Using Git diff to detect code movement + How to use diff options

Question

Consider that a file (1.c) contains three functions and changes made by authors M and J. If someone runs git blame 1.c, he will get the following output:

^869c699 (M 2012-09-25 14:05:31 -0600  1) 
de24af82 (J 2012-09-25 14:23:52 -0600  2) 
de24af82 (J 2012-09-25 14:23:52 -0600  3) 
de24af82 (J 2012-09-25 14:23:52 -0600  4) public int add(int x, int y)  {
de24af82 (J 2012-09-25 14:23:52 -0600  5)    int z = x+y;
de24af82 (J 2012-09-25 14:23:52 -0600  6)    return z;
de24af82 (J 2012-09-25 14:23:52 -0600  7) }  
de24af82 (J 2012-09-25 14:23:52 -0600  8) 
^869c699 (M 2012-09-25 14:05:31 -0600  9) public int multiplication(int y, int z){
^869c699 (M 2012-09-25 14:05:31 -0600 10)    int result = y*z;
^869c699 (M 2012-09-25 14:05:31 -0600 11)    return temp;
^869c699 (M 2012-09-25 14:05:31 -0600 12) }
^869c699 (M 2012-09-25 14:05:31 -0600 13) 
^869c699 (M 2012-09-25 14:05:31 -0600 14) public void main(){
de24af82 (J 2012-09-25 14:23:52 -0600 15)    //this is a comment
de24af82 (J 2012-09-25 14:23:52 -0600 16) }

Now, if author A changes the position of the multiplication() and add() functions and commits the changes, git blame can detect the code movement. See following output:

$ git blame  -C -M e4672cf82 1.c
^869c699 (M 2012-09-25 14:05:31 -0600  1) 
de24af82 (J 2012-09-25 14:23:52 -0600  2) 
de24af82 (J 2012-09-25 14:23:52 -0600  3) 
e4672cf8 (M 2012-09-25 14:26:39 -0600  4) 
de24af82 (J 2012-09-25 14:23:52 -0600  5) 
^869c699 (M 2012-09-25 14:05:31 -0600  6) public int multiplication(int y, int z){
^869c699 (M 2012-09-25 14:05:31 -0600  7)    int result = y*z;
^869c699 (M 2012-09-25 14:05:31 -0600  8)    return temp;
^869c699 (M 2012-09-25 14:05:31 -0600  9) }
^869c699 (M 2012-09-25 14:05:31 -0600 10) 
^869c699 (M 2012-09-25 14:05:31 -0600 11) public void main(){
de24af82 (J 2012-09-25 14:23:52 -0600 12)    //this is a comment
e4672cf8 (M 2012-09-25 14:26:39 -0600 13) }
de24af82 (J 2012-09-25 14:23:52 -0600 14) public int add(int x, int y){
de24af82 (J 2012-09-25 14:23:52 -0600 15)    int z = x+y;
de24af82 (J 2012-09-25 14:23:52 -0600 16)    return z;
e4672cf8 (M 2012-09-25 14:26:39 -0600 17) }

However, if I try to run git diff between these two revisions, it cannot detect that functions change their location and gives the following output:

$ git diff -C -M de24af8..e4672cf82 1.c

diff --git a/1.c b/1.c
index 5b1fcba..56b4430 100644
--- a/1.c
+++ b/1.c
@@ -1,10 +1,7 @@



-public int add(int x, int y){
-       int z = x+y;
-       return z;
-}      
+

public int multiplication(int y, int z){
    int result = y*z;
@@ -13,4 +10,8 @@ public int multiplication(int y, int z){

 public void main(){
    //this is a comment
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}
+public int add(int x, int y){
+       int z = x+y;
+       return z;
+}      
\ No newline at end of file

My questions are:

1. How can I enforce detecting code movement in getting diff output? Is it even possible?

2. Git diff can be applied with several options. For example --minimal, --patience. How can I apply those options here? I tried with one, but get the following error:

   $ git diff --minimal de24af8..e4672cf82 1.c
   usage: git diff <options> <rev>{0,2} -- <path>*
   

Can anyone suggest/give sample example how to add these options correctly?

Answer 1

As of Git 2.15, git diff now supports detection of moved lines with the --color-moved option. It even detects moves between files.

It works, obviously, for colorized terminal output. As far as I can tell, there is no option to indicate moves in plain text patch format, but that makes sense.

For default behavior, try

git diff --color-moved

The command also takes options, which currently are no, default, plain, zebra and dimmed_zebra (Use git help diff to get the latest options and their descriptions). For example:

git diff --color-moved=zebra