diff
- Usage
- Flags

diff

Diff resources included in pod.json

kubectl diff -f pod.json

Diff file read from stdin

cat service.yaml | kubectl diff -f -

Diff configurations specified by file name or stdin between the current online configuration, and the configuration as it would be if applied.

The output is always YAML.

KUBECTL_EXTERNAL_DIFF environment variable can be used to select your own diff command. Users can use external commands with params too, example: KUBECTL_EXTERNAL_DIFF=”colordiff -N -u”

By default, the “diff” command available in your path will be run with the “-u” (unified diff) and “-N” (treat absent files as empty) options.

Exit status: 0 No differences were found. 1 Differences were found. >1 Kubectl or diff failed with an error.

Note: KUBECTL_EXTERNAL_DIFF, if used, is expected to follow that convention.

Usage

$ kubectl diff -f FILENAME

Flags

Name	Shorthand	Default	Usage
field-manager		kubectl-client-side-apply	Name of the manager used to track field ownership.
filename	f	[]	Filename, directory, or URL to files contains the configuration to diff
force-conflicts		false	If true, server-side apply will force the changes against conflicts.
kustomize	k		Process the kustomization directory. This flag can’t be used together with -f or -R.
recursive	R	false	Process the directory used in -f, —filename recursively. Useful when you want to manage related manifests organized within the same directory.
selector	l		Selector (label query) to filter on, supports ‘=’, ‘==’, and ‘!=’.(e.g. -l key1=value1,key2=value2)
server-side		false	If true, apply runs in the server instead of the client.