How to compare two different commits on the same branch in github?
GitGithubGit Problem Overview
Comparing histories on the same branch is very confusing for me on GitHub. I struggle with this regularly:
If I use compare/master in the URL after the GitHub repo name, I can compare against other branches in the repo based on the options in the drop-down menus.
https://help.github.com/en/articles/comparing-commits-across-time
However, I usually want to compare several commits on master.
How is this easily done? Could I get a more clear example?
Git Solutions
Solution 1 - Git
You can use the following URL structure to compare commits in the same branch:
github.com/<username>/<repo_name>/compare/<commit1>...<commit2>
Replace values for username, repo_name, commit1(old commit) & commit2(new commit) acc. to your project.
The separator between the two commits is ... i.e. 3 dots.
Solution 2 - Git
TLDR: Just add /compare at the end of the URL.
You can use the Github Compare UI, which will generate the URL for you. Replace ORG and REPO with your values. The UI only lists branches, but you can also type in any valid Tags (e.g. v1.0.0) or Commit IDs (e.g. 1a2b3c).
https://github.com/ORG/REPO/compare/
The URLs that get generated are in this format. You can also manually edit the URL with the REFs.
https://github.com/ORG/REPO/compare/REF1...REF2
You can also use "2 dots" (direct diff) instead of "3 dots" (diff from last common commit). Same as git diff A..B vs git diff A...B.
https://github.com/ORG/REPO/compare/REF1..REF2
If you want to compare across forks, then you need to add ORG2:
https://github.com/ORG/REPO/compare/REF1...ORG2:REF2
There is documentation, but I didn't think it was that clear: https://help.github.com/en/github/committing-changes-to-your-project/comparing-commits-across-time
Solution 3 - Git
The article you linked has instructions for comparing commits.
The GitHub comparison tool will accept any revision. Branches, tags, commit IDs, even dates. If you want to compare between two commits, give it the commit IDs. Here's their example.
Solution 4 - Git
to see the difference between branches or tags
(branches if no pull request has been made)
- https://github.com/PyCQA/mccabe/compare/bug/39...master (diff between two branches
bug/39andmaster) - https://github.com/PyCQA/mccabe/compare/0.6.0...0.6.1 (diff between two tags)
- https://github.com/PyCQA/mccabe/compare/0.6.1...master (diff between tag and master)
Notes:
-
(if a pull request has been made you can see the changes inside the PR, no longer via the compare url)
-
You can use the dropdowns to select different branches or tags:
-
take care of the order, eg. https://github.com/PyCQA/mccabe/compare/master...0.6.1 will give no results
-
you can choose between 2-dot (..) or 3-dot (...) notation
to see the difference between commits:
Solution 5 - Git
Just go to https://github.com/USERNAME/REPOSITORY_NAME/compare to achive the comparing page
Solution 6 - Git
Custom tabs.
Peeps, we can add a compare "custom tab" to the repository, so that we can quickly access this compare tooling.
Here is how.
- Goto your repo landing page. https://github.com/<YOUR_ORG_NAME/<YOUR_REPO_NAME>
- Click the "Settings" tab.
- Click on "Custom tabs".
- Fill in the "New tab" name.
- Fill in the URL for compare. https://github.com/<YOUR_ORG_NAME>/<YOUR_REPO_NAME>/compare
- Click the "Add tab" button
Now go to your repo landing page and you should now see your newly created custom tab along side the other default tabs (Pull requests, Settings and such)
Solution 7 - Git
If you need to compare changes within a branch but on different dates, this is how you can do it:
https://github.com/<ORG_NAME>/<REPO_NAME>/compare/HEAD..HEAD@{4 weeks ago}
https://github.com/<ORG_NAME>/<REPO_NAME>/compare/HEAD@{1 week ago}..HEAD@{2021-06-01}