Patdiff is a command-line diff utility written in OCaml that implements Bram Cohen’s patience diff algorithm.
It is intended to make comparisons easier to read when working with source code and configuration files, with a strong focus on developer-friendly output and flexible command-line usage.
This is free and open source software.
Key Features
- Provides word-level refinement to make changes easier to inspect.
- Supports plain ASCII, ANSI colour codes, and HTML output.
- Offers optional semantic diffing of numbers.
- Can recursively diff directories.
- Includes configurable output for markers, colours, location format, and context.
- Supports whitespace-aware diffing.
- Can read diff-like text from standard input when no file arguments are supplied.
- Includes a wrapper for use as Git’s external diff tool.
Website: github.com/janestreet/patdiff
Support:
Developer: Jane Street
License: MIT License
Patdiff is written in OCaml. Learn OCaml with our recommended free books and free tutorials.
Related Software
| Terminal-Based Diff Tools | |
|---|---|
| difftastic | Structural diff tool that compares files based on their syntax |
| hunk | Terminal diff viewer with syntax highlighting and side-by-side views |
| diff-so-fancy | Attractive diffs with diff-highlight and more |
| delta | Viewer for git and diff output |
| icdiff | An improved colored diff |
| diffoscope | In-depth comparison of files, archives, and directories |
| colordiff | Wrapper for diff with pretty syntax highlighting |
| diffsitter | Semantic diff tool |
| objdiff | Local diffing tool for decompilation project |
| ydiff | Tool to view colored, incremental diff in a version controlled workspace |
| diffr | Word-by-word diff highlighting utility |
| dyff | diff tool for YAML files |
| Wdiff | Wordwise implementation of diff |
| dwdiff | diff program that operates at the word level |
| diffyml | Compares YAML documents by their structure |
| oyo | Step-through diff viewer |
| diff2html-cli | Generate HTML diffs |
| biodiff | Terminal-based binary diff viewer |
| dirdiff | Compute the differences between two directories |
| csvdiff | Fast diff tool for comparing CSV files |
| VBinDiff | Visual binary diff |
| riff | Wrapper around diff |
| csv-diff | Diffing CSV and JSON files |
| xmldiff | Compare XML documents |
| Patdiff | File diff using the Patience Diff algorithm |
| dead-ringer | Binary diff utility |
| sesdiff | Generates a shortest edit script |
| semdiff | Semantic diff tool written in Rust |
Read our verdict in the software roundup.
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