Compare branches

Compare branches before merging to understand both the commits and the resulting file changes.

Compare file changes

# Show changes from main to feature.
git diff main..feature

# Show a summary of changed files.
git diff --stat main..feature

# Show only changed paths.
git diff --name-status main..feature

The two-dot form compares the tips of the two branches. Replace main and feature with your actual branch names.

Compare commits

# Commits reachable from feature but not main.
git log --oneline main..feature

# Commits reachable from either branch but not both.
git log --oneline --left-right main...feature

Compare with the common ancestor

To see what a feature branch introduced since it diverged from main:

git diff main...feature

This is often the most useful view before a pull request because it compares the feature with the branch point rather than comparing only the two current tips.