Diffing in Neovim

Neovim has a builtin diff mode. To start the diff mode, simply open a split view and open one file in each buffer and run the :diffthis command in both buffers.

For example, we can use diff mode to compare the local working version of the file with the version in HEAD like this:

• 1. Open a new scratch buffer :vnew.
• 2. Open the old version of the file :r !git show HEAD:<filename>.
• 3. Execute :diffthis in both buffers.

We can now see the changes highlighted side by side. However, it’s not ideal to manually open a split view and load the file content using a Git command every time. That’s where diffview.nvim comes in.

Diffview.nvim uses Neovim’s built-in diffing capabilities, but what makes it really powerful is how it simplifies working with Git inside Neovim. To archive the same result of what we just did we can simply run :DiffviewOpen

Another really usefull command is :DiffviewFileHistory %. This lets you browse all commits that affected the currently open file and review the changes introduced in each.

Another useful command is :'<,'>DiffviewFileHistory, which shows only the commits that affected the current visual selection.