I like to compare two text files and save the difference under linux. I know there are tools like kdiff, diff vimdiff etc. but my expectation are as follows. Output should be in a separate file The difference should be quoted with colours, ex: delete line in red and added line in green something like that It should ignore space differences It should be an opensource tool

Reputation: 3184

compare two files and save the difference in linux

I like to compare two text files and save the difference under linux.

I know there are tools like kdiff, diff vimdiff etc. but my expectation are as follows.

Output should be in a separate file
The difference should be quoted with colours, ex: delete line in red and added line in green something like that
It should ignore space differences
It should be an opensource tool

Upvotes: 0

Reputation: 6276

Save the changes to a file:

diff -Nur originalfile newfile > patchfile

Use the difference file to change the origin file:

patch originfile patchfile

I think this is the easiest way to save the changes and reload the changes. By the way, you can use this command the create an update-package.

Upvotes: 0

Reputation: 10549

Like,

#!/bin/bash
wdiff -w "\e[31m" -x "\e[0m" -y "\e[32m" -z "\e[0m" "$@";

replace \e by, well, the ASCII character with value 0x1A. Put the two commands into some file, and run it using redirection.

Upvotes: 0

Reputation: 1099

use tkdiff4 -w file-name1 file-name2

It fulfills all your requirements. Specific color might be an issue.

Upvotes: 1

Reputation: 33217

try colordiff and man diff for options for ignoring whitespace etc

Upvotes: 0