@matheusbsbs / matheus-bagliano / commits / 8983cb342d

completion: complete tracked paths for git diff

When completing arguments for 'git diff', _git_diff() delegates to __git_complete_revlist_file(), which only completes revision references. This is good [*], as mixing both revisions and paths in a single list for the user to pick from is simply too confusing. If no reference matches, or if '--' is given, however, _git_diff() leaves COMPREPLY empty. Bash then falls back to default filename completion in $PWD. This fails when 'git -C <path>' is used because $PWD is not the target repository. Update _git_diff() to use __git_complete_index_file() when '--' is present, or when revision reference completion yields no matching candidates, so that tracked paths are offered as candidates. This changes behavior even in the case where '-C <there>' is not used. The new behavior omits untracked paths from suggestions, which is clearly better behavior. When run outside the working tree of a repository, or when nothing matches from revisions or tracked paths, Bash still falls back to default filename completion in $PWD, so such a use case would be just like completing paths for any "diff" command, rather than for 'git diff'. [Footnote] * In https://lore.kernel.org/git/al%2Fw2qgBfhe9qMg6@szeder.dev/ SZEDER made the same argument for "git send-email 0<TAB>". Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>

Junio C Hamano committed Aug 2, 2026 at 17:58 UTC 8983cb342d038c081a081147faee8bda3b1b9b97

2 files changed +47 -1

contrib/completion/git-completion.bash

+7 -1

@@ -1947,7 +1947,10 @@ __git_diff_difftool_options="--cached --staged

1947

1948 _git_diff ()

1949 {

1950 - __git_has_doubledash && return

1950 + if __git_has_doubledash; then

1951 + __git_complete_index_file

1952 + return

1953 + fi

1954

1955 case "$cur" in

1956 --diff-algorithm=*)

@@ -1976,6 +1979,9 @@ _git_diff ()

1979 ;;

1980 esac

1981 __git_complete_revlist_file

1982 + if [ ${#COMPREPLY[@]} -eq 0 ]; then

1983 + __git_complete_index_file

1984 + fi

1985 }

1986

1987 __git_mergetools_common="diffuse diffmerge ecmerge emerge kdiff3 meld opendiff

t/t9902-completion.sh

+40

@@ -2663,6 +2663,7 @@ test_expect_success 'setup for integration tests' '

2663 echo content >file1 &&

2664 echo more >file2 &&

2665 git add file1 file2 &&

2666 + echo untracked >file3 &&

2667 git commit -m one &&

2668 git branch mybranch &&

2669 git tag mytag

@@ -2712,6 +2713,45 @@ test_expect_success 'git -C <path> checkout uses the right repo' '

2713 EOF

2714 '

2715

2716 +test_expect_success 'git diff completes tracked paths when no refs match' '

2717 + # file1 and file2 are tracked but file3 is not

2718 + test_completion "git diff f" <<-\EOF

2719 + file1

2720 + file2

2721 + EOF

2722 +'

2723 +

2724 +test_expect_success 'git diff -- completes tracked paths' '

2725 + # file1 and file2 are tracked but file3 is not

2726 + test_completion "git diff -- f" <<-\EOF

2727 + file1

2728 + file2

2729 + EOF

2730 +'

2731 +

2732 +test_expect_success 'git -C <path> diff completes tracked paths in specified repo' '

2733 + test_when_finished "rm -rf repo-for-diff" &&

2734 + git init repo-for-diff &&

2735 + echo content >repo-for-diff/otherfile &&

2736 + git -C repo-for-diff add otherfile &&

2737 + echo untracked >repo-for-diff/oops &&

2738 + git -C repo-for-diff commit -m otherfile &&

2739 + test_completion "git -C repo-for-diff diff o" <<-\EOF

2740 + otherfile

2741 + EOF

2742 +'

2743 +

2744 +test_expect_success 'git -C <path> diff -- completes pathspecs in specified repo' '

2745 + test_when_finished "rm -rf repo-for-diff" &&

2746 + git init repo-for-diff &&

2747 + echo content >repo-for-diff/otherfile &&

2748 + git -C repo-for-diff add otherfile &&

2749 + git -C repo-for-diff commit -m otherfile &&

2750 + test_completion "git -C repo-for-diff diff -- o" <<-\EOF

2751 + otherfile

2752 + EOF

2753 +'

2754 +

2755 test_expect_success 'show completes all refs' '

2756 test_completion "git show m" <<-\EOF

2757 main Z