Can I scroll to new lines using mouse wheel inside git diff?

Question

I'm using Ubuntu 16.04 default terminal (it's GNOME I believe?)

The problem I'm facing is that when I use git diff command to inspect my local changes I can scroll up/down using the mouse wheel, but no new lines are showing up when I get to the bottom (so I can see only one page of changes). In order to go to the next lines I can use space or up/down arrows of the keyboard, but can I somehow make this with the mouse wheel?

BTW If I use the less command it works as expected -> scrolling down goes to new lines.

Todor · Accepted Answer · 2018-09-17T09:12:28.980

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Thanks to @edwinksl's answer I managed to find a solution to the problem.

So by default git uses LESS as a pager and I believe the default arguments are FRSX.

On git 1.8+ you can remove options with less -+<option>, in my case I need to remove the X option so:

git config --global --replace-all core.pager 'less -+X'

but as @pcworld mention this can cause problems with diffs that fit on a single page, thus:

git config --global --replace-all core.pager 'less -+FX'

fixed the scrolling issue for me.

edited Sep 17 '18 at 09:12

answered Jul 28 '16 at 12:02

Todor

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I needed to add `-+F` to the options of `less` or else output that fits on one screen is empty. Note that both options combined will pipe any output of git through a pager, even if it would fit on one screen. However there is a [wrapper script for less that calls less only if output exceeds screen size](https://unix.stackexchange.com/a/329811/43920). See [comments #10 and #11 on this Debian bug](https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=565699#10) and [this question on less](https://superuser.com/a/972232/199854) for more technical details. – pcworld Dec 08 '17 at 15:49

score 5 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 25 '20 at 08:34

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On Windows Terminal the answer didn't help me. Instead, I had to do the following:

git config --global --replace-all core.pager 'less --mouse'

answered Aug 25 '20 at 08:34

Deividas

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@FelixDombek it worked for me on WSL ‍♂️ – Deividas Oct 02 '20 at 11:21
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Works on Linux too. The minimum version to support `--mouse` is [549](http://www.greenwoodsoftware.com/less/news.549.html) – Felix Dombek Oct 02 '20 at 12:16
If anyone is here using https://github.com/so-fancy/diff-so-fancy, then include `--mouse` after the `less --tabs=4 -RFX`. Given in readme file. – ssi-anik Feb 25 '21 at 15:20

score 5 · Answer 3 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:39

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From https://stackoverflow.com/a/2183920/486919, one way to do this and preserve the diff highlighting is to use git diff without a pager:

git --no-pager diff

edited May 23 '17 at 12:39

Community

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answered Jul 28 '16 at 11:23

edwinksl

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Thank you for this answer, this help me find the exact solution I was looking for -> enabling the mouse wheel scrolling. While removing the pager is a good work-around I prefer to start reading diffs from the beginning. – Todor Jul 28 '16 at 12:04
@Todor That is fair; I agree `--no-pager` is best for short diffs but not for long ones. – edwinksl Jul 28 '16 at 12:05

Can I scroll to new lines using mouse wheel inside git diff?

3 Answers3