Delta

delta #

delta

Get Started #

Install it (the package is called “git-delta” in most package managers, but the executable is just delta) and add this to your ~/.gitconfig:

[core]
    pager = delta

[interactive]
    diffFilter = delta --color-only

[delta]
    navigate = true    # use n and N to move between diff sections
    light = false      # set to true if you're in a terminal w/ a light background color (e.g. the default macOS terminal)

[merge]
    conflictstyle = diff3

[diff]
    colorMoved = default

Delta has many features and is very customizable; please see the user manual.

Features #

  • Language syntax highlighting with the same syntax-highlighting themes as bat
  • Word-level diff highlighting using a Levenshtein edit inference algorithm
  • Side-by-side view with line-wrapping
  • Line numbering
  • n and N keybindings to move between files in large diffs, and between diffs in log -p views (--navigate)
  • Improved merge conflict display
  • Improved git blame display (syntax highlighting; --hyperlinks formats commits as links to hosting provider etc. Supported hosting providers are: GitHub, GitLab, SourceHut, Codeberg)
  • Syntax-highlights grep output from rg, git grep, grep, etc
  • Support for Git’s --color-moved feature.
  • Code can be copied directly from the diff (-/+ markers are removed by default).
  • diff-highlight and diff-so-fancy emulation modes
  • Commit hashes can be formatted as terminal hyperlinks to the hosting provider page (--hyperlinks). File paths can also be formatted as hyperlinks for opening in your OS.
  • Stylable box/line decorations to draw attention to commit, file and hunk header sections.
  • Style strings (foreground color, background color, font attributes) are supported for >20 stylable elements, using the same color/style language as git
  • Handles traditional unified diff output in addition to git output

A syntax-highlighting pager for git, diff, and grep output #

Code evolves, and we all spend time studying diffs. Delta aims to make this both efficient and enjoyable: it allows you to make extensive changes to the layout and styling of diffs, as well as allowing you to stay arbitrarily close to the default git/diff output.

image
delta with line-numbers activated
image
delta with side-by-side and line-numbers activated

Here’s what git show can look like with git configured to use delta:


image image
"Dracula" theme "GitHub" theme


Syntax-highlighting themes #

All the syntax-highlighting color themes that are available with bat are available with delta:


image image
delta --show-syntax-themes --dark delta --show-syntax-themes --light

Side-by-side view #

[ User manual]

[delta]
    side-by-side = true

By default, side-by-side view has line-numbers activated, and has syntax highlighting in both the left and right panels: [ config]

image

Side-by-side view wraps long lines automatically:

image

Line numbers #

[ User manual]

[delta]
    line-numbers = true
image

Merge conflicts #

[ User manual]

image

Git blame #

[ User manual]

image

Ripgrep, git grep #

[ User manual]

image

Installation and usage #

Please see the user manual and delta --help.

logo