Which command shows differences between commits or between the working directory and the index?

Which command shows differences between commits or between the working directory and the index?

• A. git diff
• B. git status
• C. git show
• D. git log

Answer: (A)

The key idea is showing how two states differ. git diff is the command that computes and displays those differences between two trees. You can see changes you’ve made in the working directory compared with what’s in the index, simply by running git diff. If you’ve staged changes and want to compare the index with the last commit, use git diff --cached (or --staged). You can also compare any two commits by providing two references, like git diff commitA commitB, to see exactly which lines changed between them. Other commands don’t show the actual line-by-line changes: git status lists what’s changed and what’s staged, git show displays the changes introduced by a specific commit, and git log shows the history of commits.

The key idea is showing how two states differ. git diff is the command that computes and displays those differences between two trees. You can see changes you’ve made in the working directory compared with what’s in the index, simply by running git diff. If you’ve staged changes and want to compare the index with the last commit, use git diff --cached (or --staged). You can also compare any two commits by providing two references, like git diff commitA commitB, to see exactly which lines changed between them. Other commands don’t show the actual line-by-line changes: git status lists what’s changed and what’s staged, git show displays the changes introduced by a specific commit, and git log shows the history of commits.