How to add color to bash output of `git diff --name-status` by file status?

Question

I would like to style the bash output for git diff --name-status so that the files with status D, M, and A are different colors.

To style general git bash I use the color options in .gitconfig.

# .gitconfig
[color]
  branch = auto
  diff = auto
  status = auto
[color "branch"]
  current = yellow reverse
  local = yellow
  remote = green
[color "diff"]
  meta = yellow bold
  frag = magenta bold
  old = red bold
  new = green bold
[color "status"]
  added = yellow
  changed = green
  untracked = cyan

To style an output for a command like git log I can use --pretty=format in an alias like below:

# .gitconfig
[alias]
  log = log --pretty=format:'%Cred%h%Creset -%C(yellow)%d%Creset %s %Cgreen(%cr) %C(bold blue)<%an>%Creset'

However, I have been unsuccessful using --pretty=format for git diff --name-status.

The output I would like to style is currently not styled and looks like:

$ git diff <branch> --name-status
M       .gitignore
M       README.md
A       diagnostic.js
D       diagnostic.md

Is there a way to style the output git diff --name-status by status type?

Answer 1

I'm not sure you can colorize the output of --name-status without entirely reproducing its output with --pretty=format:...

But if you want file names with colors summarizing changes, the --stats flag can be passed to many commands, including git diff <branch --stat and git log --stat.

It shows file names, with a colorized +++-- suffix, e.g.

$ git diff master --stat                                               
 lib/thing.go      |  5 +++--
 lib/thing_test.go | 23 +++++++++++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 28 insertions(+), 2 deletion(-)

and the +s and -s will colorize according to your git config