path: root/manual/src/full---help-output.md

# Full --help output

```txt
A viewer for git and diff output

Usage: delta [OPTIONS] [MINUS_FILE] [PLUS_FILE]

Arguments:
  [MINUS_FILE]
          First file to be compared when delta is being used in diff mode

          `delta file_1 file_2` is equivalent to `diff -u file_1 file_2 | delta`.

  [PLUS_FILE]
          Second file to be compared when delta is being used in diff mode

Options:
      --blame-code-style <STYLE>
          Style string for the code section of a git blame line.

          By default the code will be syntax-highlighted with the same background color as the blame format section of the line (the background color is determined by blame-palette). E.g. setting this option to 'syntax' will syntax-highlight the code with no background color.

      --blame-format <FMT>
          Format string for git blame commit metadata.

          Available placeholders are "{timestamp}", "{author}", and "{commit}".

          [default: "{timestamp:<15} {author:<15.14} {commit:<8}"]

      --blame-palette <COLORS>
          Background colors used for git blame lines (space-separated string).

          Lines added by the same commit are painted with the same color; colors are recycled as needed.

      --blame-separator-format <FMT>
          Separator between the blame format and the code section of a git blame line.

          Contains the line number by default. Possible values are "none" to disable line numbers or a format string. This may contain one "{n:}" placeholder and will display the line number on every line. A type may be added after all other format specifiers and can be separated by '_': If type is set to 'block' (e.g. "{n:^4_block}") the line number will only be shown when a new blame block starts; or if it is set to 'every-N' the line will be show with every block and every N-th (modulo) line.

          [default: │{n:^4}│]

      --blame-separator-style <STYLE>
          Style string for the blame-separator-format

      --blame-timestamp-format <FMT>
          Format of `git blame` timestamp in raw git output received by delta

          [default: "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S %z"]

      --blame-timestamp-output-format <FMT>
          Format string for git blame timestamp output.

          This string is used for formatting the timestamps in git blame output. It must follow the `strftime` format syntax specification. If it is not present, the timestamps will be formatted in a human-friendly but possibly less accurate form.

          See: (https://docs.rs/chrono/latest/chrono/format/strftime/index.html)

      --color-only
          Do not alter the input structurally in any way.

          But color and highlight hunk lines according to your delta configuration. This is mainly intended for other tools that use delta.

      --config <PATH>
          Load the config file at PATH instead of ~/.gitconfig

          [default: ]

      --commit-decoration-style <STYLE>
          Style string for the commit hash decoration.

          See STYLES section. The style string should contain one of the special attributes 'box', 'ul' (underline), 'ol' (overline), or the combination 'ul ol'.

          [default: ]

      --commit-regex <REGEX>
          Regular expression used to identify the commit line when parsing git output

          [default: "^commit "]

      --commit-style <STYLE>
          Style string for the commit hash line.

          See STYLES section. The style 'omit' can be used to remove the commit hash line from the output.

          [default: raw]

      --dark
          Use default colors appropriate for a dark terminal background.

          For more control, see the style options and --syntax-theme.

      --default-language <LANG>
          Default language used for syntax highlighting.

          Used when the language cannot be inferred from a filename. It will typically make sense to set this in per-repository git config (.git/config)

      --diff-highlight
          Emulate diff-highlight.

          (https://github.com/git/git/tree/master/contrib/diff-highlight)

      --diff-so-fancy
          Emulate diff-so-fancy.

          (https://github.com/so-fancy/diff-so-fancy)

      --diff-stat-align-width <N>
          Width allocated for file paths in a diff stat section.

          If a relativized file path exceeds this width then the diff stat will be misaligned.

          [default: 48]

      --features <FEATURES>
          Names of delta features to activate (space-separated).

          A feature is a named collection of delta options in ~/.gitconfig. See FEATURES section. The environment variable DELTA_FEATURES can be set to a space-separated list of feature names. If this is preceded with a + character, the features from the environment variable will be added to those specified in git config. E.g. DELTA_FEATURES=+side-by-side can be used to activate side-by-side temporarily (use DELTA_FEATURES=+ to go back to just the features from git config).

      --file-added-label <STRING>
          Text to display before an added file path.

          Used in the default value of navigate-regex.

          [default: added:]

      --file-copied-label <STRING>
          Text to display before a copied file path

          [default: copied:]

      --file-decoration-style <STYLE>
          Style string for the file decoration.

          See STYLES section. The style string should contain one of the special attributes 'box', 'ul' (underline), 'ol' (overline), or the combination 'ul ol'.

          [default: "blue ul"]

      --file-modified-label <STRING>
          Text to display before a modified file path.

          Used in the default value of navigate-regex.

          [default: ]

      --file-removed-label <STRING>
          Text to display before a removed file path.

          Used in the default value of navigate-regex.

          [default: removed:]

      --file-renamed-label <STRING>
          Text to display before a renamed file path.

          Used in the default value of navigate-regex.

          [default: renamed:]

      --file-style <STYLE>
          Style string for the file section.

          See STYLES section. The style 'omit' can be used to remove the file section from the output.

          [default: blue]

      --file-transformation <SED_CMD>
          Sed-style command transforming file paths for display

      --grep-context-line-style <STYLE>
          Style string for non-matching lines of grep output.

          See STYLES section. Defaults to zero-style.

      --grep-file-style <STYLE>
          Style string for file paths in grep output.

          See STYLES section.

          [default: magenta]

      --grep-header-decoration-style <STYLE>
          Style string for the header decoration in grep output.

          Default is "none" when grep-ouput-type-is "ripgrep", otherwise defaults to value of header-decoration-style. See hunk-header-decoration-style.

      --grep-header-file-style <STYLE>
          Style string for the file path part of the header in grep output.

          See hunk_header_file_style.

      --grep-line-number-style <STYLE>
          Style string for line numbers in grep output.

          See STYLES section.

          [default: green]

      --grep-output-type <OUTPUT_TYPE>
          Grep output format. Possible values: "ripgrep" - file name printed once, followed by matching lines within that file, each preceded by a line number. "classic" - file name:line number, followed by matching line. Default is "ripgrep" if `rg --json` format is detected, otherwise "classic"

      --grep-match-line-style <STYLE>
          Style string for matching lines of grep output.

          See STYLES section. Defaults to plus-style.

      --grep-match-word-style <STYLE>
          Style string for the matching substrings within a matching line of grep output.

          See STYLES section. Defaults to plus-style.

      --grep-separator-symbol <STRING>
          Separator symbol printed after the file path and line number in grep output.

          Defaults to ":" for both match and context lines, since many terminal emulators recognize constructs like "/path/to/file:7:". However, standard grep output uses "-" for context lines: set this option to "keep" to keep the original separator symbols.

          [default: :]

      --hunk-header-decoration-style <STYLE>
          Style string for the hunk-header decoration.

          See STYLES section. The style string should contain one of the special attributes 'box', 'ul' (underline), 'ol' (overline), or the combination 'ul ol'.

          [default: "blue box"]

      --hunk-header-file-style <STYLE>
          Style string for the file path part of the hunk-header.

          See STYLES section. The file path will only be displayed if hunk-header-style contains the 'file' special attribute.

          [default: blue]

      --hunk-header-line-number-style <STYLE>
          Style string for the line number part of the hunk-header.

          See STYLES section. The line number will only be displayed if hunk-header-style contains the 'line-number' special attribute.

          [default: blue]

      --hunk-header-style <STYLE>
          Style string for the hunk-header.

          See STYLES section. Special attributes 'file' and 'line-number' can be used to include the file path, and number of first hunk line, in the hunk header. The style 'omit' can be used to remove the hunk header section from the output.

          [default: "line-number syntax"]

      --hunk-label <STRING>
          Text to display before a hunk header.

          Used in the default value of navigate-regex.

          [default: ]

      --hyperlinks
          Render commit hashes, file names, and line numbers as hyperlinks.

          Following the hyperlink spec for terminal emulators: https://gist.github.com/egmontkob/eb114294efbcd5adb1944c9f3cb5feda. By default, file names and line numbers link to the local file using a file URL, whereas commit hashes link to the commit in GitHub, if the remote repository is hosted by GitHub. See --hyperlinks-file-link-format for full control over the file URLs emitted. Hyperlinks are supported by several common terminal emulators. To make them work, you must use less version >= 581 with the -R flag (or use -r with older less versions, but this will break e.g. --navigate). If you use tmux, then you will also need a patched fork of tmux (see https://github.com/dandavison/tmux).

      --hyperlinks-commit-link-format <FMT>
          Format string for commit hyperlinks (requires --hyperlinks).

          The placeholder "{commit}" will be replaced by the commit hash. For example: --hyperlinks-commit-link-format='https://mygitrepo/{commit}/'

      --hyperlinks-file-link-format <FMT>
          Format string for file hyperlinks (requires --hyperlinks).

          The placeholders "{path}" and "{line}" will be replaced by the absolute file path and the line number, respectively. The default value of this option creates hyperlinks using standard file URLs; your operating system should open these in the application registered for that file type. However, these do not make use of the line number. In order for the link to open the file at the correct line number, you could use a custom URL format such as "file-line://{path}:{line}" and register an application to handle the custom "file-line" URL scheme by opening the file in your editor/IDE at the indicated line number. See https://github.com/dandavison/open-in-editor for an example.

          [default: file://{path}]

      --inline-hint-style <STYLE>
          Style string for short inline hint text.

          This styles certain content added by delta to the original diff such as special characters to highlight tabs, and the symbols used to indicate wrapped lines. See STYLES section.

          [default: blue]

      --inspect-raw-lines <true|false>
          Kill-switch for --color-moved support.

          Whether to examine ANSI color escape sequences in raw lines received from Git and handle lines colored in certain ways specially. This is on by default: it is how Delta supports Git's --color-moved feature. Set this to "false" to disable this behavior.

          [default: true]

      --keep-plus-minus-markers
          Prefix added/removed lines with a +/- character, as git does.

          By default, delta does not emit any prefix, so code can be copied directly from delta's output.

      --light
          Use default colors appropriate for a light terminal background.

          For more control, see the style options and --syntax-theme.

      --line-buffer-size <N>
          Size of internal line buffer.

          Delta compares the added and removed versions of nearby lines in order to detect and highlight changes at the level of individual words/tokens. Therefore, nearby lines must be buffered internally before they are painted and emitted. Increasing this value might improve highlighting of some large diff hunks. However, setting this to a high value will adversely affect delta's performance when entire files are added/removed.

          [default: 32]

      --line-fill-method <STRING>
          Line-fill method in side-by-side mode.

          How to extend the background color to the end of the line in side-by-side mode. Can be ansi (default) or spaces (default if output is not to a terminal). Has no effect if --width=variable is given.

  -n, --line-numbers
          Display line numbers next to the diff.

          See LINE NUMBERS section.

      --line-numbers-left-format <FMT>
          Format string for the left column of line numbers.

          A typical value would be "{nm:^4}⋮" which means to display the line numbers of the minus file (old version), center-aligned, padded to a width of 4 characters, followed by a dividing character. See the LINE NUMBERS section.

          [default: {nm:^4}⋮]

      --line-numbers-left-style <STYLE>
          Style string for the left column of line numbers.

          See STYLES and LINE NUMBERS sections.

          [default: auto]

      --line-numbers-minus-style <STYLE>
          Style string for line numbers in the old (minus) version of the file.

          See STYLES and LINE NUMBERS sections.

          [default: auto]

      --line-numbers-plus-style <STYLE>
          Style string for line numbers in the new (plus) version of the file.

          See STYLES and LINE NUMBERS sections.

          [default: auto]

      --line-numbers-right-format <FMT>
          Format string for the right column of line numbers.

          A typical value would be "{np:^4}│ " which means to display the line numbers of the plus file (new version), center-aligned, padded to a width of 4 characters, followed by a dividing character, and a space. See the LINE NUMBERS section.

          [default: {np:^4}│]

      --line-numbers-right-style <STYLE>
          Style string for the right column of line numbers.

          See STYLES and LINE NUMBERS sections.

          [default: auto]

      --line-numbers-zero-style <STYLE>
          Style string for line numbers in unchanged (zero) lines.

          See STYLES and LINE NUMBERS sections.

          [default: auto]

      --list-languages
          List supported languages and associated file extensions

      --list-syntax-themes
          List available syntax-highlighting color themes

      --map-styles <STYLES_MAP>
          Map styles encountered in raw input to desired output styles.

          An example is --map-styles='bold purple => red "#eeeeee", bold cyan => syntax "#eeeeee"'

      --max-line-distance <DIST>
          Maximum line pair distance parameter in within-line diff algorithm.

          This parameter is the maximum distance (0.0 - 1.0) between two lines for them to be inferred to be homologous. Homologous line pairs are highlighted according to the deletion and insertion operations transforming one into the other.

          [default: 0.6]

      --max-line-length <N>
          Truncate lines longer than this.

          To prevent any truncation, set to zero. Note that delta will be slow on very long lines (e.g. minified .js) if truncation is disabled. When wrapping lines it is automatically set to fit at least all visible characters.

          [default: 512]

      --merge-conflict-begin-symbol <STRING>
          String marking the beginning of a merge conflict region.

          The string will be repeated until it reaches th