diffr refines unified diff output by identifying the exact parts of changed lines that differ. A traditional diff marks whole lines as removed and added; that can make a small edit difficult to spot when a line contains a long expression or passage of text.
The program works as a filter, reading diff text from standard input and emitting a version with terminal highlighting. It can therefore be used with Git commands and other tools without replacing the process that produced the original comparison.
The distinction between line changes and word changes is most noticeable in documentation, long strings and formatted expressions. By keeping the unified diff format intact, the tool can remain part of an established review pipeline while adding more precise visual cues to the original patch.
This is free and open source software.
Key Features
- Adds word-level comparison to conventional unified diffs.
- Preserves the basic hunk structure of the source diff while highlighting changed portions.
- Processes diff hunks individually so a long patch remains manageable.
- Uses a longest-common-subsequence algorithm for finer-grained comparison of edits.
- Handles UTF-8 text while respecting grapheme clusters.
- Provides configurable styles for additions, removals, matching text and altered regions.
- Can dim unchanged portions of a line to reduce visual distraction.
- Offers optional display of line numbers.
- Integrates into Git pager and interactive diff-filter workflows.
- Reads from standard input and writes to standard output for simple command pipelines.
Website: github.com/mookid/diffr
Support:
Developer: Nathan Moreau
License: MIT License
diffr is written in Rust. Learn Rust with our recommended free books and free tutorials.
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Read our verdict in the software roundup.
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