Git : Using Beyond Compare with the Bash shell

This post shows how to set up Git Bash.

There is a diff in Git but it's the Unix style showing one side and then the other in text and it's hard to understand. I like visual indicators in a GUI which is where BC comes in.

So first we need to tell Bash where BC is:

$ PATH=$PATH:/c/'Program Files/Beyond Compare 4'

Test this by typing:

bcompare 

and you should get the BC GUI coming up.

Tell Git to use BC for diff.

$ git config --global diff.tool bc

Now compare a file on two branches.

$ git difftool branch1  branch1 -- somepath/Index.cshtml

Viewing (1/1): 'somepath/Index.cshtml'
Launch 'bc' [Y/n]? y

BC will now launch showing the text wizard differences for Index.cshtml between the two branches.

So much cleaner and more readable.

The Bash prompt will stay open until you close BC.

Enjoy!