Inspect Saved Changes
See a saved edit in native Git Status, expand its diff and return to the same source buffer. Use a new practice directory so that every change is yours.
Prepare a local repository
Run these commands in a terminal with Git installed. Choose an unused directory:
mkdir rev-git-practice
cd rev-git-practice
git init --initial-branch=main
git config user.name 'Practice User'
git config user.email 'practice@example.invalid'
printf 'red\ngreen\nblue\n' > colors.txt
git add -- colors.txt
git -c commit.gpgSign=false commit -m 'Add colors'
rev colors.txt
The identity settings apply only to this practice repository. The initial terminal command disables signing for that one practice commit; rev retains Git's configured hooks and signing policy for its own operations.
Compare saved text
Change green to gold. Save with C-x C-s, or :save-buffer in modal Normal.
Press C-x g. Status occupies the editor canvas and shows colors.txt in
Unstaged. Only nonempty groups appear. A clean repository has no change rows.
Use Up/Down to select the path, then Tab to expand its comparison and hunk.
You should see the removed green line in red and the added gold line in
green. The - and + signs identify them without color. Unstaged paths use
amber; staged paths use green and untracked paths use cyan. Invoke
M-x git-diff or :git-diff for read-only patch detail. Press q to return
one level. The diff is an observation of disk and index bytes, not a second
editable copy of your file.
Return to your source
From the selected Status path, Return visits the canonical source buffer.
C-x g returns to Git. From Status, q restores the surviving editor layout.
Your file, cursor and other panes remain available; hidden terminals keep
running.
Try changing gold to amber without saving. Reopen Status and press g to
refresh. Git still observes saved gold; the source buffer keeps unsaved
amber. Undo that unsaved edit to restore gold before continuing. Git does
not save a source buffer when you open or refresh Status.
An unavailable or truncated observation is labelled. Missing Git, a timeout or an incomplete read never means that a repository is clean. Refresh after correcting the cause; the ownership explanation describes how old confirmed observations remain distinguishable.
Next: Stage and Commit.