# git-format-patch(1) - man - phpman

> **TLDR:** Prepare `.patch` files. Useful when emailing commits elsewhere.
>
- Create an auto-named `.patch` file for all the unpushed commits:
  `git format-patch {{origin}}`
- Write a `.patch` file for all the commits between 2 revisions to `stdout`:
  `git format-patch {{revision_1}}..{{revision_2}}`
- Write a `.patch` file for the `n` latest commits:
  `git format-patch -{{n}}`

*Source: tldr-pages*

---

[GIT-FORMAT-PATCH(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/GIT-FORMAT-PATCH/1/markdown)                          Git Manual                          [GIT-FORMAT-PATCH(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/GIT-FORMAT-PATCH/1/markdown)



## NAME
       git-format-patch - Prepare patches for e-mail submission

## SYNOPSIS
       _git_ _format-patch_ [-k] [(-o|--output-directory) <dir> | --stdout]
                          [--no-thread | --thread[=<style>]]
                          [(--attach|--inline)[=<boundary>] | --no-attach]
                          [-s | --signoff]
                          [--signature=<signature> | --no-signature]
                          [--signature-file=<file>]
                          [-n | --numbered | -N | --no-numbered]
                          [--start-number <n>] [--numbered-files]
                          [--in-reply-to=<message id>] [--suffix=.<sfx>]
                          [--ignore-if-in-upstream]
                          [--cover-from-description=<mode>]
                          [--rfc] [--subject-prefix=<subject prefix>]
                          [(--reroll-count|-v) <n>]
                          [--to=<email>] [--cc=<email>]
                          [--[no-]cover-letter] [--quiet]
                          [--[no-]encode-email-headers]
                          [--no-notes | --notes[=<ref>]]
                          [--interdiff=<previous>]
                          [--range-diff=<previous> [--creation-factor=<percent>]]
                          [--filename-max-length=<n>]
                          [--progress]
                          [<common diff options>]
                          [ <since> | <revision range> ]


## DESCRIPTION
       Prepare each non-merge commit with its "patch" in one "message" per commit, formatted to
       resemble a UNIX mailbox. The output of this command is convenient for e-mail submission or
       for use with _git_ _am_.

       A "message" generated by the command consists of three parts:

       •   A brief metadata header that begins with **From** **<commit>** with a fixed **Mon** **Sep** **17** **00:00:00**
           **2001** datestamp to help programs like "[file(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/file/1/markdown)" to recognize that the file is an output
           from this command, fields that record the author identity, the author date, and the title
           of the change (taken from the first paragraph of the commit log message).

       •   The second and subsequent paragraphs of the commit log message.

       •   The "patch", which is the "diff -p --stat" output (see [**git-diff**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/git-diff/1/markdown)) between the commit
           and its parent.

       The log message and the patch is separated by a line with a three-dash line.

       There are two ways to specify which commits to operate on.

        1. A single commit, <since>, specifies that the commits leading to the tip of the current
           branch that are not in the history that leads to the <since> to be output.

        2. Generic <revision range> expression (see "SPECIFYING REVISIONS" section in
           [**gitrevisions**(7)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/gitrevisions/7/markdown)) means the commits in the specified range.

       The first rule takes precedence in the case of a single <commit>. To apply the second rule,
       i.e., format everything since the beginning of history up until <commit>, use the **--root**
       option: **git** **format-patch** **--root** **<commit>**. If you want to format only <commit> itself, you can
       do this with **git** **format-patch** **-1** **<commit>**.

       By default, each output file is numbered sequentially from 1, and uses the first line of the
       commit message (massaged for pathname safety) as the filename. With the **--numbered-files**
       option, the output file names will only be numbers, without the first line of the commit
       appended. The names of the output files are printed to standard output, unless the **--stdout**
       option is specified.

       If **-o** is specified, output files are created in <dir>. Otherwise they are created in the
       current working directory. The default path can be set with the **format.outputDirectory**
       configuration option. The **-o** option takes precedence over **format.outputDirectory**. To store
       patches in the current working directory even when **format.outputDirectory** points elsewhere,
       use **-o** **.**. All directory components will be created.

       By default, the subject of a single patch is "[PATCH] " followed by the concatenation of
       lines from the commit message up to the first blank line (see the DISCUSSION section of **git-**
       [**commit**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/commit/1/markdown)).

       When multiple patches are output, the subject prefix will instead be "[PATCH n/m] ". To force
       1/1 to be added for a single patch, use **-n**. To omit patch numbers from the subject, use **-N**.

       If given **--thread**, **git-format-patch** will generate **In-Reply-To** and **References** headers to make
       the second and subsequent patch mails appear as replies to the first mail; this also
       generates a **Message-Id** header to reference.

## OPTIONS
### -p, --no-stat
           Generate plain patches without any diffstats.

       -U<n>, --unified=<n>
           Generate diffs with <n> lines of context instead of the usual three.

       --output=<file>
           Output to a specific file instead of stdout.

       --output-indicator-new=<char>, --output-indicator-old=<char>,
       --output-indicator-context=<char>
           Specify the character used to indicate new, old or context lines in the generated patch.
           Normally they are _+_, _-_ and ' ' respectively.

### --indent-heuristic
           Enable the heuristic that shifts diff hunk boundaries to make patches easier to read.
           This is the default.

### --no-indent-heuristic
           Disable the indent heuristic.

### --minimal
           Spend extra time to make sure the smallest possible diff is produced.

### --patience
           Generate a diff using the "patience diff" algorithm.

### --histogram
           Generate a diff using the "histogram diff" algorithm.

       --anchored=<text>
           Generate a diff using the "anchored diff" algorithm.

           This option may be specified more than once.

           If a line exists in both the source and destination, exists only once, and starts with
           this text, this algorithm attempts to prevent it from appearing as a deletion or addition
           in the output. It uses the "patience diff" algorithm internally.

       --diff-algorithm={patience|minimal|histogram|myers}
           Choose a diff algorithm. The variants are as follows:

           **default**, **myers**
               The basic greedy diff algorithm. Currently, this is the default.

           **minimal**
               Spend extra time to make sure the smallest possible diff is produced.

           **patience**
               Use "patience diff" algorithm when generating patches.

           **histogram**
               This algorithm extends the patience algorithm to "support low-occurrence common
               elements".

           For instance, if you configured the **diff.algorithm** variable to a non-default value and
           want to use the default one, then you have to use **--diff-algorithm=default** option.

       --stat[=<width>[,<name-width>[,<count>]]]
           Generate a diffstat. By default, as much space as necessary will be used for the filename
           part, and the rest for the graph part. Maximum width defaults to terminal width, or 80
           columns if not connected to a terminal, and can be overridden by **<width>**. The width of
           the filename part can be limited by giving another width **<name-width>** after a comma. The
           width of the graph part can be limited by using **--stat-graph-width=<width>** (affects all
           commands generating a stat graph) or by setting **diff.statGraphWidth=<width>** (does not
           affect **git** **format-patch**). By giving a third parameter **<count>**, you can limit the output
           to the first **<count>** lines, followed by **...**  if there are more.

           These parameters can also be set individually with **--stat-width=<width>**,
           **--stat-name-width=<name-width>** and **--stat-count=<count>**.

### --compact-summary
           Output a condensed summary of extended header information such as file creations or
           deletions ("new" or "gone", optionally "+l" if it’s a symlink) and mode changes ("+x" or
           "-x" for adding or removing executable bit respectively) in diffstat. The information is
           put between the filename part and the graph part. Implies **--stat**.

### --numstat
           Similar to **--stat**, but shows number of added and deleted lines in decimal notation and
           pathname without abbreviation, to make it more machine friendly. For binary files,
           outputs two **-** instead of saying **0** **0**.

### --shortstat
           Output only the last line of the **--stat** format containing total number of modified files,
           as well as number of added and deleted lines.

       -X[<param1,param2,...>], --dirstat[=<param1,param2,...>]
           Output the distribution of relative amount of changes for each sub-directory. The
           behavior of **--dirstat** can be customized by passing it a comma separated list of
           parameters. The defaults are controlled by the **diff.dirstat** configuration variable (see
           [**git-config**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/git-config/1/markdown)). The following parameters are available:

           **changes**
               Compute the dirstat numbers by counting the lines that have been removed from the
               source, or added to the destination. This ignores the amount of pure code movements
               within a file. In other words, rearranging lines in a file is not counted as much as
               other changes. This is the default behavior when no parameter is given.

           **lines**
               Compute the dirstat numbers by doing the regular line-based diff analysis, and
               summing the removed/added line counts. (For binary files, count 64-byte chunks
               instead, since binary files have no natural concept of lines). This is a more
               expensive **--dirstat** behavior than the **changes** behavior, but it does count rearranged
               lines within a file as much as other changes. The resulting output is consistent with
               what you get from the other **--*stat** options.

           **files**
               Compute the dirstat numbers by counting the number of files changed. Each changed
               file counts equally in the dirstat analysis. This is the computationally cheapest
               **--dirstat** behavior, since it does not have to look at the file contents at all.

           **cumulative**
               Count changes in a child directory for the parent directory as well. Note that when
               using **cumulative**, the sum of the percentages reported may exceed 100%. The default
               (non-cumulative) behavior can be specified with the **noncumulative** parameter.

           <limit>
               An integer parameter specifies a cut-off percent (3% by default). Directories
               contributing less than this percentage of the changes are not shown in the output.

           Example: The following will count changed files, while ignoring directories with less
           than 10% of the total amount of changed files, and accumulating child directory counts in
           the parent directories: **--dirstat=files,10,cumulative**.

### --cumulative
           Synonym for --dirstat=cumulative

       --dirstat-by-file[=<param1,param2>...]
           Synonym for --dirstat=files,param1,param2...

### --summary
           Output a condensed summary of extended header information such as creations, renames and
           mode changes.

### --no-renames
           Turn off rename detection, even when the configuration file gives the default to do so.

       --[no-]rename-empty
           Whether to use empty blobs as rename source.

### --full-index
           Instead of the first handful of characters, show the full pre- and post-image blob object
           names on the "index" line when generating patch format output.

### --binary
           In addition to **--full-index**, output a binary diff that can be applied with **git-apply**.

       --abbrev[=<n>]
           Instead of showing the full 40-byte hexadecimal object name in diff-raw format output and
           diff-tree header lines, show the shortest prefix that is at least _<n>_ hexdigits long that
           uniquely refers the object. In diff-patch output format, **--full-index** takes higher
           precedence, i.e. if **--full-index** is specified, full blob names will be shown regardless
           of **--abbrev**. Non default number of digits can be specified with **--abbrev=<n>**.

       -B[<n>][/<m>], --break-rewrites[=[<n>][/<m>]]
           Break complete rewrite changes into pairs of delete and create. This serves two purposes:

           It affects the way a change that amounts to a total rewrite of a file not as a series of
           deletion and insertion mixed together with a very few lines that happen to match
           textually as the context, but as a single deletion of everything old followed by a single
           insertion of everything new, and the number **m** controls this aspect of the -B option
           (defaults to 60%).  **-B/70%** specifies that less than 30% of the original should remain in
           the result for Git to consider it a total rewrite (i.e. otherwise the resulting patch
           will be a series of deletion and insertion mixed together with context lines).

           When used with -M, a totally-rewritten file is also considered as the source of a rename
           (usually -M only considers a file that disappeared as the source of a rename), and the
           number **n** controls this aspect of the -B option (defaults to 50%).  **-B20%** specifies that a
           change with addition and deletion compared to 20% or more of the file’s size are eligible
           for being picked up as a possible source of a rename to another file.

       -M[<n>], --find-renames[=<n>]
           Detect renames. If **n** is specified, it is a threshold on the similarity index (i.e. amount
           of addition/deletions compared to the file’s size). For example, **-M90%** means Git should
           consider a delete/add pair to be a rename if more than 90% of the file hasn’t changed.
           Without a **%** sign, the number is to be read as a fraction, with a decimal point before it.
           I.e., **-M5** becomes 0.5, and is thus the same as **-M50%**. Similarly, **-M05** is the same as
           **-M5%**. To limit detection to exact renames, use **-M100%**. The default similarity index is
           50%.

       -C[<n>], --find-copies[=<n>]
           Detect copies as well as renames. See also **--find-copies-harder**. If **n** is specified, it
           has the same meaning as for **-M<n>**.

### --find-copies-harder
           For performance reasons, by default, **-C** option finds copies only if the original file of
           the copy was modified in the same changeset. This flag makes the command inspect
           unmodified files as candidates for the source of copy. This is a very expensive operation
           for large projects, so use it with caution. Giving more than one **-C** option has the same
           effect.

### -D, --irreversible-delete
           Omit the preimage for deletes, i.e. print only the header but not the diff between the
           preimage and **/dev/null**. The resulting patch is not meant to be applied with **patch** or **git**
           **apply**; this is solely for people who want to just concentrate on reviewing the text after
           the change. In addition, the output obviously lacks enough information to apply such a
           patch in reverse, even manually, hence the name of the option.

           When used together with **-B**, omit also the preimage in the deletion part of a
           delete/create pair.

### -l<num>
           The **-M** and **-C** options involve some preliminary steps that can detect subsets of
           renames/copies cheaply, followed by an exhaustive fallback portion that compares all
           remaining unpaired destinations to all relevant sources. (For renames, only remaining
           unpaired sources are relevant; for copies, all original sources are relevant.) For N
           sources and destinations, this exhaustive check is O(N^2). This option prevents the
           exhaustive portion of rename/copy detection from running if the number of
           source/destination files involved exceeds the specified number. Defaults to
           diff.renameLimit. Note that a value of 0 is treated as unlimited.

### -O<orderfile>
           Control the order in which files appear in the output. This overrides the **diff.orderFile**
           configuration variable (see [**git-config**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/git-config/1/markdown)). To cancel **diff.orderFile**, use **-O/dev/null**.

           The output order is determined by the order of glob patterns in <orderfile>. All files
           with pathnames that match the first pattern are output first, all files with pathnames
           that match the second pattern (but not the first) are output next, and so on. All files
           with pathnames that do not match any pattern are output last, as if there was an implicit
           match-all pattern at the end of the file. If multiple pathnames have the same rank (they
           match the same pattern but no earlier patterns), their output order relative to each
           other is the normal order.

           <orderfile> is parsed as follows:

           •   Blank lines are ignored, so they can be used as separators for readability.

           •   Lines starting with a hash ("**#**") are ignored, so they can be used for comments. Add a
               backslash ("**\**") to the beginning of the pattern if it starts with a hash.

           •   Each other line contains a single pattern.

           Patterns have the same syntax and semantics as patterns used for [fnmatch(3)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/fnmatch/3/markdown) without the
           FNM_PATHNAME flag, except a pathname also matches a pattern if removing any number of the
           final pathname components matches the pattern. For example, the pattern "**foo*bar**" matches
           "**fooasdfbar**" and "**foo/bar/baz/asdf**" but not "**foobarx**".

       --skip-to=<file>, --rotate-to=<file>
           Discard the files before the named <file> from the output (i.e.  _skip_ _to_), or move them
           to the end of the output (i.e.  _rotate_ _to_). These were invented primarily for use of the
           **git** **difftool** command, and may not be very useful otherwise.

       --relative[=<path>], --no-relative
           When run from a subdirectory of the project, it can be told to exclude changes outside
           the directory and show pathnames relative to it with this option. When you are not in a
           subdirectory (e.g. in a bare repository), you can name which subdirectory to make the
           output relative to by giving a <path> as an argument.  **--no-relative** can be used to
           countermand both **diff.relative** config option and previous **--relative**.

### -a, --text
           Treat all files as text.

### --ignore-cr-at-eol
           Ignore carriage-return at the end of line when doing a comparison.

### --ignore-space-at-eol
           Ignore changes in whitespace at EOL.

### -b, --ignore-space-change
           Ignore changes in amount of whitespace. This ignores whitespace at line end, and
           considers all other sequences of one or more whitespace characters to be equivalent.

### -w, --ignore-all-space
           Ignore whitespace when comparing lines. This ignores differences even if one line has
           whitespace where the other line has none.

### --ignore-blank-lines
           Ignore changes whose lines are all blank.

       -I<regex>, --ignore-matching-lines=<regex>
           Ignore changes whose all lines match <regex>. This option may be specified more than
           once.

       --inter-hunk-context=<lines>
           Show the context between diff hunks, up to the specified number of lines, thereby fusing
           hunks that are close to each other. Defaults to **diff.interHunkContext** or 0 if the config
           option is unset.

### -W, --function-context
           Show whole function as context lines for each change. The function names are determined
           in the same way as **git** **diff** works out patch hunk headers (see _Defining_ _a_ _custom_
           _hunk-header_ in [**gitattributes**(5)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/gitattributes/5/markdown)).

### --ext-diff
           Allow an external diff helper to be executed. If you set an external diff driver with
           [**gitattributes**(5)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/gitattributes/5/markdown), you need to use this option with [**git-log**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/git-log/1/markdown) and friends.

### --no-ext-diff
           Disallow external diff drivers.

### --textconv, --no-textconv
           Allow (or disallow) external text conversion filters to be run when comparing binary
           files. See [**gitattributes**(5)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/gitattributes/5/markdown) for details. Because textconv filters are typically a one-way
           conversion, the resulting diff is suitable for human consumption, but cannot be applied.
           For this reason, textconv filters are enabled by default only for [**git-diff**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/git-diff/1/markdown) and **git-**
           [**log**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/log/1/markdown), but not for [**git-format-patch**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/git-format-patch/1/markdown) or diff plumbing commands.

       --ignore-submodules[=<when>]
           Ignore changes to submodules in the diff generation. <when> can be either "none",
           "untracked", "dirty" or "all", which is the default. Using "none" will consider the
           submodule modified when it either contains untracked or modified files or its HEAD
           differs from the commit recorded in the superproject and can be used to override any
           settings of the _ignore_ option in [**git-config**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/git-config/1/markdown) or [**gitmodules**(5)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/gitmodules/5/markdown). When "untracked" is used
           submodules are not considered dirty when they only contain untracked content (but they
           are still scanned for modified content). Using "dirty" ignores all changes to the work
           tree of submodules, only changes to the commits stored in the superproject are shown
           (this was the behavior until 1.7.0). Using "all" hides all changes to submodules.

       --src-prefix=<prefix>
           Show the given source prefix instead of "a/".

       --dst-prefix=<prefix>
           Show the given destination prefix instead of "b/".

### --no-prefix
           Do not show any source or destination prefix.

       --line-prefix=<prefix>
           Prepend an additional prefix to every line of output.

### --ita-invisible-in-index
           By default entries added by "git add -N" appear as an existing empty file in "git diff"
           and a new file in "git diff --cached". This option makes the entry appear as a new file
           in "git diff" and non-existent in "git diff --cached". This option could be reverted with
           **--ita-visible-in-index**. Both options are experimental and could be removed in future.

       For more detailed explanation on these common options, see also [**gitdiffcore**(7)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/gitdiffcore/7/markdown).

       -<n>
           Prepare patches from the topmost <n> commits.

### -o <dir>, --output-directory <dir>
           Use <dir> to store the resulting files, instead of the current working directory.

### -n, --numbered
           Name output in _[PATCH_ _n/m]_ format, even with a single patch.

### -N, --no-numbered
           Name output in _[PATCH]_ format.

### --start-number <n>
           Start numbering the patches at <n> instead of 1.

### --numbered-files
           Output file names will be a simple number sequence without the default first line of the
           commit appended.

### -k, --keep-subject
           Do not strip/add _[PATCH]_ from the first line of the commit log message.

### -s, --signoff
           Add a **Signed-off-by** trailer to the commit message, using the committer identity of
           yourself. See the signoff option in [**git-commit**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/git-commit/1/markdown) for more information.

### --stdout
           Print all commits to the standard output in mbox format, instead of creating a file for
           each one.

       --attach[=<boundary>]
           Create multipart/mixed attachment, the first part of which is the commit message and the
           patch itself in the second part, with **Content-Disposition:** **attachment**.

### --no-attach
           Disable the creation of an attachment, overriding the configuration setting.

       --inline[=<boundary>]
           Create multipart/mixed attachment, the first part of which is the commit message and the
           patch itself in the second part, with **Content-Disposition:** **inline**.

       --thread[=<style>], --no-thread
           Controls addition of **In-Reply-To** and **References** headers to make the second and subsequent
           mails appear as replies to the first. Also controls generation of the **Message-Id** header
           to reference.

           The optional <style> argument can be either **shallow** or **deep**.  _shallow_ threading makes
           every mail a reply to the head of the series, where the head is chosen from the cover
           letter, the **--in-reply-to**, and the first patch mail, in this order.  _deep_ threading makes
           every mail a reply to the previous one.

           The default is **--no-thread**, unless the **format.thread** configuration is set. If **--thread** is
           specified without a style, it defaults to the style specified by **format.thread** if any, or
           else **shallow**.

           Beware that the default for _git_ _send-email_ is to thread emails itself. If you want **git**
           **format-patch** to take care of threading, you will want to ensure that threading is
           disabled for **git** **send-email**.

       --in-reply-to=<message id>
           Make the first mail (or all the mails with **--no-thread**) appear as a reply to the given
           <message id>, which avoids breaking threads to provide a new patch series.

### --ignore-if-in-upstream
           Do not include a patch that matches a commit in <until>..<since>. This will examine all
           patches reachable from <since> but not from <until> and compare them with the patches
           being generated, and any patch that matches is ignored.

       --cover-from-description=<mode>
           Controls which parts of the cover letter will be automatically populated using the
           branch’s description.

           If **<mode>** is **message** or **default**, the cover letter subject will be populated with
           placeholder text. The body of the cover letter will be populated with the branch’s
           description. This is the default mode when no configuration nor command line option is
           specified.

           If **<mode>** is **subject**, the first paragraph of the branch description will populate the
           cover letter subject. The remainder of the description will populate the body of the
           cover letter.

           If **<mode>** is **auto**, if the first paragraph of the branch description is greater than 100
           bytes, then the mode will be **message**, otherwise **subject** will be used.

           If **<mode>** is **none**, both the cover letter subject and body will be populated with
           placeholder text.

       --subject-prefix=<subject prefix>
           Instead of the standard _[PATCH]_ prefix in the subject line, instead use _[<subject_
           _prefix>]_. This allows for useful naming of a patch series, and can be combined with the
           **--numbered** option.

       --filename-max-length=<n>
           Instead of the standard 64 bytes, chomp the generated output filenames at around _<n>_
           bytes (too short a value will be silently raised to a reasonable length). Defaults to the
           value of the **format.filenameMaxLength** configuration variable, or 64 if unconfigured.

### --rfc
           Alias for **--subject-prefix="RFC** **PATCH"**. RFC means "Request For Comments"; use this when
           sending an experimental patch for discussion rather than application.

       -v <n>, --reroll-count=<n>
           Mark the series as the <n>-th iteration of the topic. The output filenames have **v<n>**
           prepended to them, and the subject prefix ("PATCH" by default, but configurable via the
           **--subject-prefix** option) has ` v<n>` appended to it. E.g.  **--reroll-count=4** may produce
           **v4-0001-add-makefile.patch** file that has "Subject: [PATCH v4 1/20] Add makefile" in it.
           **<n>** does not have to be an integer (e.g. "--reroll-count=4.4", or "--reroll-count=4rev2"
           are allowed), but the downside of using such a reroll-count is that the
           range-diff/interdiff with the previous version does not state exactly which version the
           new interation is compared against.

       --to=<email>
           Add a **To:** header to the email headers. This is in addition to any configured headers, and
           may be used multiple times. The negated form **--no-to** discards all **To:** headers added so
           far (from config or command line).

       --cc=<email>
           Add a **Cc:** header to the email headers. This is in addition to any configured headers, and
           may be used multiple times. The negated form **--no-cc** discards all **Cc:** headers added so
           far (from config or command line).

       --from, --from=<ident>
           Use **ident** in the **From:** header of each commit email. If the author ident of the commit is
           not textually identical to the provided **ident**, place a **From:** header in the body of the
           message with the original author. If no **ident** is given, use the committer ident.

           Note that this option is only useful if you are actually sending the emails and want to
           identify yourself as the sender, but retain the original author (and **git** **am** will
           correctly pick up the in-body header). Note also that **git** **send-email** already handles this
           transformation for you, and this option should not be used if you are feeding the result
           to **git** **send-email**.

       --add-header=<header>
           Add an arbitrary header to the email headers. This is in addition to any configured
           headers, and may be used multiple times. For example, **--add-header="Organization:**
           **git-foo"**. The negated form **--no-add-header** discards **all** (**To:**, **Cc:**, and custom) headers
           added so far from config or command line.

       --[no-]cover-letter
           In addition to the patches, generate a cover letter file containing the branch
           description, shortlog and the overall diffstat. You can fill in a description in the file
           before sending it out.

### --encode-email-headers, --no-encode-email-headers
           Encode email headers that have non-ASCII characters with "Q-encoding" (described in RFC
           2047), instead of outputting the headers verbatim. Defaults to the value of the
           **format.encodeEmailHeaders** configuration variable.

       --interdiff=<previous>
           As a reviewer aid, insert an interdiff into the cover letter, or as commentary of the
           lone patch of a 1-patch series, showing the differences between the previous version of
           the patch series and the series currently being formatted.  **previous** is a single revision
           naming the tip of the previous series which shares a common base with the series being
           formatted (for example **git** **format-patch** **--cover-letter** **--interdiff=feature/v1** **-3**
           **feature/v2**).

       --range-diff=<previous>
           As a reviewer aid, insert a range-diff (see [**git-range-diff**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/git-range-diff/1/markdown)) into the cover letter, or
           as commentary of the lone patch of a 1-patch series, showing the differences between the
           previous version of the patch series and the series currently being formatted.  **previous**
           can be a single revision naming the tip of the previous series if it shares a common base
           with the series being formatted (for example **git** **format-patch** **--cover-letter**
           **--range-diff=feature/v1** **-3** **feature/v2**), or a revision range if the two versions of the
           series are disjoint (for example **git** **format-patch** **--cover-letter**
           **--range-diff=feature/v1~3..feature/v1** **-3** **feature/v2**).

           Note that diff options passed to the command affect how the primary product of
           **format-patch** is generated, and they are not passed to the underlying **range-diff** machinery
           used to generate the cover-letter material (this may change in the future).

       --creation-factor=<percent>
           Used with **--range-diff**, tweak the heuristic which matches up commits between the previous
           and current series of patches by adjusting the creation/deletion cost fudge factor. See
           [**git-range-diff**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/git-range-diff/1/markdown)) for details.

       --notes[=<ref>], --no-notes
           Append the notes (see [**git-notes**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/git-notes/1/markdown)) for the commit after the three-dash line.

           The expected use case of this is to write supporting explanation for the commit that does
           not belong to the commit log message proper, and include it with the patch submission.
           While one can simply write these explanations after **format-patch** has run but before
           sending, keeping them as Git notes allows them to be maintained between versions of the
           patch series (but see the discussion of the **notes.rewrite** configuration options in **git-**
           [**notes**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/notes/1/markdown) to use this workflow).

           The default is **--no-notes**, unless the **format.notes** configuration is set.

       --[no-]signature=<signature>
           Add a signature to each message produced. Per RFC 3676 the signature is separated from
           the body by a line with '-- ' on it. If the signature option is omitted the signature
           defaults to the Git version number.

       --signature-file=<file>
           Works just like --signature except the signature is read from a file.

       --suffix=.<sfx>
           Instead of using **.patch** as the suffix for generated filenames, use specified suffix. A
           common alternative is **--suffix=.txt**. Leaving this empty will remove the **.patch** suffix.

           Note that the leading character does not have to be a dot; for example, you can use
           **--suffix=-patch** to get **0001-description-of-my-change-patch**.

### -q, --quiet
           Do not print the names of the generated files to standard output.

### --no-binary
           Do not output contents of changes in binary files, instead display a notice that those
           files changed. Patches generated using this option cannot be applied properly, but they
           are still useful for code review.

### --zero-commit
           Output an all-zero hash in each patch’s From header instead of the hash of the commit.

       --[no-]base[=<commit>]
           Record the base tree information to identify the state the patch series applies to. See
           the BASE TREE INFORMATION section below for details. If <commit> is "auto", a base commit
           is automatically chosen. The **--no-base** option overrides a **format.useAutoBase**
           configuration.

### --root
           Treat the revision argument as a <revision range>, even if it is just a single commit
           (that would normally be treated as a <since>). Note that root commits included in the
           specified range are always formatted as creation patches, independently of this flag.

### --progress
           Show progress reports on stderr as patches are generated.

## CONFIGURATION
       You can specify extra mail header lines to be added to each message, defaults for the subject
       prefix and file suffix, number patches when outputting more than one patch, add "To:" or
       "Cc:" headers, configure attachments, change the patch output directory, and sign off patches
       with configuration variables.

           [format]
                   headers = "Organization: git-foo\n"
                   subjectPrefix = CHANGE
                   suffix = .txt
                   numbered = auto
                   to = <email>
                   cc = <email>
                   attach [ = mime-boundary-string ]
                   signOff = true
                   outputDirectory = <directory>
                   coverLetter = auto
                   coverFromDescription = auto


## DISCUSSION
       The patch produced by _git_ _format-patch_ is in UNIX mailbox format, with a fixed "magic" time
       stamp to indicate that the file is output from format-patch rather than a real mailbox, like
       so:

           From 8f72bad1baf19a53459661343e21d6491c3908d3 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
           From: Tony Luck <<tony.luck@intel.com>>
           Date: Tue, 13 Jul 2010 11:42:54 -0700
           Subject: [PATCH] =?UTF-8?q?[IA64]=20Put=20ia64=20config=20files=20on=20the=20?=
            =?UTF-8?q?Uwe=20Kleine-K=C3=B6nig=20diet?=
           MIME-Version: 1.0
           Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
           Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

           arch/arm config files were slimmed down using a python script
           (See commit c2330e286f68f1c408b4aa6515ba49d57f05beae comment)

           Do the same for ia64 so we can have sleek & trim looking
           ...


       Typically it will be placed in a MUA’s drafts folder, edited to add timely commentary that
       should not go in the changelog after the three dashes, and then sent as a message whose body,
       in our example, starts with "arch/arm config files were...". On the receiving end, readers
       can save interesting patches in a UNIX mailbox and apply them with [**git-am**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/git-am/1/markdown).

       When a patch is part of an ongoing discussion, the patch generated by _git_ _format-patch_ can be
       tweaked to take advantage of the _git_ _am_ _--scissors_ feature. After your response to the
       discussion comes a line that consists solely of "**--** **>8** **--**" (scissors and perforation),
       followed by the patch with unnecessary header fields removed:

           ...
           > So we should do such-and-such.

           Makes sense to me.  How about this patch?

           -- >8 --
           Subject: [IA64] Put ia64 config files on the Uwe Kleine-König diet

           arch/arm config files were slimmed down using a python script
           ...


       When sending a patch this way, most often you are sending your own patch, so in addition to
       the "**From** **$SHA1** **$magic**___**timestamp**" marker you should omit **From:** and **Date:** lines from the patch
       file. The patch title is likely to be different from the subject of the discussion the patch
       is in response to, so it is likely that you would want to keep the Subject: line, like the
       example above.

### Checking for patch corruption
       Many mailers if not set up properly will corrupt whitespace. Here are two common types of
       corruption:

       •   Empty context lines that do not have _any_ whitespace.

       •   Non-empty context lines that have one extra whitespace at the beginning.

       One way to test if your MUA is set up correctly is:

       •   Send the patch to yourself, exactly the way you would, except with To: and Cc: lines that
           do not contain the list and maintainer address.

       •   Save that patch to a file in UNIX mailbox format. Call it a.patch, say.

       •   Apply it:

               $ git fetch <project> master:test-apply
               $ git switch test-apply
               $ git restore --source=HEAD --staged --worktree :/
               $ git am a.patch

       If it does not apply correctly, there can be various reasons.

       •   The patch itself does not apply cleanly. That is _bad_ but does not have much to do with
           your MUA. You might want to rebase the patch with [**git-rebase**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/git-rebase/1/markdown) before regenerating it in
           this case.

       •   The MUA corrupted your patch; "am" would complain that the patch does not apply. Look in
           the .git/rebase-apply/ subdirectory and see what _patch_ file contains and check for the
           common corruption patterns mentioned above.

       •   While at it, check the _info_ and _final-commit_ files as well. If what is in _final-commit_ is
           not exactly what you would want to see in the commit log message, it is very likely that
           the receiver would end up hand editing the log message when applying your patch. Things
           like "Hi, this is my first patch.\n" in the patch e-mail should come after the three-dash
           line that signals the end of the commit message.

## MUA-SPECIFIC HINTS
       Here are some hints on how to successfully submit patches inline using various mailers.

### GMail
       GMail does not have any way to turn off line wrapping in the web interface, so it will mangle
       any emails that you send. You can however use "git send-email" and send your patches through
       the GMail SMTP server, or use any IMAP email client to connect to the google IMAP server and
       forward the emails through that.

       For hints on using _git_ _send-email_ to send your patches through the GMail SMTP server, see the
       EXAMPLE section of [**git-send-email**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/git-send-email/1/markdown).

       For hints on submission using the IMAP interface, see the EXAMPLE section of **git-imap-**
       [**send**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/send/1/markdown).

### Thunderbird
       By default, Thunderbird will both wrap emails as well as flag them as being _format=flowed_,
       both of which will make the resulting email unusable by Git.

       There are three different approaches: use an add-on to turn off line wraps, configure
       Thunderbird to not mangle patches, or use an external editor to keep Thunderbird from
       mangling the patches.

### Approach #1 (add-on)
           Install the Toggle Word Wrap add-on that is available from
           **<https://addons.mozilla.org/thunderbird/addon/toggle-word-wrap/>** It adds a menu entry
           "Enable Word Wrap" in the composer’s "Options" menu that you can tick off. Now you can
           compose the message as you otherwise do (cut + paste, _git_ _format-patch_ | _git_ _imap-send_,
           etc), but you have to insert line breaks manually in any text that you type.

### Approach #2 (configuration)
           Three steps:

            1. Configure your mail server composition as plain text: Edit...Account
               Settings...Composition & Addressing, uncheck "Compose Messages in HTML".

            2. Configure your general composition window to not wrap.

               In Thunderbird 2: Edit..Preferences..Composition, wrap plain text messages at 0

               In Thunderbird 3: Edit..Preferences..Advanced..Config Editor. Search for
               "mail.wrap_long_lines". Toggle it to make sure it is set to **false**. Also, search for
               "mailnews.wraplength" and set the value to 0.

            3. Disable the use of format=flowed: Edit..Preferences..Advanced..Config Editor. Search
               for "mailnews.send_plaintext_flowed". Toggle it to make sure it is set to **false**.

           After that is done, you should be able to compose email as you otherwise would (cut +
           paste, _git_ _format-patch_ | _git_ _imap-send_, etc), and the patches will not be mangled.

### Approach #3 (external editor)
           The following Thunderbird extensions are needed: AboutConfig from
           **<http://aboutconfig.mozdev.org/>** and External Editor from
           **<http://globs.org/articles.php?lng=en&pg=8>**

            1. Prepare the patch as a text file using your method of choice.

            2. Before opening a compose window, use Edit→Account Settings to uncheck the "Compose
               messages in HTML format" setting in the "Composition & Addressing" panel of the
               account to be used to send the patch.

            3. In the main Thunderbird window, _before_ you open the compose window for the patch, use
               Tools→about:config to set the following to the indicated values:

                           mailnews.send_plaintext_flowed  => false
                           mailnews.wraplength             => 0


            4. Open a compose window and click the external editor icon.

            5. In the external editor window, read in the patch file and exit the editor normally.

           Side note: it may be possible to do step 2 with about:config and the following settings
           but no one’s tried yet.

                       mail.html_compose                       => false
                       mail.identity.default.compose_html      => false
                       mail.identity.id?.compose_html          => false


           There is a script in contrib/thunderbird-patch-inline which can help you include patches
           with Thunderbird in an easy way. To use it, do the steps above and then use the script as
           the external editor.

### KMail
       This should help you to submit patches inline using KMail.

        1. Prepare the patch as a text file.

        2. Click on New Mail.

        3. Go under "Options" in the Composer window and be sure that "Word wrap" is not set.

        4. Use Message → Insert file... and insert the patch.

        5. Back in the compose window: add whatever other text you wish to the message, complete the
           addressing and subject fields, and press send.

## BASE TREE INFORMATION
       The base tree information block is used for maintainers or third party testers to know the
       exact state the patch series applies to. It consists of the _base_ _commit_, which is a
       well-known commit that is part of the stable part of the project history everybody else works
       off of, and zero or more _prerequisite_ _patches_, which are well-known patches in flight that is
       not yet part of the _base_ _commit_ that need to be applied on top of _base_ _commit_ in topological
       order before the patches can be applied.

       The _base_ _commit_ is shown as "base-commit: " followed by the 40-hex of the commit object name.
       A _prerequisite_ _patch_ is shown as "prerequisite-patch-id: " followed by the 40-hex _patch_ _id_,
       which can be obtained by passing the patch through the **git** **patch-id** **--stable** command.

       Imagine that on top of the public commit P, you applied well-known patches X, Y and Z from
       somebody else, and then built your three-patch series A, B, C, the history would be like:

           ---P---X---Y---Z---A---B---C

       With **git** **format-patch** **--base=P** **-3** **C** (or variants thereof, e.g. with **--cover-letter** or using
       **Z..C** instead of **-3** **C** to specify the range), the base tree information block is shown at the
       end of the first message the command outputs (either the first patch, or the cover letter),
       like this:

           base-commit: P
           prerequisite-patch-id: X
           prerequisite-patch-id: Y
           prerequisite-patch-id: Z


       For non-linear topology, such as

           ---P---X---A---M---C
               \         /
                Y---Z---B

       You can also use **git** **format-patch** **--base=P** **-3** **C** to generate patches for A, B and C, and the
       identifiers for P, X, Y, Z are appended at the end of the first message.

       If set **--base=auto** in cmdline, it will automatically compute the base commit as the merge
       base of tip commit of the remote-tracking branch and revision-range specified in cmdline. For
       a local branch, you need to make it to track a remote branch by **git** **branch** **--set-upstream-to**
       before using this option.

## EXAMPLES
       •   Extract commits between revisions R1 and R2, and apply them on top of the current branch
           using _git_ _am_ to cherry-pick them:

               $ git format-patch -k --stdout R1..R2 | git am -3 -k


       •   Extract all commits which are in the current branch but not in the origin branch:

               $ git format-patch origin

           For each commit a separate file is created in the current directory.

       •   Extract all commits that lead to _origin_ since the inception of the project:

               $ git format-patch --root origin


       •   The same as the previous one:

               $ git format-patch -M -B origin

           Additionally, it detects and handles renames and complete rewrites intelligently to
           produce a renaming patch. A renaming patch reduces the amount of text output, and
           generally makes it easier to review. Note that non-Git "patch" programs won’t understand
           renaming patches, so use it only when you know the recipient uses Git to apply your
           patch.

       •   Extract three topmost commits from the current branch and format them as e-mailable
           patches:

               $ git format-patch -3


## CAVEATS
       Note that **format-patch** will omit merge commits from the output, even if they are part of the
       requested range. A simple "patch" does not include enough information for the receiving end
       to reproduce the same merge commit.

## SEE ALSO
       [**git-am**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/git-am/1/markdown), [**git-send-email**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/git-send-email/1/markdown)

## GIT
       Part of the [**git**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/git/1/markdown) suite



Git 2.34.1                                   02/26/2026                          [GIT-FORMAT-PATCH(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/GIT-FORMAT-PATCH/1/markdown)