NAME

       datalad diff - report differences between two states of a dataset (hierarchy)

SYNOPSIS

       datalad  diff  [-h]  [-f  REVISION]  [-t  REVISION] [-d DATASET] [--annex [MODE]] [--untracked MODE] [-r]
              [-R LEVELS] [PATH [PATH ...]]

DESCRIPTION

       The two to-be-compared states are given via to --from and --to  options.   These  state  identifiers  are
       evaluated  in  the  context  of  the  (specified or detected) dataset. In case of a recursive report on a
       dataset hierarchy corresponding state pairs for any subdataset are determined from the subdataset  record
       in  the  respective  superdataset.  Only  changes  recorded  in a subdataset between these two states are
       reported, and so on.

       Any paths given as additional arguments will be used to constrain the difference report.  As  with  Git's
       diff, it will not result in an error when a path is specified that does not exist on the filesystem.

       Reports  are very similar to those of the STATUS command, with the distinguished content types and states
       being identical.

OPTIONS

       PATH   path to contrain the report to. Constraints: value must be a string

       -h, -\-help, -\-help-np
              show this help message. --help-np forcefully disables the use of a pager for displaying  the  help
              message

       -f REVISION, -\-from REVISION
              original  state to compare to, as given by any identifier that Git understands. Constraints: value
              must be a string [Default: 'HEAD']

       -t REVISION, -\-to REVISION
              state to compare against the original state, as given by any identifier that Git  understands.  If
              none  is  specified, the state of the worktree will be used compared. Constraints: value must be a
              string

       -d DATASET, -\-dataset DATASET
              specify the dataset to query. If no dataset is given, an attempt is made to identify  the  dataset
              based on the current working directory. Constraints: Value must be a Dataset or a valid identifier
              of a Dataset (e.g. a path)

       -\-annex [MODE]
              Switch whether to include information on the annex content  of  individual  files  in  the  status
              report,  such  as  recorded file size. By default no annex information is reported (faster). Three
              report modes are available: basic information like file size and key name ('basic');  additionally
              test  whether  file  content  is  present  in the local annex ('availability'; requires one or two
              additional file system stat calls, but  does  not  call  git-annex),  this  will  add  the  result
              properties  'has_content'  (boolean  flag) and 'objloc' (absolute path to an existing annex object
              file);  or  'all'  which  will  report  all  available   information   (presently   identical   to
              'availability').  The  'basic'  mode  will  be  assumed  when this option is given, but no mode is
              specified. Constraints: value must be one of (None, 'basic', 'availability', 'all')

       -\-untracked MODE
              If and how untracked content is reported when comparing a revision to the state of the work  tree.
              'no': no untracked content is reported; 'normal': untracked files and entire untracked directories
              are reported as such;  'all':  report  individual  files  even  in  fully  untracked  directories.
              Constraints: value must be one of ('no', 'normal', 'all') [Default: 'normal']

       -r, -\-recursive
              if set, recurse into potential subdataset.

       -R LEVELS, -\-recursion-limit LEVELS
              limit  recursion  into  subdataset  to  the  given  number  of  levels. Constraints: value must be
              convertible to type 'int'

AUTHORS

        datalad is developed by The DataLad Team and Contributors <team@datalad.org>.