9 excellent code comparison tools under Linux [Recommended]

The following column linux tutorial will introduce you to 9 excellent code comparison tools under Linux. I hope it will be helpful to friends in need!

When we write code, we often need to know the differences between two files, or between different versions of the same file. There is a very powerful tool called BeyondCompare under Windows. So what tools do you need to use under Linux?

This article introduces 9 commonly used code comparison tools under Linux, including not only command line tools, but also GUI interface tools, allowing you to easily perform code comparisons.

1. diff command

diff command is a powerful text comparison tool that comes with Linux, and it is very convenient to use. Regarding its use, I have written a separate article before. Click the link below to view it.

Teach you a trick on text comparison method under Linux

The diff command is pre-installed in most Linux distributions. It can compare two text files line by line and output Their differences. For more information, you can directly view its man manual.

$ man diff

However, although the diff command is powerful, its output is too impressive, not intuitive and clear. Therefore, in order to make up for this shortcoming, some big guys developed more powerful tools based on diff. Two are recommended here: colordiff and wdiff.

colordiff command

colordiff is a Perl script tool. Its output is the same as the diff command, but it will color the code and have syntax highlighting. At the same time, you can customize the theme if you don't like its default colors.

You can install colordiff to your computer by yourself and choose different installation commands according to different distributions.

$ yum install colordiff             [On CentOS/RHEL/Fedora]
$ dnf install colordiff             [On Fedora 23+ version]
$ sudo apt-get install colordiff    [On Debian/Ubuntu/Mint]

Similarly, you can use the man command to view its help documentation:

$ man colordiff

wdiff command

diff command compares differences line by line, while wdiff Even more perverted is a word-for-word comparison. So if your text only changes a few words, using the wdiff command will be more efficient.

The installation command is as follows:

$ yum install wdiff             [On CentOS/RHEL/Fedora]
$ dnf install wdiff             [On Fedora 23+ version]
$ sudo apt-get install wdiff    [On Debian/Ubuntu/Mint]

For more details, you can view its man manual.

$ man wdiff

2. The vimdiff command

vimdiff is equivalent to the vim -d command, which is the diff mode of the Vim editor.

This command is usually followed by two or more file names as parameters. These files will be opened in the split window of the Vim editor at the same time, and the parts with different contents in the files will be highlighted.

Its Chinese homepage is: http://vimcdoc.sourceforge.net/doc/diff.html

The two introduced above are Linux commands Let’s take a look at some GUI comparison tools.

3. Kompare

Kompare is a GUI tool based on diff. Users can easily see the differences between files and support merging these differences.

The features of Kompare are as follows:

• supports multiple diff formats;
• supports comparison between directories;
• supports reading diff file;
• Customized interface;
• Create and apply patch files of source files.

The homepage of this tool is: https://www.kde.org/applications/development/kompare/

4. DiffMerge

DiffMerge is a cross-platform GUI text comparison tool with three major platform versions: Linux, Windows, and macOS. We know that BeyondCompare is a paid software, so if your company's copyright requirements are relatively high, you may wish to consider the DiffMerge tool.

DiffMerge has two major functions: 1. Graphically display the changes between two files. Contains internal line highlighting and full editing support. 2. Graphically display the changes between the three files. Allows automatic merging (when it is safe to do so) and full editorial control over the resulting file.

It has the following features:

• Supports folder comparison;
• Integrated file browser;
• Highly configurable.

The homepage of this tool is: https://sourcegear.com/diffmerge/

5. Meld

Meld is a lightweight GUI code comparison tool that supports users to compare files and directories, and is highly integrated with version control software. But for software developers, its following features are particularly attractive:

• Perform two-way and three-way diffs and merges
• Easily navigate between differences and conflicts
• Compare two or three directories file by file, display new files, Missing and changed files
• Supports many version control systems, including Git, Mercurial, Bazaar and SVN, etc.

Its official website is: http://meldmerge.org/

6. Diffuse

Diffuse is another very popular, free, compact, and very simple GUI text difference comparison and merge tool. It is written in Python and has two main functions: file comparison and version control, allowing file Edit, merge, and output the differences between two files.

You can use it to view the text comparison summary and use the mouse to select a line in the file for editing. Its other features include:

• Syntax highlighting
• Shortcut keys for easy text navigation
• Unlimited undos
• Supports unicode encoded files
• Supports many version control systems, including Git, Mercurial, Bazaar and SVN, etc.

Its official website is: http://diffuse.sourceforge.net/

7. XXdiff

XXdiff is a free, powerful file and folder difference comparison and merging tool that can run on many Unix-like systems. However, it has a limitation that it does not support unicode files, and there is no way to edit files directly.

It has the following features:

• Recursively compare files and folders
• Highlight differences
• Merge differences and export results
• Support external diff tools, such as: GNU diff, SIG diff, Cleareddiff, and more
• Support script expansion

8. KDiff3

KDiff3 is another very powerful cross-platform difference comparison and merging tool. It is developed by KDevelop and can be used in Runs on all Unix-like platforms, including Linux, Mac OS, Windows, etc.

It can compare or merge two to three files or directories, with the following features:

• Can compare differences sentence by sentence and word by word
• Supports automatic merging
• Built-in editor, you can manually resolve conflicts
• Supports unicode, UTF-8 and other encoding formats
• Supports printing differences

Its official website is: http://kdiff3.sourceforge.net/

9. TkDiff

TkDiff is another cross Platform, an easy-to-use GUI text comparison tool that can run on Linux, Windows and MacOS systems. It also provides a separate left and right interface for viewing two compared files.

However, it also has some features that other text comparison tools do not have, such as difference bookmarks and a navigation map that facilitates quick navigation of differences.

Its official website is: https://sourceforge.net/projects/tkdiff/

The above is the detailed content of 9 excellent code comparison tools under Linux [Recommended]. For more information, please follow other related articles on the PHP Chinese website!