delta

name	delta
description	Delta integration for viewing diffs in the terminal. Use when showing file differences to the user with syntax highlighting via delta.

Delta CLI Tools

Tools for viewing diffs with syntax highlighting using delta.

Requirements

delta must be installed and available in PATH (delta --version to verify).

Comparing Two Files

delta <file1> <file2>

Git Diffs with Delta

Working tree vs last commit

git diff HEAD -- path/to/file | delta

Staged vs working tree

git diff -- path/to/file | delta

Staged vs HEAD

git diff --cached HEAD -- path/to/file | delta

Two commits

git diff <commit1> <commit2> -- path/to/file | delta

Previous commit vs current

git diff HEAD~1 HEAD -- path/to/file | delta

Specific commit

git show <commit> -- path/to/file | delta

Compare arbitrary versions via temp files

git show HEAD~1:path/to/file > /tmp/old
delta /tmp/old path/to/file

Useful Flags

• --side-by-side — side-by-side view
• --line-numbers — show line numbers
• --diff-highlight — highlight changed words within lines
• --no-gitconfig — ignore local git config (use delta defaults)

Example:

git diff HEAD -- path/to/file | delta --side-by-side --line-numbers

Gotchas

• delta reads from stdin, so always pipe git output to it
• Use git log --oneline -5 -- path/to/file to verify file has history before diffing
• If delta is configured as git's pager (core.pager = delta), plain git diff already uses it

When to Use

• Showing the user what changed in a file with syntax highlighting
• Comparing two versions of code in the terminal
• Reviewing git changes without leaving the terminal