How to preview a file before committing?

 

Step 1: Open your terminal and navigate to your local repository

 

• Launch your preferred terminal application (Bash, PowerShell, Terminal.app, etc.).
• Change into the directory where your GitHub project is stored.

cd /path/to/your/local/repo

 

Step 2: Check the status of your working directory

 

• See which files have been modified or are new and unstaged.
• This helps you know exactly which files you might want to preview before committing.

git status

 

Step 3: Preview all unstaged changes using git diff

 

• Run the following command to view line-by-line differences for every modified file.
• This shows changes that are not yet staged for commit.

git diff

 

Step 4: Preview changes in a specific file

 

• To focus on one file, pass its relative path to git diff.
• Only the differences in that file will be displayed.

git diff path/to/your/file.ext

 

Step 5: Stage changes and preview staged (to-be-committed) diffs

 

• First, stage either all changes or specific files:

# Stage a single file
git add path/to/your/file.ext

# Or stage all changes
git add .

• Then preview exactly what will go into your next commit:

git diff --staged

 

Step 6: Use an external diff tool (optional)

 

• If you prefer a graphical diff, configure and launch git difftool:

# Launch your configured external diff tool
git difftool

# Or view only staged changes
git difftool --staged

• Ensure you have set diff.tool in your ~/.gitconfig.

 

Step 7: Commit once you’re satisfied with the preview

 

• After reviewing unstaged and staged diffs, create a descriptive commit:

git commit -m "Describe your changes clearly"

• Push to GitHub when ready:

git push origin main

 

Now you’ve safely previewed your file changes before committing and pushed them up to GitHub!