xxdiff – graphical file and directories comparator and merge tool

xxdiff is an open source graphical file and directories comparator and merge tool.

xxdiff can be used for viewing the differences between two or three files, or two directories, and can be used to produce a merged version. The texts of the two or three files are presented side by side with their differences highlighted with colors for easy identification.

This program is an essential software development tool that can be used to visualize the differences between files or directories, merge files with differences, resolving conflicts and saving output to a new file or patch, and assist file changes reviewing and comment production (e.g. approving source code changes before they get merged into a source tree).

Key Features

• Compare two files, three files, or two directories (shallow and recursive).
• Horizontal diffs highlighting – compute the diffs between pairs of matching lines, i.e. horizontal diffs. The differing parts are highlighted with a brighter color.
• Files can be merged interactively and resulting output visualized and saved.
• Features to assist in performing merge reviews/policing.
• Unmerge CVS conflicts in automatically merged file and display them as two files, to help resolve conflicts.
• Uses external diff program to compute differences: works with GNU diff, SGI diff and ClearCase’s cleardiff, and any other diff whose output is similar to those.
• Fully customizable with a resource file.
• Look-and-feel similar to Rudy Wortel’s/SGI xdiff, it is desktop agnostic.
• Features and output that ease integration with scripts.

Website: urius.ca/xxdiff
Support: GitHub Code Repository
Developer: Martin Blais
License: GNU General Public License v2.0

xxdiff is written in C++ and Python. Learn C++ with our recommended free books and free tutorials. Learn Python with our recommended free books and free tutorials.

Related Software

Read our verdict in the software roundup.

Explore our carefully curated directory of recommended free and open source software, covering every major software category. The directory forms part of our extensive collection of articles for Linux enthusiasts. It includes hundreds of detailed reviews, together with free and open source alternatives to proprietary software from companies such as Google, Microsoft, Apple, Adobe, IBM, Cisco, Oracle, and Autodesk. LinuxLinks also covers interesting projects worth exploring, Linux-compatible hardware, free programming books and tutorials, and much more. Know a useful free and open source Linux application that we haven’t covered? Tell us about it using our submission form.