HackerReposA FIELD GUIDE TO OPEN SOURCE
ProSponsor the shelf♧ 0
← Back to top all-time
so-fancy
diff-so-fancy
Perl2016–2026
so-fancy / diff-so-fancy

diff-so-fancy

Make your diffs human readable for improved code quality and faster defect detection. :tada:

Developer ToolsTesting & Quality
Explore on GitHubRead Hacker News discussions
22Distinct people
24Mentions
0Explicit recommenders
18.1KGitHub stars
REPOSITORY AT A GLANCE

What to know before exploring

What it is

Make your diffs human readable for improved code quality and faster defect detection. :tada:

GitHub

Where it is used

No documented product use was verified in the last source check.

What people are saying

No recommendation phrase was found in the indexed comments.

No classified warning is attached to this page. Read the discussions before treating silence as approval.

Also in these discussions

No other repository is repeatedly linked in the same discussions.

This week on Hacker News

Nov 7–Nov 14 UTC · Direct repository links and separately labeled related project stories. Indexed through 11/14/2026, 3:56:07 PM UTC.

No direct repository links were found in the indexed HN discussions over the past seven days. Older discussions are available below.

Mentions over time

HN mentions by year24 dated mentions

Observed mentions: 2016-02-08 10:53:51 UTC to 2026-03-28 15:38:15 UTC.

02462016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 6 mentions; 3 submissions, 3 comments20162017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 2 mentions; 1 submissions, 1 comments2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 2 mentions; 0 submissions, 2 comments2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 5 mentions; 2 submissions, 3 comments2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 1 mentions; 0 submissions, 1 comments20212022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 2 mentions; 0 submissions, 2 comments2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 1 mentions; 0 submissions, 1 comments2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 3 mentions; 0 submissions, 3 comments2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2027-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 2 mentions; 0 submissions, 2 comments. Incomplete calendar period.2026*

* An incomplete calendar period is marked with an outlined bar. Its count is not directly comparable with a full period.

Counts come from the repository’s dated source evidence. Index cutoff: 2026-11-02 08:16:59 UTC.

View mention counts and date ranges
UTC ranges include their start and exclude their end. Select a period to filter the source evidence.
PeriodStart (UTC)End (exclusive, UTC)MentionsSubmissionsComments
20162016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC633
20172017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC211
20182018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC000
20192019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC202
20202020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC523
20212021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC101
20222022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC202
20232023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC000
20242024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC101
20252025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC303
2026 (partial)2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2027-01-01 00:00:00 UTC202

What Hacker News says

24 sources
thamer·Feb 26, 2026
I had tried `delta` a few years ago but eventually went with `diff-so-fancy`[1] The two are kind of similar if I remember correctly, and both offer a lot of config options to change the style and more. I mostly use it for diffs involving long lines since it highlights changes within a line, which makes it easier to spot such edits. I have an alias set in `~/.gitconfig` to pipe the output of `git diff` (with options) to `diff-so-fancy` with `git diffs`: diffs = "!f() { git diff $@ | diff-so-fancy; }; f" [1] https://github.com/so-fancy/diff-so-fancy
In Show HN: Deff – Side-by-side Git diff review in your terminal
silvanocerza·Feb 25, 2025
Happy to notice I already use most of these. The only ones I didn't know are diff.mnemonicPrefix, diff.renames and commit.verbose. My config if you'd like to steal it, also here: https://github.com/silvanocerza/dotfiles/blob/master/git/git... Mind that you need diff-so-fancy for this work correctly. https://github.com/so-fancy/diff-so-fancy [alias] co = checkout ci = commit cl = clone st = status f = fetch br = branch lg = log --graph --abbrev-commit --decorate --date=relative --format=format:'%C(bold blue)%h%C(reset) %C(bold green)(%ar)%C(reset) %C(yellow)- %an%C(reset)%C(auto)%d%C(reset)%n" "%C(white)%s%C(reset)' --all lgg = log --graph --abbrev-commit --decorate --format=format:'%C(bold blue)%h%C(reset) - %C(bold cyan)%aD%C(reset) %C(bold green)(%ar)%C(reset)%C(
Read the rest
auto)%d%C(reset)%n'' %C(white)%s%C(reset) %C(dim white)- %an%C(reset)' type = cat-file -t dump = cat-file -p # Lists all local branches that have been deleted on remote gone = ! "git for-each-ref --format '%(refname:short) %(upstream:track)' | awk '$2 == \"[gone]\" {print $1}' | xargs git branch -D" [color] ui = true [push] default = simple [merge] tool = meld conflictStyle = zdiff3 [diff] algorithm = histogram colorMoved = dimmed-zebra colorMovedWS = no mnemonicPrefix = true renames = true [rerere] enabled = true [pager] branch = false [core] pager = diff-so-fancy | less --tabs=4 -RFX fsmonitor = true untrackedCache = true [color "diff-highlight"] oldNormal = red bold oldHighlight = red bold 52 newNormal = bold newHighlight = green bold 22 [color "diff"] meta = yellow frag = magenta bold commit = yellow bold old = red bold new = green bold whitespace = red reverse [diff-so-fancy] markEmptyLines = false [filter "lfs"] clean = git-lfs clean -- %f smudge = git-lfs smudge -- %f process = git-lfs filter-process required = true [pull] rebase = false [init] defaultBranch = main [column] ui = auto [branch] sort = -committerdate [commit] verbose = true
In How Core Git Developers Configure Git
unholiness·Oct 20, 2020
A much bigger set of improvements to the git diff output is also easy to add: https://github.com/so-fancy/diff-so-fancy This makes your git diff highlight the actual different characters between two lines, makes file names easy to see (and easy to copy, due to no a/ b/), makes renames and blank lines clear and readable. It is so nice to get all this without a separate GUI diff visualiser when doing anything git-related from the command line.
In Better Git diff output for Ruby, Python, Elixir, Go
abluecloud·Jul 8, 2020
I used to think the same, then I learned a bit more about how to use git on the cli. I'm not saying you haven't, I'm just saying for me, I was able to perform tasks quicker with a few tweaks. Things i've done to do this - replace default diff tool (I use https://github.com/so-fancy/diff-so-fancy) - added many alias for commonly used commands and ones I often forget - use `git add -p` (or `g a -p` in my setup) which goes through changes file by file, allowing me to add bits i want (this was the main thing I loved about a GUI based git client)
In Git commit accepts several message flags (-m) to allow multiline commits

Showing the 15 most recent of 24 sources. Enable JavaScript to search and browse every indexed mention.

MAKE YOURSELF AT HOME

A few shortcuts

/
Search the collection
?
Open this guide
Esc
Close dialogs and navigation

Your saved repositories and interests stay in this browser.