git: check diff between local working copy and remote working copy

Question

We have to copy over files to an archaic live server for reasons I can't control so I need to see a diff of what the remote working copy will be compared to my local working copy (which is at a different base).

What are the command lines for this? I've tried several things and they either just hang or don't give the output I need.

Answer 1

Assuming your remote is named as origin and you are trying to compare your local branch named as master with the remote branch named master, first fetch the remote changes using:

git fetch

then compare your local to the remote using:

git diff origin/master

Visit git diff documentation for more info.