A Vim plugin which shows a git diff in the 'gutter' (sign column). It shows which lines have been added, modified, or removed. You can also preview, stage, and undo individual hunks. The plugin also provides a hunk text object.
The signs are always up to date and the plugin never saves your buffer.
Features:
- Shows signs for added, modified, and removed lines.
- Runs the diffs asynchronously where possible.
- Ensures signs are always up to date.
- Never saves the buffer.
- Quick jumping between blocks of changed lines ("hunks").
- Stage/undo/preview individual hunks.
- Stage partial hunks.
- Provides a hunk text object.
- Diffs against index (default) or any commit.
- Allows folding all unchanged text.
- Handles line endings correctly, even with repos that do CRLF conversion.
- Optional line highlighting.
- Optional line number highlighting. (Only available in Neovim 0.3.2 or higher)
- Fully customisable (signs, sign column, line (number) highlights, mappings, extra git-diff arguments, etc).
- Can be toggled on/off, globally or per buffer.
- Preserves signs from other plugins.
- Easy to integrate diff stats into status line; built-in integration with vim-airline.
- Works with fish shell (in addition to the usual shells).
Constraints:
- Supports git only. If you work with other version control systems, I recommend vim-signify.
- Relies on the
FocusGained
event. If your terminal doesn't report focus events, either use something like Terminus or setlet g:gitgutter_terminal_reports_focus=0
. For tmux,set -g focus-events on
in your tmux.conf.
In the screenshot above you can see:
- Line 15 has been modified.
- Lines 21-24 are new.
- A line or lines were removed between lines 25 and 26.
Before installation, please check your Vim supports signs by running :echo has('signs')
. 1
means you're all set; 0
means you need to install a Vim with signs support. If you're compiling Vim yourself you need the 'big' or 'huge' feature set. MacVim supports signs.
You install vim-gitgutter like any other vim plugin.
cd ~/.vim/bundle
git clone git://github.com/airblade/vim-gitgutter.git
Edit your plugin manifest (voom edit
) and add:
airblade/vim-gitgutter
Place this in your .vimrc:
Plug 'airblade/vim-gitgutter'
Then run the following in Vim:
:source %
:PlugInstall
Place this in your .vimrc:
NeoBundle 'airblade/vim-gitgutter'
Then run the following in Vim:
:source %
:NeoBundleInstall
Copy vim-gitgutter's subdirectories into your vim configuration directory:
cd /tmp && git clone git://github.com/airblade/vim-gitgutter.git
cp -r vim-gitgutter/* ~/.vim/
See :help add-global-plugin
.
I recommend configuring vim-gitgutter with the full path to your git executable. For example:
let g:gitgutter_git_executable = 'C:\Program Files\Git\bin\git.exe'
This is to avoid a problem which occurs if you have file named git.*
(i.e. with any extension in PATHEXT
) in your current folder. cmd.exe
prioritises the current folder over folders in PATH
and will try to execute your file instead of the git
binary.
When you make a change to a file tracked by git, the diff markers should appear automatically. The delay is governed by vim's updatetime
option; the default value is 4000
, i.e. 4 seconds, but I suggest reducing it to around 100ms (add set updatetime=100
to your vimrc).
You can jump between hunks with [c
and ]c
. You can preview, stage, and undo hunks with <leader>hp
, <leader>hs
, and <leader>hu
respectively.
You cannot unstage a staged hunk.
You can explicitly turn vim-gitgutter off and on (defaults to on):
- turn off with
:GitGutterDisable
- turn on with
:GitGutterEnable
- toggle with
:GitGutterToggle
.
To toggle vim-gitgutter per buffer:
- turn off with
:GitGutterBufferDisable
- turn on with
:GitGutterBufferEnable
- toggle with
:GitGutterBufferToggle
You can turn the signs on and off (defaults to on):
- turn on with
:GitGutterSignsEnable
- turn off with
:GitGutterSignsDisable
- toggle with
:GitGutterSignsToggle
.
And you can turn line highlighting on and off (defaults to off):
- turn on with
:GitGutterLineHighlightsEnable
- turn off with
:GitGutterLineHighlightsDisable
- toggle with
:GitGutterLineHighlightsToggle
.
With Neovim 0.3.2 or higher, you can turn line number highlighting on and off (defaults to off):
- turn on with
:GitGutterLineNrHighlightsEnable
- turn off with
:GitGutterLineNrHighlightsDisable
- toggle with
:GitGutterLineNrHighlightsToggle
.
Note that if you have line highlighting on and signs off, you will have an empty sign column – more accurately, a sign column with invisible signs. This is because line highlighting requires signs and Vim always shows the sign column even if the signs are invisible.
If you switch off both line highlighting and signs, you won't see the sign column.
To keep your Vim snappy, vim-gitgutter will suppress the signs when a file has more than 500 changes. As soon as the number of changes falls below the limit vim-gitgutter will show the signs again. You can configure the threshold with:
let g:gitgutter_max_signs = 500 " default value
You can jump between hunks:
- jump to next hunk (change):
]c
- jump to previous hunk (change):
[c
.
Both of those take a preceding count.
To set your own mappings for these, for example ]h
and [h
:
nmap ]h <Plug>GitGutterNextHunk
nmap [h <Plug>GitGutterPrevHunk
You can stage or undo an individual hunk when your cursor is in it:
- stage the hunk with
<Leader>hs
or - undo it with
<Leader>hu
.
To stage part of an additions-only hunk by:
- either visually selecting the part you want and staging with your mapping, e.g.
<Leader>hs
; - or using a range with the
GitGutterStageHunk
command, e.g.:42,45GitGutterStageHunk
.
To stage part of any hunk:
- preview the hunk, e.g.
<Leader>hp
; - move to the preview window, e.g.
:wincmd P
; - delete the lines you do not want to stage;
- stage the remaining lines, e.g.
<Leader>hs
or:GitGutterStageHunk
.
See the FAQ if you want to unstage staged changes.
The .
command will work with both these if you install repeat.vim.
To set your own mappings for these, for example if you prefer the mnemonics hunk-add and hunk-revert:
nmap <Leader>ha <Plug>GitGutterStageHunk
nmap <Leader>hr <Plug>GitGutterUndoHunk
And you can preview a hunk's changes with <Leader>hp
. The location of the preview window is configured with g:gitgutter_preview_win_location
(default 'bo'
). You can of course change this mapping, e.g:
nmap <Leader>hv <Plug>GitGutterPreviewHunk
A hunk text object is provided which works in visual and operator-pending modes.
ic
operates on all lines in the current hunk.ac
operates on all lines in the current hunk and any trailing empty lines.
To re-map these, for example to ih
and ah
:
omap ih <Plug>GitGutterTextObjectInnerPending
omap ah <Plug>GitGutterTextObjectOuterPending
xmap ih <Plug>GitGutterTextObjectInnerVisual
xmap ah <Plug>GitGutterTextObjectOuterVisual
If you don't want vim-gitgutter to set up any mappings at all, use this:
let g:gitgutter_map_keys = 0
Finally, you can force vim-gitgutter to update its signs across all visible buffers with :GitGutterAll
.
See the customisation section below for how to change the defaults.
Use the GitGutterFold
command to fold all unchanged lines, leaving just the hunks visible. Use zr
to unfold 3 lines of context above and below a hunk.
Execute GitGutterFold
a second time to restore the previous view.
You can customise:
- The sign column's colours
- Whether or not the sign column is shown when there aren't any signs (defaults to no)
- How to handle non-gitgutter signs
- The signs' colours and symbols
- Line highlights
- The base of the diff
- Extra arguments for
git
when runninggit diff
- Extra arguments for
git diff
- Key mappings
- Whether vim-gitgutter is on initially (defaults to on)
- Whether signs are shown (defaults to yes)
- Whether line highlighting is on initially (defaults to off)
- Whether line number highlighting is on initially (defaults to off)
- Whether vim-gitgutter runs asynchronously (defaults to yes)
- Whether to clobber or preserve non-gitgutter signs
- The priority of gitgutter's signs.
Please note that vim-gitgutter won't override any colours or highlights you've set in your colorscheme.
By default vim-gitgutter will make the sign column look like the line number column.
To customise your sign column's background color, first tell vim-gitgutter to leave it alone:
let g:gitgutter_override_sign_column_highlight = 0
And then either update your colorscheme's SignColumn
highlight group or set it in your vimrc:
highlight SignColumn ctermbg=whatever " terminal Vim
highlight SignColumn guibg=whatever " gVim/MacVim
By default the sign column will appear when there are signs to show and disappear when there aren't. To always have the sign column, add to your vimrc:
" Vim 7.4.2201
set signcolumn=yes
GitGutter can preserve or ignore non-gitgutter signs. For Vim v8.1.0614 and later you can set gitgutter's signs' priorities with g:gitgutter_sign_priority
, so gitgutter defaults to clobbering other signs. For Neovim v0.4.0 and later you can set an expanding sign column so gitgutter again defaults to clobbering other signs. Otherwise, gitgutter defaults to preserving other signs. You can configure this with:
let g:gitgutter_sign_allow_clobber = 1
By default vim-gitgutter uses your colourscheme's Diff*
highlight groups' foreground colours for the signs' foreground colours. For example, your DiffAdd
foreground colour will be used for the +
sign's foreground colour.
The signs' background colours will all be set to the sign column's background colour.
If you don't like the default colours, you can either fix your colourscheme's Diff*
highlights or configure your own GitGutter*
highlight groups. These groups are:
GitGutterAdd " an added line (default: links to DiffAdd)
GitGutterChange " a changed line (default: links to DiffChange)
GitGutterDelete " at least one removed line (default: links to DiffDelete)
GitGutterChangeDelete " a changed line followed by at least one removed line (default: links to GitGutterChange)
You can either set these with highlight GitGutterAdd {key}={arg}...
or link them to existing highlight groups with, say, highlight link GitGutterAdd MyDiffAdd
.
To get vim-gitgutter's original colours (based on git-diff's colours in my terminal):
highlight GitGutterAdd guifg=#009900 guibg=<X> ctermfg=2 ctermbg=<Y>
highlight GitGutterChange guifg=#bbbb00 guibg=<X> ctermfg=3 ctermbg=<Y>
highlight GitGutterDelete guifg=#ff2222 guibg=<X> ctermfg=1 ctermbg=<Y>
– where you would replace <X>
and <Y>
with the background colour of your SignColumn
in the gui and the terminal respectively. For example, with the solarized colorscheme and a dark background, guibg=#073642
and ctermbg=0
.
To customise the symbols, add the following to your ~/.vimrc
:
let g:gitgutter_sign_added = 'xx'
let g:gitgutter_sign_modified = 'yy'
let g:gitgutter_sign_removed = 'zz'
let g:gitgutter_sign_removed_first_line = '^^'
let g:gitgutter_sign_modified_removed = 'ww'
Similarly to the signs' colours, set up the following highlight groups in your colorscheme or ~/.vimrc
:
GitGutterAddLine " default: links to DiffAdd
GitGutterChangeLine " default: links to DiffChange
GitGutterDeleteLine " default: links to DiffDelete
GitGutterChangeDeleteLine " default: links to GitGutterChangeLineDefault, i.e. DiffChange
For example, in some colorschemes the DiffText
highlight group is easier to read than DiffChange
. You could use it like this:
highlight link GitGutterChangeLine DiffText
NOTE: This feature requires Neovim 0.3.2 or higher.
Similarly to the signs' colours, set up the following highlight groups in your colorscheme or ~/.vimrc
:
GitGutterAddLineNr " default: links to CursorLineNr
GitGutterChangeLineNr " default: links to CursorLineNr
GitGutterDeleteLineNr " default: links to CursorLineNr
GitGutterChangeDeleteLineNr " default: links to CursorLineNr
Maybe you think CursorLineNr
is a bit annoying. For example, you could use Underlined
for this:
highlight link GitGutterChangeLineNr Underlined
By default buffers are diffed against the index. However you can diff against any commit by setting:
let g:gitgutter_diff_base = '<commit SHA>'
If you want to pass extra arguments to git
when running git diff
, do so like this:
let g:gitgutter_git_args = '--git-dir-""'
If you want to pass extra arguments to git diff
, for example to ignore whitespace, do so like this:
let g:gitgutter_diff_args = '-w'
To disable all key mappings:
let g:gitgutter_map_keys = 0
See above for configuring maps for hunk-jumping and staging/undoing.
If you use an alternative to grep, you can tell vim-gitgutter to use it here.
" Default:
let g:gitgutter_grep = 'grep'
Add let g:gitgutter_enabled = 0
to your ~/.vimrc
.
Add let g:gitgutter_signs = 0
to your ~/.vimrc
.
Add let g:gitgutter_highlight_lines = 1
to your ~/.vimrc
.
Add let g:gitgutter_highlight_linenrs = 1
to your ~/.vimrc
.
By default diffs are run asynchronously. To run diffs synchronously instead:
let g:gitgutter_async = 0
You can map an operator to do whatever you want to every line in a hunk.
Let's say, for example, you want to remove trailing whitespace.
function! CleanUp(...)
if a:0 " opfunc
let [first, last] = [line("'["), line("']")]
else
let [first, last] = [line("'<"), line("'>")]
endif
for lnum in range(first, last)
let line = getline(lnum)
" clean up the text, e.g.:
let line = substitute(line, '\s\+$', '', '')
call setline(lnum, line)
endfor
endfunction
nmap <silent> <Leader>x :set opfunc=CleanUp<CR>g@
Then place your cursor in a hunk and type \xic
(assuming a leader of \
).
Alternatively you could place your cursor in a hunk, type vic
to select it, then :call CleanUp()
.
You can write a command to do whatever you want to every changed line in a file.
function! GlobalChangedLines(ex_cmd)
for hunk in GitGutterGetHunks()
for lnum in range(hunk[2], hunk[2]+hunk[3]-1)
let cursor = getcurpos()
silent! execute lnum.a:ex_cmd
call setpos('.', cursor)
endfor
endfor
endfunction
command -nargs=1 Glines call GlobalChangedLines(<q-args>)
Let's say, for example, you want to remove trailing whitespace from all changed lines:
:Glines s/\s\+$//
]c
and [c
jump from one hunk to the next in the current buffer. You can use this code to jump to the next hunk no matter which buffer it's in.
function! NextHunkAllBuffers()
let line = line('.')
GitGutterNextHunk
if line('.') != line
return
endif
let bufnr = bufnr('')
while 1
bnext
if bufnr('') == bufnr
return
endif
if !empty(GitGutterGetHunks())
normal! 1G
GitGutterNextHunk
return
endif
endwhile
endfunction
function! PrevHunkAllBuffers()
let line = line('.')
GitGutterPrevHunk
if line('.') != line
return
endif
let bufnr = bufnr('')
while 1
bprevious
if bufnr('') == bufnr
return
endif
if !empty(GitGutterGetHunks())
normal! G
GitGutterPrevHunk
return
endif
endwhile
endfunction
nmap <silent> ]c :call NextHunkAllBuffers()<CR>
nmap <silent> [c :call PrevHunkAllBuffers()<CR>
How can I turn off realtime updates?
Add this to your vim configuration (in an /after/plugin
directory):
" .vim/after/plugin/gitgutter.vim
autocmd! gitgutter CursorHold,CursorHoldI
I turned off realtime updates, how can I have signs updated when I save a file?
If you really want to update the signs when you save a file, add this to your vimrc:
autocmd BufWritePost * GitGutter
Why can't I unstage staged changes?
This plugin is for showing changes between the working tree and the index (and staging/undoing those changes). Unstaging a staged hunk would require showing changes between the index and HEAD, which is out of scope.
Why are the colours in the sign column weird?
Your colorscheme is configuring the SignColumn
highlight group weirdly. Please see the section above on customising the sign column.
What happens if I also use another plugin which uses signs (e.g. Syntastic)?
You can configure whether GitGutter preserves or clobbers other signs using g:gitgutter_sign_allow_clobber
. Set to 1
to clobber other signs (default on Vim >= 8.1.0614 and NeoVim >= 0.4.0) or 0
to preserve them.
Here are some things you can check:
- Try adding
let g:gitgutter_grep=''
to your vimrc. If it works, the problem is grep producing non-plain output; e.g. ANSI escape codes or colours. - Verify
:echo system("git --version")
succeeds. - Verify your git config is compatible with the version of git returned by the command above.
- Verify your Vim supports signs (
:echo has('signs')
should give1
). - Verify your file is being tracked by git and has unstaged changes.
- If you use zsh, and you set
CDPATH
, make sureCDPATH
doesn't include the current directory.
- Try reducing
updatetime
, e.g.set updatetime=100
.
- Your terminal probably isn't reporting focus events. Either try installing Terminus or set
let g:gitgutter_terminal_reports_focus=0
. For tmux, tryset -g focus-events on
in your tmux.conf.
If this plugin has helped you, or you'd like to learn more about Vim, why not check out this screencast I wrote for PeepCode:
This was one of PeepCode's all-time top three bestsellers and is now available at Pluralsight.
You can read reviews on my website.
Copyright Andrew Stewart, AirBlade Software Ltd. Released under the MIT licence.