.com › makandra › 15763-git-show-filenames-diff
Git: How to show only filenames for a diff - makandra dev
April 24, 2013 - Need a quick view of changed files without the full patch; `git diff --name-only` lists filenames, while `--stat` and `--numstat` add compact change counts.
Stack Overflow
stackoverflow.com › questions › 79802836 › optimized-git-diff-name-only
Optimized git diff --name-only - Stack Overflow
get_changed_files() { local staged_files committed_files staged_files=$(git diff --cached --name-only) committed_files=$(git diff --name-only "$1"..HEAD) # Combine and deduplicate files printf "%s\n%s\n" "$staged_files" "$committed_files" | sort -u | grep -v '^$' }
GitHub
github.com › src-d › go-git › issues › 1014
Question: diff --name-only command implementation · Issue #1014 · src-d/go-git
November 1, 2018 - Hey-hey, I tried to create following git command with go-git: git diff --name-only --diff-filter=AM HEAD~5 HEAD -- . At some point in my code I have a Patch and iterate over stats: patch, _ := lastCommit.Patch(&firstCommit) for i := 0; i...
Author src-d
Explain Shell
explainshell.com › explain
explainshell.com - git diff --name-only HEAD | grep.1 "\.m" | ...
change the working directory · An absolute or relative pathname of the directory that shall become the new working directory. The interpretation of a relative pathname by cd depends on the -L option and the CDPATH and PWD environment variables. If directory is an empty string, the results ...