[git] How to list only the file names that changed between two commits?

I have a bunch of commits in the repo. I want to see a list of files changed between two commits - from SHA1 to SHA2.

What command should I use?

This question is related to git git-diff git-show

The answer is


As artfulrobot said in his answer:

git diff --name-status [SHA1 [SHA2]]

My example:

git diff --name-status 78a09k12067c24d8f117886c4723ccf111af4997 
4b95d595812211553070046bf2ebd807c0862cca
M       views/layouts/default.ctp
M       webroot/css/theme.css
A       webroot/img/theme/logo.png

It seems that no one has mentioned the switch --stat:

$ git diff --stat HEAD~5 HEAD
 .../java/org/apache/calcite/rex/RexSimplify.java   | 50 +++++++++++++++++-----
 .../apache/calcite/sql/fun/SqlTrimFunction.java    |  2 +-
 .../apache/calcite/sql2rel/SqlToRelConverter.java  | 16 +++++++
 .../org/apache/calcite/util/SaffronProperties.java | 19 ++++----
 .../org/apache/calcite/test/RexProgramTest.java    | 24 +++++++++++
 .../apache/calcite/test/SqlToRelConverterTest.java |  8 ++++
 .../apache/calcite/test/SqlToRelConverterTest.xml  | 15 +++++++
 pom.xml                                            |  2 +-
 .../apache/calcite/adapter/spark/SparkRules.java   |  7 +--
 9 files changed, 117 insertions(+), 26 deletions(-)

There are also --numstat

$ git diff --numstat HEAD~5 HEAD
40      10      core/src/main/java/org/apache/calcite/rex/RexSimplify.java
1       1       core/src/main/java/org/apache/calcite/sql/fun/SqlTrimFunction.java
16      0       core/src/main/java/org/apache/calcite/sql2rel/SqlToRelConverter.java
8       11      core/src/main/java/org/apache/calcite/util/SaffronProperties.java
24      0       core/src/test/java/org/apache/calcite/test/RexProgramTest.java
8       0       core/src/test/java/org/apache/calcite/test/SqlToRelConverterTest.java
15      0       core/src/test/resources/org/apache/calcite/test/SqlToRelConverterTest.xml
1       1       pom.xml
4       3       spark/src/main/java/org/apache/calcite/adapter/spark/SparkRules.java

and --shortstat

$ git diff --shortstat HEAD~5 HEAD
9 files changed, 117 insertions(+), 26 deletions(-)

The following works well for me:

$ git show --name-only --format=tformat: SHA1..SHA2

It can also be used with a single commit:

git show --name-only --format=tformat: SHA1

which is handy for use in Jenkins where you are provided with a List of changeSet SHA's, and want to iterate over them to see which files have been changed.

This is similar to a couple of the answers above, but using tformat: rather than format: removes the separator space between commits.


Use git log --pretty=oneline >C:\filename.log

which will log only a oneline (--pretty=oneline) thats the name of the changed file. Also will log all the details to your output file.


This will show the changes in files:

git diff --word-diff SHA1 SHA2

git diff --name-status [SHA1 [SHA2]]

is like --name-only, except you get a simple prefix telling you what happened to the file (modified, deleted, added...)

git log --name-status --oneline [SHA1..SHA2]

is similar, but commits are listed after the commit message, so you can see when a file was changed.

  • if you're interested in just what happened to certain files/folders you can append -- <filename> [<filename>...] to the git log version.

  • if you want to see what happened for a single commit, call it SHA1, then do
    git log --name-status --oneline [SHA1^..SHA1]

File status flags:
M modified - File has been modified
C copy-edit - File has been copied and modified
R rename-edit - File has been renamed and modified
A added - File has been added
D deleted - File has been deleted
U unmerged - File has conflicts after a merge


Add below alias to your ~/.bash_profile, then run, source ~/.bash_profile; now anytime you need to see the updated files in the last commit, run, showfiles from your git repository.

alias showfiles='git show --pretty="format:" --name-only'

Also note, if you just want to see the changed files between the last commit and the one before it. This works fine: git show --name-only


But for seeing the files changed between your branch and its common ancestor with another branch (say origin/master):

git diff --name-only `git merge-base origin/master HEAD`

Just for someone who needs to focus only on Java files, this is my solution:

 git diff --name-status SHA1 SHA2 | grep '\.java$'

To supplement @artfulrobot's answer, if you want to show changed files between two branches:

git diff --name-status mybranch..myotherbranch

Be careful on precedence. If you place the newer branch first then it would show files as deleted rather than added.

Adding a grep can refine things further:

git diff --name-status mybranch..myotherbranch | grep "A\t"

That will then show only files added in myotherbranch.


Based on git diff --name-status I wrote the git-diffview git extension that renders a hierarchical tree view of what changed between two paths.


In case someone is looking for list of files changed including staged files

git diff HEAD --name-only --relative --diff-filter=AMCR

git diff HEAD --name-only --relative --diff-filter=AMCR sha-1 sha-2

Remove --relative if you want absolute paths.


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