delta

Modern CLI•

•Rust

Syntax-highlighting pager for git diff output.

Official Website

Features

Syntax HighlightingSide-by-Side ViewLine NumbersGit Integration

Replaces

diff

Installation

Homebrew

brew install git-delta

Pacman (Arch)

pacman -S git-delta

Cargo (Rust)

cargo install git-delta

Why Use delta?

delta is a pager that beautifully and readably displays Git diff output. Changes that were hard to see in traditional diff output become instantly clear with syntax highlighting and visual emphasis.

Syntax Highlighting

Auto-detects programming language and displays code colorfully. Changes are intuitive and easy to understand.

Side-by-Side Display

Display before and after side by side. Code reviews become significantly more efficient.

Line Numbers

Display line numbers before and after changes. Easier to write code review comments with specific line references.

Word-Level Diff

Highlight changes at word level, not just line level. No subtle changes are missed.

Basic Usage

Standalone Use

Basic Commands

# Pipe diff output to delta
diff -u file1.txt file2.txt | delta

# Display git diff with delta (before git config)
git diff | delta

# Compare files
delta file1.txt file2.txt

Output Example

───────────────────────────────────────────────────────

modified: src/main.rs

───────────────────────────────────────────────────────

33│fn main() {

4│ println!("Hello");

4│ println!("Hello, World!");

55│}

───────────────────────────────────────────────────────

Line numbers are displayed on left and right, with changes highlighted at word level.

Git Integration Configuration

To maximize delta's potential, configure it as Git's pager. Once set, delta will be used for all Git commands like git diff, git log, and git show.

Basic Configuration

~/.gitconfig

[core]
    pager = delta

[interactive]
    diffFilter = delta --color-only

[delta]
    navigate = true    # Jump between changes with n/N
    light = false      # For dark theme
    side-by-side = false

[merge]
    conflictstyle = diff3

[diff]
    colorMoved = default

Configuration via Command Line

Git Config Commands

# Set delta as pager
git config --global core.pager delta

# Use delta in interactive mode
git config --global interactive.diffFilter "delta --color-only"

# Set merge conflict style
git config --global merge.conflictstyle diff3

Recommended Configuration (Full Features)

~/.gitconfig

[core]
    pager = delta

[interactive]
    diffFilter = delta --color-only

[delta]
    navigate = true
    line-numbers = true
    side-by-side = true
    syntax-theme = Dracula

[merge]
    conflictstyle = diff3

[diff]
    colorMoved = default

Common Options

Option	Description	Example
`-s, --side-by-side`	Side-by-side display	`delta -s`
`-n, --line-numbers`	Display line numbers	`delta -n`
`--navigate`	Jump between changes with n/N keys	`delta --navigate`
`--syntax-theme`	Syntax highlighting theme	`delta --syntax-theme=Dracula`
`--diff-so-fancy`	diff-so-fancy style display	`delta --diff-so-fancy`
`--light`	For light background terminals	`delta --light`
`--word-diff-regex`	Word boundary regex pattern	`delta --word-diff-regex="\\w+"`

Display Styles

Side-by-Side Display

Display before and after changes side by side. Especially useful for code reviews.

Side-by-Side Display

# Enable from command line
git diff --side-by-side

# Or always enable in config file
# ~/.gitconfig
# [delta]
#     side-by-side = true

Before

3 fn main() {

4 println!("Hello");

5 }

After

3 fn main() {

4 println!("Hello, World!");

5 }

Line Number Display

Display line numbers for both before and after.

Line Number Display

# Display line numbers
git diff --line-numbers

# Hide line numbers (if displayed by default)
git diff --no-line-numbers

Practical Usage Examples

Git diff

git diff

# Display changes in working directory
git diff

# Display staged changes
git diff --staged

# Diff for specific file
git diff src/main.rs

# Diff between specific commits
git diff HEAD~3..HEAD

Git log

git log

# Display log with patches
git log -p

# Display last 3 commits with patches
git log -p -3

# Change history for specific file
git log -p -- src/main.rs

# Log with statistics (file change stats)
git log --stat

Git show

git show

# Display latest commit contents
git show

# Display specific commit
git show abc1234

# Show specific file at specific commit
git show HEAD~2:src/main.rs

Git blame

git blame

# Display last editor for each line (highlighted with delta)
git blame src/main.rs

# For specific line range only
git blame -L 10,20 src/main.rs

Configuration and Customization

Check Available Themes

Theme List

# Display theme list
delta --list-syntax-themes

# Preview specific theme
delta --syntax-theme="Nord" < my-diff.patch

# Popular theme examples
# - Dracula
# - Nord
# - Monokai Extended
# - GitHub
# - OneHalfDark
# - gruvbox-dark

Custom Color Configuration

~/.gitconfig

[delta]
    # Background color for added lines
    plus-style = syntax "#1f3d1f"
    plus-emph-style = syntax "#2a5d2a"

    # Background color for deleted lines
    minus-style = syntax "#3d1f1f"
    minus-emph-style = syntax "#5d2a2a"

    # File header style
    file-style = bold yellow ul
    file-decoration-style = yellow box

    # Hunk header style
    hunk-header-style = line-number syntax bold
    hunk-header-decoration-style = blue box

Features (Presets)

delta has built-in features that allow you to apply settings in bundles.

~/.gitconfig

[delta]
    features = decorations

[delta "decorations"]
    commit-decoration-style = bold yellow box ul
    file-style = bold yellow ul
    file-decoration-style = none
    hunk-header-decoration-style = cyan box ul

[delta "line-numbers"]
    line-numbers-left-style = cyan
    line-numbers-right-style = cyan
    line-numbers-minus-style = 124
    line-numbers-plus-style = 28

Integration with bat

delta uses bat's syntax highlighting engine. You can share bat's themes and syntax definitions.

~/.gitconfig

[delta]
    # Use the same theme as bat
    syntax-theme = Dracula

    # To use bat's custom theme
    # Available after running bat cache --build

Comparison with diff

Feature	Standard diff/git diff	delta
Syntax Highlighting	-	200+ languages
Side-by-Side Display	-	Supported
Line Numbers	-	Both before and after
Word-Level Diff	Possible with `--word-diff`	Highlighted by default
Change Navigation	-	Jump with n/N keys
Themes	None	Many themes
Git Integration	Native	Seamlessly integrated

Tips

•Use n key to jump to next change, N key for previous change (when --navigate is enabled)
•If terminal width is narrow, disable --side-by-side for better readability
•For GitHub/GitLab-style display, use --syntax-theme=GitHub
•Customize pager with DELTA_PAGER environment variable (default: less)
•For merge conflicts, set merge.conflictstyle = diff3 to also display base version
•In CI/CD environments, use --no-pager option or disable via environment variable

delta - Git Diff Viewer

Syntax-highlighting pager for git and diff output

tools6 min read

diff Command Guide

Compare files line by line

linux6 min read

git diff Command Guide

Show changes between commits, commit and working tree, etc

git7 min read

Explore More

Browse Modern CLI

See all tools in this category

All CLI Tools

Explore all tool categories

Features

Installation

Why Use delta?

Syntax Highlighting

Side-by-Side Display

Line Numbers

Word-Level Diff

Basic Usage

Standalone Use

Output Example

Git Integration Configuration

Basic Configuration

Configuration via Command Line

Recommended Configuration (Full Features)

Common Options

Display Styles

Side-by-Side Display

Line Number Display

Practical Usage Examples

Git diff

Git log

Git show

Git blame

Configuration and Customization

Check Available Themes

Custom Color Configuration

Features (Presets)

Integration with bat

Comparison with diff

Tips

Related Articles

delta - Git Diff Viewer

diff Command Guide

git diff Command Guide

Explore More