While I was working buildins shell patterns for user diffs. I noticed that the tests t4034 passes but I can reproduce it manually with: mkdir cpp/ && cd cpp/ && git init cat > pre <<EOF Foo():x(0&&1){} cout<<"Hello World!\n"<<endl; 1 -1e10 0xabcdef 'x' [a] a->b a.b !a ~a a++ a-- a*b a&b a*b a/b a%b a+b a-b a<<b a>>b a<b a<=b a>b a>=b a==b a!=b a&b a^b a|b a&&b a||b a?b:z a=b a+=b a-=b a*=b a/=b a%=b a<<=b a>>=b a&=b a^=b a|=b a,y a::b EOF cat > post <<EOF Foo() : x(0&42) { bar(x); } cout<<"Hello World?\n"<<endl; (1) (-1e10) (0xabcdef) 'y' [x] x->y x.y !x ~x x++ x-- x*y x&y x*y x/y x%y x+y x-y x<<y x>>y x<y x<=y x>y x>=y x==y x!=y x&y x^y x|y x&&y x||y x?y:z x=y x+=y x-=y x*=y x/=y x%=y x<<=y x>>=y x&=y x^=y x|=y x,y x::y EOF echo '* diff="cpp"' > .gitmodules git diff --no-index --color-words pre post > output Surprisingly, it shows (which is very different from the expected output): ^[[1mdiff --git a/pre b/post^[[m ^[[1mindex 23d5c8a..7e8c026 100644^[[m ^[[1m--- a/pre^[[m ^[[1m+++ b/post^[[m ^[[36m@@ -1,19 +1,19 @@^[[m ^[[31mFoo():x(0&&1){}^[[m^[[32mFoo() : x(0&42) { bar(x); }^[[m cout<<"Hello ^[[31mWorld!\n"<<endl;^[[m ^[[31m1 -1e10 0xabcdef 'x'^[[m ^[[31m[a] a->b a.b^[[m ^[[31m!a ~a a++ a-- a*b a&b^[[m ^[[31ma*b a/b a%b^[[m ^[[31ma+b a-b^[[m ^[[31ma<<b a>>b^[[m ^[[31ma<b a<=b a>b a>=b^[[m ^[[31ma==b a!=b^[[m ^[[31ma&b^[[m ^[[31ma^b^[[m ^[[31ma|b^[[m ^[[31ma&&b^[[m ^[[31ma||b^[[m ^[[31ma?b:z^[[m ^[[31ma=b a+=b a-=b a*=b a/=b a%=b a<<=b a>>=b a&=b a^=b a|=b^[[m ^[[31ma,y^[[m ^[[31ma::b^[[m^[[32mWorld?\n"<<endl;^[[m ^[[32m(1) (-1e10) (0xabcdef) 'y'^[[m ^[[32m[x] x->y x.y^[[m ^[[32m!x ~x x++ x-- x*y x&y^[[m ^[[32mx*y x/y x%y^[[m ^[[32mx+y x-y^[[m ^[[32mx<<y x>>y^[[m ^[[32mx<y x<=y x>y x>=y^[[m ^[[32mx==y x!=y^[[m ^[[32mx&y^[[m ^[[32mx^y^[[m ^[[32mx|y^[[m ^[[32mx&&y^[[m ^[[32mx||y^[[m ^[[32mx?y:z^[[m ^[[32mx=y x+=y x-=y x*=y x/=y x%=y x<<=y x>>=y x&=y x^=y x|=y^[[m ^[[32mx,y^[[m ^[[32mx::y^[[m Instead of: <BOLD>diff --git a/pre b/post<RESET> <BOLD>index 23d5c8a..7e8c026 100644<RESET> <BOLD>--- a/pre<RESET> <BOLD>+++ b/post<RESET> <CYAN>@@ -1,19 +1,19 @@<RESET> Foo() : x(0<RED>&&1<RESET><GREEN>&42<RESET>) { <GREEN>bar(x);<RESET> } cout<<"Hello World<RED>!<RESET><GREEN>?<RESET>\n"<<endl; <GREEN>(<RESET>1<GREEN>) (<RESET>-1e10<GREEN>) (<RESET>0xabcdef<GREEN>)<RESET> '<RED>x<RESET><GREEN>y<RESET>' [<RED>a<RESET><GREEN>x<RESET>] <RED>a<RESET><GREEN>x<RESET>-><RED>b a<RESET><GREEN>y x<RESET>.<RED>b<RESET><GREEN>y<RESET> !<RED>a<RESET><GREEN>x<RESET> ~<RED>a a<RESET><GREEN>x x<RESET>++ <RED>a<RESET><GREEN>x<RESET>-- <RED>a<RESET><GREEN>x<RESET>*<RED>b a<RESET><GREEN>y x<RESET>&<RED>b<RESET> <RED>a<RESET><GREEN>y<RESET> <GREEN>x<RESET>*<RED>b a<RESET><GREEN>y x<RESET>/<RED>b a<RESET><GREEN>y x<RESET>%<RED>b<RESET> <RED>a<RESET><GREEN>y<RESET> <GREEN>x<RESET>+<RED>b a<RESET><GREEN>y x<RESET>-<RED>b<RESET> <RED>a<RESET><GREEN>y<RESET> <GREEN>x<RESET><<<RED>b a<RESET><GREEN>y x<RESET>>><RED>b<RESET> <RED>a<RESET><GREEN>y<RESET> <GREEN>x<RESET><<RED>b a<RESET><GREEN>y x<RESET><=<RED>b a<RESET><GREEN>y x<RESET>><RED>b a<RESET><GREEN>y x<RESET>>=<RED>b<RESET> <RED>a<RESET><GREEN>y<RESET> <GREEN>x<RESET>==<RED>b a<RESET><GREEN>y x<RESET>!=<RED>b<RESET> <RED>a<RESET><GREEN>y<RESET> <GREEN>x<RESET>&<RED>b<RESET> <RED>a<RESET><GREEN>y<RESET> <GREEN>x<RESET>^<RED>b<RESET> <RED>a<RESET><GREEN>y<RESET> <GREEN>x<RESET>|<RED>b<RESET> <RED>a<RESET><GREEN>y<RESET> <GREEN>x<RESET>&&<RED>b<RESET> <RED>a<RESET><GREEN>y<RESET> <GREEN>x<RESET>||<RED>b<RESET> <RED>a<RESET><GREEN>y<RESET> <GREEN>x<RESET>?<RED>b<RESET><GREEN>y<RESET>:z <RED>a<RESET><GREEN>x<RESET>=<RED>b a<RESET><GREEN>y x<RESET>+=<RED>b a<RESET><GREEN>y x<RESET>-=<RED>b a<RESET><GREEN>y x<RESET>*=<RED>b a<RESET><GREEN>y x<RESET>/=<RED>b a<RESET><GREEN>y x<RESET>%=<RED>b a<RESET><GREEN>y x<RESET><<=<RED>b a<RESET><GREEN>y x<RESET>>>=<RED>b a<RESET><GREEN>y x<RESET>&=<RED>b a<RESET><GREEN>y x<RESET>^=<RED>b a<RESET><GREEN>y x<RESET>|=<RED>b<RESET> <RED>a<RESET><GREEN>y<RESET> <GREEN>x<RESET>,y <RED>a<RESET><GREEN>x<RESET>::<RED>b<RESET><GREEN>y<RESET> That's does not just happens to cpp builtins, it happens to bibtex as well. Is it that I had missed some configuration since I have tested this on a few machines? I have a workaround for that, which is to run log with --color-words=<regex> with regex from the userdiff.c, does it automatically use the builtins diff?