Diff Tools

xmldiff – compare XML documents

xmldiff is a Python library and command-line utility for comparing XML documents structurally instead of line by line.

It’s designed for hierarchical markup where ordinary text diffs are hard to read, and it can generate edit scripts or marked-up output that shows how one XML tree changes into another. The project can diff XML files, strings, and lxml trees, and it also provides patching functions and commands so generated diffs can be applied back to XML documents.

This is free and open source software.

Key Features

  • Provides separate xmldiff and xmlpatch commands for generating and applying XML diffs.
  • Supports configurable matching behaviour with thresholds, unique attributes, ignored attributes, ratio modes, and fast matching options.
  • Can return edit scripts or formatter-generated output depending on the workflow.
  • Includes formatter support for whitespace normalization and XML-marked diff output.
  • Can produce more useful visual diffs for formatted XML or HTML content by distinguishing text changes from formatting changes.
  • Works with modern Python versions and uses lxml as its runtime dependency.

Website: github.com/Shoobx/xmldiff
Support:
Developer: Shoobx
License: MIT License

xmldiff options

xmldiff is written in Python. Learn Python with our recommended free books and free tutorials.


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Read our verdict in the software roundup.


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