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From: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
To: git@vger.kernel.org
Cc: "Philippe Blain" <levraiphilippeblain@gmail.com>,
	"Britton Leo Kerin" <britton.kerin@gmail.com>,
	"Elijah Newren" <newren@gmail.com>,
	"Rubén Justo" <rjusto@gmail.com>,
	"Patrick Steinhardt" <ps@pks.im>,
	"SZEDER Gábor" <szeder.dev@gmail.com>
Subject: [PATCH v3 2/3] completion: complete tracked paths for 'git diff'
Date: Wed,  5 Aug 2026 12:42:49 -0700	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <20260805194250.3316220-3-gitster@pobox.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <20260805194250.3316220-1-gitster@pobox.com>

When completing arguments for 'git diff', _git_diff() delegates to
__git_complete_revlist_file(), which only completes revision
references.  This is good [*], as mixing both revisions and paths in a
single list for the user to pick from is simply too confusing.

If no reference matches, or if '--' is given, however, _git_diff()
leaves COMPREPLY empty.  Bash then falls back to default filename
completion in $PWD.  This fails when 'git -C <path>' is used because
$PWD is not the target repository.

Update _git_diff() to use __git_complete_index_file() when '--' is
present, or when revision reference completion yields no matching
candidates, so that tracked paths are offered as candidates.

This changes behavior even in the case where '-C <there>' is not
used.  The new behavior omits untracked paths from suggestions when
no revs match the prefix but matching tracked paths exist, which is
more useful in the context of 'git diff'.

When run outside the working tree of a repository, or when nothing
matches from revisions or tracked paths, Bash still falls back to
default filename completion in $PWD, so such a use case would be
just like completing paths for any 'diff' command, rather than for
'git diff'.

[Footnote]
 * In https://lore.kernel.org/git/al%2Fw2qgBfhe9qMg6@szeder.dev/
   SZEDER made the same argument for "git send-email 0<TAB>".

Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
---
 contrib/completion/git-completion.bash |  4 +++
 t/t9902-completion.sh                  | 39 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 43 insertions(+)

diff --git a/contrib/completion/git-completion.bash b/contrib/completion/git-completion.bash
index ccd3b2a372..845fd19f70 100644
--- a/contrib/completion/git-completion.bash
+++ b/contrib/completion/git-completion.bash
@@ -1981,6 +1981,10 @@ _git_diff ()
 		esac
 		__git_complete_revlist_file
 	fi
+
+	if [ ${#COMPREPLY[@]} -eq 0 ]; then
+		__git_complete_index_file
+	fi
 }
 
 __git_mergetools_common="diffuse diffmerge ecmerge emerge kdiff3 meld opendiff
diff --git a/t/t9902-completion.sh b/t/t9902-completion.sh
index 55dc9eabfc..10ac690e21 100755
--- a/t/t9902-completion.sh
+++ b/t/t9902-completion.sh
@@ -2712,6 +2712,45 @@ test_expect_success 'git -C <path> checkout uses the right repo' '
 	EOF
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'git diff completes tracked paths when no refs match' '
+	# file1 and file2 are tracked but file3 is not
+	test_completion "git diff f" <<-\EOF
+	file1
+	file2
+	EOF
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'git diff -- completes tracked paths' '
+	# file1 and file2 are tracked but file3 is not
+	test_completion "git diff -- f" <<-\EOF
+	file1
+	file2
+	EOF
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'git -C <path> diff completes tracked paths in specified repo' '
+	test_when_finished "rm -rf repo-for-diff" &&
+	git init repo-for-diff &&
+	echo content >repo-for-diff/otherfile &&
+	git -C repo-for-diff add otherfile &&
+	echo untracked >repo-for-diff/oops &&
+	git -C repo-for-diff commit -m otherfile &&
+	test_completion "git -C repo-for-diff diff o" <<-\EOF
+	otherfile
+	EOF
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'git -C <path> diff -- completes pathspecs in specified repo' '
+	test_when_finished "rm -rf repo-for-diff" &&
+	git init repo-for-diff &&
+	echo content >repo-for-diff/otherfile &&
+	git -C repo-for-diff add otherfile &&
+	git -C repo-for-diff commit -m otherfile &&
+	test_completion "git -C repo-for-diff diff -- o" <<-\EOF
+	otherfile
+	EOF
+'
+
 test_expect_success 'show completes all refs' '
 	test_completion "git show m" <<-\EOF
 	main Z
-- 
2.55.0-653-g9745b9777e


  parent reply	other threads:[~2026-08-05 19:42 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 30+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2026-08-03  0:58 [PATCH] completion: complete tracked paths for 'git diff' Junio C Hamano
2026-08-03  1:07 ` Junio C Hamano
2026-08-03  5:44 ` SZEDER Gábor
2026-08-03 13:41   ` Junio C Hamano
2026-08-03 15:45     ` Junio C Hamano
2026-08-04 16:22 ` [PATCH v2] " Junio C Hamano
2026-08-05 19:42 ` [PATCH v3 0/3] completion of 'git [-C <dir>] diff' Junio C Hamano
2026-08-05 19:42   ` [PATCH v3 1/3] completion: no-op refactoring of diff completion Junio C Hamano
2026-08-05 19:42   ` Junio C Hamano [this message]
2026-08-05 19:42   ` [PATCH v3 3/3] completion: 'git diff' completes untracked paths as a last resort Junio C Hamano
2026-08-06 11:30     ` D. Ben Knoble
2026-08-06 15:06       ` Junio C Hamano
2026-08-06 11:30   ` [PATCH v3 0/3] completion of 'git [-C <dir>] diff' D. Ben Knoble
2026-08-07  1:38 ` [PATCH v4 " Junio C Hamano
2026-08-07  1:38   ` [PATCH v4 1/3] completion: no-op refactoring of diff completion Junio C Hamano
2026-08-07  6:15     ` Elijah Newren
2026-08-07 15:09       ` Junio C Hamano
2026-08-07  1:38   ` [PATCH v4 2/3] completion: complete tracked paths for 'git diff' Junio C Hamano
2026-08-07  6:18     ` Elijah Newren
2026-08-07 11:02       ` D. Ben Knoble
2026-08-07 15:13       ` Junio C Hamano
2026-08-07 15:22         ` Elijah Newren
2026-08-07  1:38   ` [PATCH v4 3/3] completion: 'git diff' completes untracked paths as a last resort Junio C Hamano
2026-08-07  6:31   ` [PATCH v4 0/3] completion of 'git [-C <dir>] diff' Elijah Newren
2026-08-07 11:05     ` D. Ben Knoble
2026-08-07 16:19 ` [PATCH v5 " Junio C Hamano
2026-08-07 16:19   ` [PATCH v5 1/3] completion: no-op refactoring of diff completion Junio C Hamano
2026-08-07 16:19   ` [PATCH v5 2/3] completion: complete tracked paths for 'git diff' Junio C Hamano
2026-08-07 16:19   ` [PATCH v5 3/3] completion: 'git diff' completes untracked paths as a last resort Junio C Hamano
2026-08-07 16:53   ` [PATCH v5 0/3] completion of 'git [-C <dir>] diff' Elijah Newren

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