Delta: A syntax-highlighting pager for Git, diff, grep, and blame output

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

# delta detects terminal colors automatically; set one of these to disable auto-detection
# dark = true
# light = true

[merge]
conflictstyle = zdiff3
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
Automatic detection of light/dark terminal background

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.

delta with line-numbers activated

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

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

Syntax-highlighting themes

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

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]

Side-by-side view wraps long lines automatically:

Line numbers

[User manual]

[delta]
line-numbers = true

Merge conflicts

[User manual]

Git blame

[User manual]

Ripgrep, git grep

[User manual]

Installation and usage

Please see the user manual and delta –help.