More about SCM - git command

Question

Is there any difference between git diff HEAD~2 HEAD and git diff HEAD HEAD~2? or the order doesn't matter?

Answer 1

They are a little different in how the "differences" are presented to you.

Let's suppose that the last commit added

System.out.println("Pelican");

And the commit before that added:

System.out.println("Coot");

Then git diff HEAD~2 HEAD will show those lines with plusses (things that were added), whereas git diff HEAD HEAD~1 will show those lines with minuses (things that were removed).

i.e. "what changed to get from HEAD~2 to HEAD" or "what would change if we started at HEAD and went back to HEAD~2"