Free file diff tool

Plain black on white text indicates identical lines or characters while green, blue or red colors indicate that information are not available in all files. Besides options to compare files with each other, it is also possible to merge selected information in various ways.

It is for instance possible to prioritize information in one file or configure the program to resolve basic differences automatically to save time. Meld requires that Python 2 is installed on the system.

It ships with it and will install the components it requires unless you uncheck that option during installation. The software supports two- and three-way file comparisons, folder comparisons, and supports a version control view that you can make use of as well.

It highlights differences between loaded files directly and uses colors to visualize those in its interface. What sets it apart from the majority of comparable solutions is the fact that it visualizes how blocks relate to each other in both files. Merge supports the merging of files and a variety of other options such as tabs to load multiple comparisons at once. Tkdiff is a graphical front end to the diff program.

You can use it to load two files which it displays next to each other afterwards. Each difference is listed in a small menu at the top left corner which you can use to jump straight to it. Options are provided to edit files directly in the tkdiff interface and to change how things are displayed in it as well. It is for instance possible to disable the scrollbar synchronization or to mark the current diff. WinMerge has been around for a very long time.

The program is available as a portable version or installer for Windows. You can use it to compare two different files that you load into it. Differences are color coded and options are provided to edit files directly in the program window, or to use the merging tools to merge information from two files. The software supports a large number of comfortable features such as support for bookmarks, plugins, options to generate reports or change how information are displayed in the interface.

Tip : WinMerge is an official fork that is in active development. So which file comparison tool is right for you? I cannot answer that but I can give you recommendations instead. The tool that impressed me the most is Meld. While it requires the installation of Python 2, it supports a lot of different features, is available cross-platform, and supports folder diff on top of all that.

Also, and that may be equally important, it is updated frequently. A lighter option to that is Kdiff3 which worked well during tests, and if you require binary comparison of files, you may want to check out Aptdif instead.

Now You : Use another tool to compare files? Feel free to share it with all of us in the comment section below. The link for Meld is broken. I have been using ExamDiff for years, but I would love to find one that could ignore certain column positions, i. Nice list, but would have been better to see more data points. For example, which of these support ignoring leading whitespace, or all whitespace? What about case insensitive diffs? Can you output a summary of the differences especially useful if doing directory comparisons?

How does the folder diff command differentiate uniqueness — by filename, filesize, filedate, or any combination of the three? Just a suggestion for next time. Very surprised that you have not included Beyond Compare from Scooter Software. I have used it for years and feel it is better than anything on your current list. I totally agree with you Ryan. And BC is not free…. Meld helps you review code changes and understand patches.

It might even help you to figure out what is going on in that merge you keep avoiding. KDiff3 is a file and directory diff and merge tool which compares and merges two or three text input files or directories, shows the differences line by line and character by character, provides an automatic merge-facility, has an editor for comfortable solving of merge-conflicts, provides networktransparency via KIO, has options to highlight or hide changes in white-space or comments, supports Unicode, UTF-8 and other file encodings, prints differences, supports version control keyword and history merging.

Diffinity is a diff and merging tool with focus on accurate and easy to read source code diffs. Drag and drop support Works quickly and efficiently Scan and search contents features Command line interface. Hard to compare files on FTP hosts. Manual alignment of lines Printing of differences Supports 3 way merges Diff by character not by lines. Confusing GUI. Workshare Compare. PDF Filler option is poor. Compare folders and files Lightweight, quick startup Moved lines detection Supports many types of images.

Windows only. Highest Quality Image Format. Fine Art Nude Photography. Download Photoshop Online. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. You can check out the manual entry for diff to easily use it.

If you liked this article, then do subscribe to email alerts for Linux tutorials. If you have any questions or doubts? Related Posts. Amin Many thanks for sharing, we will check it out.

I use Meld. I am asking because I use Meld and making a diff of a Mb SQL file just take forever, a little better if I turn off the syntax coloring but still take forever… Got any advice for comparing large files? Thanks in advance Reply. Nicolas You can try the other tools in the list. They are equally good. Mikko Really, okay! Many thanks for sharing with us first class experience. Thanks for this write-up on the diff tools.

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