How to view commit differences (diff) in GitHub?

 

Step 1: Navigate to Your GitHub Repository

 

• Open your web browser and go to github.com.
• Log in with your GitHub credentials if you haven’t already.
• Click on your profile icon in the top-right corner and select Your repositories from the dropdown.
• Select the repository you wish to explore by clicking its name.

 

Step 2: Go to the Commits Tab

 

• Within your repository page, click on the “Code” tab if you’re not already there.
• Locate and click on the Commits link or button. It’s usually above the file list or next to the branch selector.

 

Step 3: Select a Specific Commit

 

• You will see a chronological list of commits, each showing a commit message, author, date, and a short SHA identifier.
• Click on the commit message or SHA hash of the commit you want to inspect.

 

Step 4: View the Diff for That Commit

 

• After clicking, the commit details page will load, showing changed files and the diff for each.
• In the diff view:
  • Lines removed are highlighted in red with a “–” prefix.
  • Lines added are highlighted in green with a “+” prefix.
• Scroll through the files to review all changes made in that commit.

 

Step 5: Filter and Search Within the Diff

 

• Above the list of changed files, use the Filter files box to type a filename or path to narrow down displayed diffs.
• Within an open diff, press Ctrl + F (or Cmd + F on macOS) to search for specific code snippets or keywords.

 

Step 6: Compare Two Branches, Tags, or Commits

 

• To compare branches or tags, click on the Compare button (often labeled “Compare & pull request”) near the branch selector.
• Select the base branch/tag and the compare branch/tag from the dropdowns.
• GitHub will display a combined diff between the two points.

 

Step 7: Compare Specific Commits Using a Direct URL

 

• You can construct a URL like this to compare two commit SHAs directly:

https://github.com/OWNER/REPO/compare/COMMIT_SHA1...COMMIT_SHA2

• Replace OWNER, REPO, and the SHA placeholders with your actual values.

 

Step 8: View Diffs Locally with Git (Optional)

 

• If you have the repository cloned locally, you can view diffs between commits using the command line:

git diff COMMIT_SHA1 COMMIT_SHA2

• This shows the same red/green diff output in your terminal.