[SOLVED] Configuring a diff-tool for Git on Windows

Configuring a diff-tool for Git on Windows

Since git diff in powershell mostly results in a unreadable amount of whitespace or strange characters, I installed Perforce P4Merge, to handle merging and diff.

However, I can't make git diff open the p4merge application to view the diff in. So far my .gitconfig looks like this:

[diff]
    tool = p4diff

[difftool "p4diff"]
    external = 'C:/PROGRA~1/Perforce/p4merge.exe "$LOCAL" "$REMOTE"'
    prompt = false

[merge]
    keepBackup = false
    tool = p4merge

[mergetool "p4merge"]
    cmd = "$BASE" "$LOCAL" "$REMOTE" "$MERGED"
    path = 'C:/PROGRA~1/Perforce/p4merge.exe'
    prompt = false
    keepBackup = false
    keepTemporaries = false
    trustExitCode = false

The paths are correct. But alas, git still attempts to present the diff in Powershell, when using git diff.

So what's the trick to make this work?

Solution

In your command prompt, try: git config --global diff.tool p4diff

That worked for me, using a config file set up as you had described:

[diff]  
    tool = p4merge  
[difftool "p4diff"]  
    external = '"C:/Program Files/Perforce/p4merge.exe" "$LOCAL" "$REMOTE"'

Running git difftool opened p4merge as expected.

Ref: How do I view 'git diff' output with a visual diff program?