Short Format

In the short-format, the status of each path is shown as one of these forms

XY PATH
XY ORIG_PATH -> PATH

where ORIG_PATH is where the renamed/copied contents came from. ORIG_PATH is only shown when the entry is renamed or copied. The XY is a two-letter status code.

The fields (including the ->) are separated from each other by a single space. If a filename contains whitespace or other nonprintable characters, that field will be quoted in the manner of a C string literal: surrounded by ASCII double quote (34) characters, and with interior special characters backslash-escaped.

For paths with merge conflicts, X and Y show the modification states of each side of the merge. For paths that do not have merge conflicts, X shows the status of the index, and Y shows the status of the work tree. For untracked paths, XY are ??. Other status codes can be interpreted as follows:

Ignored files are not listed, unless --ignored option is in effect, in which case XY are !!.

X          Y     Meaning
-------------------------------------------------


         [AMD]   not updated
M        [ MD]   updated in index
A        [ MD]   added to index
D                deleted from index
R        [ MD]   renamed in index
C        [ MD]   copied in index
[MARC]           index and work tree matches
[ MARC]     M    work tree changed since index
[ MARC]     D    deleted in work tree
[ D]        R    renamed in work tree
[ D]        C    copied in work tree
-------------------------------------------------
D           D    unmerged, both deleted
A           U    unmerged, added by us
U           D    unmerged, deleted by them
U           A    unmerged, added by them
D           U    unmerged, deleted by us
A           A    unmerged, both added
U           U    unmerged, both modified
-------------------------------------------------
?           ?    untracked
!           !    ignored
-------------------------------------------------

Submodules have more state and instead report M the submodule has a different HEAD than recorded in the index m the submodule has modified content ? the submodule has untracked files since modified content or untracked files in a submodule cannot be added via git add in the superproject to prepare a commit.

m and ? are applied recursively. For example if a nested submodule in a submodule contains an untracked file, this is reported as ? as well.

If -b is used the short-format status is preceded by a line

## branchname tracking info

Porcelain Format Version 1

Version 1 porcelain format is similar to the short format, but is guaranteed not to change in a backwards-incompatible way between Git versions or based on user configuration. This makes it ideal for parsing by scripts. The description of the short format above also describes the porcelain format, with a few exceptions:

There is also an alternate -z format recommended for machine parsing. In that format, the status field is the same, but some other things change. First, the -> is omitted from rename entries and the field order is reversed (e.g from -> to becomes to from). Second, a NUL (ASCII 0) follows each filename, replacing space as a field separator and the terminating newline (but a space still separates the status field from the first filename). Third, filenames containing special characters are not specially formatted; no quoting or backslash-escaping is performed.

Any submodule changes are reported as modified M instead of m or single ?.

Porcelain Format Version 2

Version 2 format adds more detailed information about the state of the worktree and changed items. Version 2 also defines an extensible set of easy to parse optional headers.

Header lines start with "#" and are added in response to specific command line arguments. Parsers should ignore headers they don’t recognize.

# Branch Headers

If --branch is given, a series of header lines are printed with information about the current branch.

Line                                     Notes
------------------------------------------------------------
# branch.oid <commit> | (initial)        Current commit.
# branch.head <branch> | (detached)      Current branch.
# branch.upstream <upstream_branch>      If upstream is set.
# branch.ab +<ahead> -<behind>           If upstream is set and


                                         the commit is present.
------------------------------------------------------------

# Changed Tracked Entries

Following the headers, a series of lines are printed for tracked entries. One of three different line formats may be used to describe an entry depending on the type of change. Tracked entries are printed in an undefined order; parsers should allow for a mixture of the 3 line types in any order.

Ordinary changed entries have the following format:

1 <XY> <sub> <mH> <mI> <mW> <hH> <hI> <path>

Renamed or copied entries have the following format:

2 <XY> <sub> <mH> <mI> <mW> <hH> <hI> <X><score> <path><sep><origPath>

Field       Meaning
--------------------------------------------------------
<XY>        A 2 character field containing the staged and


            unstaged XY values described in the short format,


            with unchanged indicated by a "." rather than


            a space.
<sub>       A 4 character field describing the submodule state.


            "N..." when the entry is not a submodule.


            "S<c><m><u>" when the entry is a submodule.


            <c> is "C" if the commit changed; otherwise ".".


            <m> is "M" if it has tracked changes; otherwise ".".


            <u> is "U" if there are untracked changes; otherwise ".".
<mH>        The octal file mode in HEAD.
<mI>        The octal file mode in the index.
<mW>        The octal file mode in the worktree.
<hH>        The object name in HEAD.
<hI>        The object name in the index.
<X><score>  The rename or copy score (denoting the percentage


            of similarity between the source and target of the


            move or copy). For example "R100" or "C75".
<path>      The pathname.  In a renamed/copied entry, this


            is the target path.
<sep>       When the `-z` option is used, the 2 pathnames are separated


            with a NUL (ASCII 0x00) byte; otherwise, a tab (ASCII 0x09)


            byte separates them.
<origPath>  The pathname in the commit at HEAD or in the index.


            This is only present in a renamed/copied entry, and


            tells where the renamed/copied contents came from.
--------------------------------------------------------

Unmerged entries have the following format; the first character is a "u" to distinguish from ordinary changed entries.

u <xy> <sub> <m1> <m2> <m3> <mW> <h1> <h2> <h3> <path>

Field       Meaning
--------------------------------------------------------
<XY>        A 2 character field describing the conflict type


            as described in the short format.
<sub>       A 4 character field describing the submodule state


            as described above.
<m1>        The octal file mode in stage 1.
<m2>        The octal file mode in stage 2.
<m3>        The octal file mode in stage 3.
<mW>        The octal file mode in the worktree.
<h1>        The object name in stage 1.
<h2>        The object name in stage 2.
<h3>        The object name in stage 3.
<path>      The pathname.
--------------------------------------------------------

# Other Items

Following the tracked entries (and if requested), a series of lines will be printed for untracked and then ignored items found in the worktree.

Untracked items have the following format:

? <path>

Ignored items have the following format:

! <path>

# Pathname Format Notes and -z

When the -z option is given, pathnames are printed as is and without any quoting and lines are terminated with a NUL (ASCII 0x00) byte.

Without the -z option, pathnames with "unusual" characters are quoted as explained for the configuration variable core.quotePath (see git-config(1)).