1DIFFUSE(1) Diffuse Manual DIFFUSE(1)
2
6 diffuse - graphical tool for merging and comparing text files
7
9 diffuse [-h | -? | --help | -v | --version]
10 diffuse [--no-rcfile | --rcfile file] [[option...] | [file...]...]
12
14 Diffuse is a graphical tool for merging and comparing text files.
15 Diffuse is able to compare an arbitrary number of files side-by-side
16 and gives users the ability to manually adjust line matching and
17 directly edit files. Diffuse can also retrieve revisions of files from
18 Bazaar, CVS, Darcs, Git, Mercurial, Monotone, RCS, Subversion, and SVK
19 repositories for comparison and merging.
20
22 Help Options
23 If a help option is specified, it must be the only argument specified
24 on the command line. Diffuse will immediately quit after displaying
25 the help information.
26 -h, -?, --help
28 Display usage information.
29 -v, --version
31 Display version number and copyright information.
32 Configuration Options
34 If a configuration option is specified, it must be the first argument
35 specified on the command line.
36 --no-rcfile
38 Do not read any initialisation files.
39 --rcfile file
41 Only read initialisation commands from file file.
42 General Options
44 -c, --commit rev
45 Include revision rev - 1 and rev of the next file named in the
46 command line arguments in a file comparison tab.
47 -D, --close-if-same
49 Close all tabs with no differences.
50 -e, --encoding codec
52 Use codec to read and write files.
53 -L, --label label
55 Display label instead of the file name.
56 -m, --modified
58 Open all modified files from the remaining paths specified in the
59 command line arguments in separate file comparison tabs.
60 -r, --revision rev
62 Include revision rev of the next file named in the command line
63 arguments in a file comparison tab.
64 -s, --separate
66 Open all remaining files specified in the command line arguments in
67 separate file comparison tabs.
68 -t, --tab
70 Start a new tab for any remaining files named in the command line
71 arguments.
72 --line line
74 Start with line line selected.
75 --null-file
77 Create a blank file comparison pane.
78 Display Options
80 Display options specified in the command line arguments will override
81 saved preference values.
82 -b, --ignore-space-change
84 Ignore changes to the amount of white space.
85 -B, --ignore-blank-lines
87 Ignore changes whose lines are all blank.
88 -E, --ignore-end-of-line
90 Ignore end of line differences.
91 -i, --ignore-case
93 Ignore case differences in file contents.
94 -w, --ignore-all-space
96 Ignore all white space.
97
99 Use the File → New 2-Way File Merge and File → New 3-Way File Merge
100 menu items to create additional tabs for comparing text files. File
101 names and revisions can be specified either in the command line
102 arguments used to invoke Diffuse or in fields on the Open File
103 dialogue.
104 Diffuse displays files side-by-side inserting gaps to align similar
106 lines of text. Differences are highlighted with a different background
107 colour.
108 Comparison Summary
110 A summary of the compared files is located in the far right margin. The
111 summary illustrates where gaps have been inserted to align matching
112 lines of text and highlights differences using colour. Manual edits are
113 also highlighted in green. A blue cursor identifies the region
114 currently being viewed. The viewed region can be changed by clicking
115 anywhere on the summary.
116 Selecting
118 Lines of text can be selected using the mouse pointer or keyboard.
119 Select lines of text with the mouse pointer by clicking on a line.
120 Click and drag to select multiple lines. Holding down the shift key
121 when clicking will extend the current selection. Select lines using the
122 keyboard by pressing the page up/down or arrow keys. Extend the current
123 selection by holding down the shift key and pressing the page up/down
124 or arrow keys. Move the selection to an adjacent file using the left
125 and right arrow keys.
126 Matching Lines
128 The mouse pointer or keyboard can be used to manually align lines of
129 text with adjacent files. To aligning lines of text using the mouse
130 pointer, select a line of text with the left mouse button, right click
131 on a line of text from an adjacent file, and choose Align with
132 Selection. To align lines of text using the keyboard, move the
133 selection with the cursor keys, press the space bar to pick the current
134 line of text, move the selection with the cursor keys to a line of text
135 in an adjacent file, and press the space bar to pick the target line of
136 text. Pressing the Escape key will cancel the operation.
137 Use the Isolate menu item to prevent the selected lines from being
139 matched with any lines from the adjacent files.
140 Editing
142 Press the Enter key or double-click on a text area to enter text
143 editing mode. The cursor will change to indicate text editing mode and
144 the status bar at the bottom of the window will display the cursor's
145 column position.
146 In text editing mode, text can be selected with the mouse pointer by
148 click and dragging. The current selection can be extended by holding
149 down the shift key and moving the cursor by clicking with the mouse
150 pointer or pressing any of the arrow, home, end or page up/down keys.
151 Individual words can be selected by double-clicking on them with the
152 mouse pointer. Whole lines can be selected by triple-clicking on them
153 with the mouse pointer.
154 Modify text by typing on the keyword. Modified lines will be
156 highlighted in green. Use the Undo and Redo menu items to undo and redo
157 the previously preformed operations.
158 Press the Escape key or click on another file's text area using the
160 left mouse button to leave editing mode.
161 Merging
163 Use the difference buttons or menu items to navigate between blocks of
164 differences within a file. When navigating, Diffuse will move the
165 selection to the next continuous set of lines with differences or
166 edits.
167 Use the merge buttons or menu items to copy blocks of text into the
169 selected range of lines. The Undo and Redo menu items can be used to
170 undo and redo the previously preformed operations. All changes to a set
171 of lines can be reverted using the Clear Edits menu item regardless of
172 the order the edits were performed.
173
175 Diffuse can retrieve file revisions from several version control
176 systems via their command line interface. The Microsoft Windows build
177 of Diffuse is able to use both the Cygwin and native versions of the
178 supported version control systems. When using Diffuse with Cygwin,
179 ensure Diffuse's Cygwin preferences correctly describe your system. If
180 the Update paths for Cygwin preference exists for a version control
181 system, it must be enabled to use the Cygwin version.
182 Version control systems are sensitive to the system path and other
184 environment variable settings. The Launch from a Bash login shell
185 preference may be used to easily set the environment for Cygwin version
186 control systems.
187 Viewing Uncommitted Modifications
189 The -m option will cause Diffuse to open comparison tabs for each file
190 the version control system indicates has uncommitted modifications.
191 This is convenient for reviewing all changes before committing or
192 resolving a merge conflict. If no paths are specified the current
193 working directory will be used. For example, view all of your
194 uncommitted modifications with this command line:
195 $ diffuse -m
197 The default revision of a file will be used for comparison if only one
199 file is specified. For example, this will display a 2-way merge between
200 the default revision of foo.C and the local foo.C file:
201 $ diffuse foo.C
203 Specifying Revisions
206 The -r option may also be used to explicitly specify a particular file
207 revision. Any revision specifier understood by the version control
208 system may be used. The local file will be used for comparison if only
209 one file revision is specified. For example, this will display a 2-way
210 merge between revision 123 of foo.C and the local foo.C file:
211 $ diffuse -r 123 foo.C
213 Multiple file revisions can be compared by specifying multiple -r
215 options. For example, this will display a 2-way merge between revision
216 123 of foo.C and revision 321 of foo.C:
217 $ diffuse -r 123 -r 321 foo.C
219 Local files can be mixed with files from the version control system.
221 For example, this will display a 3-way merge between revision
222 MERGE_HEAD of foo.C, the local foo.C file, and revision HEAD of foo.C:
223 $ diffuse -r MERGE_HEAD foo.C foo.C -r HEAD foo.C
225 For the -c option may be used to easily specify a pair of numerically
227 sequential revisions. For example, this will display a 2-way merge
228 between revision 1.2.2 of foo.C and revision 1.2.3 of foo.C:
229 $ diffuse -c 1.2.3 foo.C
231 Diffuse does not limit the number of panes that can be used for
233 comparing files. The inputs to a Git octopus merge could be viewed with
234 a command line like this:
235 $ diffuse -r HEAD^1 -r HEAD^2 -r HEAD^3 -r HEAD^4 -r HEAD^5 foo.C
237
240 Resources can be used to customise several aspects of Diffuse's
241 appearance and behaviour such as changing the colours used in the user
242 interface, customising the keyboard shortcuts, adding or replacing
243 syntax highlighting rules, or changing the mapping from file extensions
244 to syntax highlighting rules.
245 When Diffuse is started, it will read commands from the system wide
247 initialisation file /etc/diffuserc (%INSTALL_DIR%\diffuserc on
248 Microsoft Windows) and then the personal initialisation file
249 ~/.config/diffuse/diffuserc (%HOME%\.config\diffuse\diffuserc on
250 Microsoft Windows). This behaviour can be changed with the --no-rcfile
251 and --rcfile configuration options. A Bourne shell-like lexical
252 analyser is used to parse initialisation commands. Comments and special
253 characters can be embedded using the same style of escaping used in
254 Bourne shell scripts.
255 General
257 import file
258 Processes initialisation commands from file. Initialisation files
259 will only be processed once.
260 Key Bindings
262 keybinding context action key_combination
263 Binds a key combination to action when used in context. Specify
264 Shift and Control modifiers by prepending Shift+ and Ctrl+ to
265 key_combination respectively. Keys normally modified by the Shift
266 key should be specified using their modified value if
267 key_combination involves the Shift key. For example, Ctrl+g and
268 Shift+Ctrl+G. Remove bindings for key_combination by specifying
269 None for the action.
270 Menu Item Key Bindings
272 Use menu for the context to define key bindings for menu items. The
273 following values are valid for action:
274 open_file
276 File → Open File... menu item
277 Default: Ctrl+o
279 open_file_in_new_tab
281 File → Open File In New Tab... menu item
282 Default: Ctrl+t
284 open_modified_files
286 File → Open Modified Files... menu item
287 Default: Shift+Ctrl+O
289 reload_file
291 File → Reload File menu item
292 Default: Shift+Ctrl+R
294 save_file
296 File → Save File menu item
297 Default: Ctrl+s
299 save_file_as
301 File → Save File As... menu item
302 Default: Shift+Ctrl+A
304 save_all
306 File → Save All menu item
307 Default: Shift+Ctrl+S
309 new_2_way_file_merge
311 File → New 2-Way File Merge menu item
312 Default: Ctrl+2
314 new_3_way_file_merge
316 File → New 3-Way File Merge menu item
317 Default: Ctrl+3
319 close_tab
321 File → Close Tab menu item
322 Default: Ctrl+w
324 undo_close_tab
326 File → Undo Close Tab menu item
327 Default: Shift+Ctrl+w
329 quit
331 File → Quit menu item
332 Default: Ctrl+q
334 undo
336 Edit → Undo menu item
337 Default: Ctrl+z
339 redo
341 Edit → Redo menu item
342 Default: Shift+Ctrl+Z
344 cut
346 Edit → Cut menu item
347 Default: Ctrl+x
349 copy
351 Edit → Copy menu item
352 Default: Ctrl+c
354 paste
356 Edit → Paste menu item
357 Default: Ctrl+v
359 select_all
361 Edit → Select All menu item
362 Default: Ctrl+a
364 clear_edits
366 Edit → Clear Edits menu item
367 Default: Ctrl+r
369 dismiss_all_edits
371 Edit → Dismiss All Edits menu item
372 Default: Ctrl+d
374 find
376 Edit → Find... menu item
377 Default: Ctrl+f
379 find_next
381 Edit → Find Next menu item
382 Default: Ctrl+g
384 find_previous
386 Edit → Find Previous menu item
387 Default: Shift+Ctrl+G
389 go_to_line
391 Edit → Go To Line... menu item
392 Default: Shift+Ctrl+L
394 preferences
396 Edit → Preferences menu item
397 Default: None
399 no_syntax_highlighting
401 View → Syntax Highlighting → None menu item
402 Default: None
404 syntax_highlighting_syntax
406 View → Syntax Highlighting → syntax menu item
407 Default: None
409 realign_all
411 View → Realign All menu item
412 Default: Ctrl+l
414 isolate
416 View → Isolate menu item
417 Default: Ctrl+i
419 first_difference
421 View → First Difference menu item
422 Default: Shift+Ctrl+Up
424 previous_difference
426 View → Previous Difference menu item
427 Default: Ctrl+Up
429 next_difference
431 View → Next Difference menu item
432 Default: Ctrl+Down
434 last_difference
436 View → Last Difference menu item
437 Default: Shift+Ctrl+Down
439 first_tab
441 View → First Tab menu item
442 Default: Shift+Ctrl+Page_Up
444 previous_tab
446 View → Previous Tab menu item
447 Default: Ctrl+Page_Up
449 next_tab
451 View → Next Tab menu item
452 Default: Ctrl+Page_Down
454 last_tab
456 View → Last Tab menu item
457 Default: Shift+Ctrl+Page_Down
459 shift_pane_right
461 View → Shift Pane Right menu item
462 Default: Shift+Ctrl+parenleft
464 shift_pane_left
466 View → Shift Pane Left menu item
467 Default: Shift+Ctrl+parenright
469 convert_to_upper_case
471 Format → Convert To Upper Case menu item
472 Default: Ctrl+u
474 convert_to_lower_case
476 Format → Convert To Lower Case menu item
477 Default: Shift+Ctrl+U
479 sort_lines_in_ascending_order
481 Format → Sort Lines In Ascending Order menu item
482 Default: Ctrl+y
484 sort_lines_in_descending_order
486 Format → Sort Lines In Descending Order menu item
487 Default: Shift+Ctrl+Y
489 remove_trailing_white_space
491 Format → Remove Trailing White Space menu item
492 Default: Ctrl+k
494 convert_tabs_to_spaces
496 Format → Convert Tabs To Spaces menu item
497 Default: Ctrl+b
499 convert_leading_spaces_to_tabs
501 Format → Convert Leading Spaces To Tabs menu item
502 Default: Shift+Ctrl+B
504 increase_indenting
506 Format → Increase Indenting menu item
507 Default: Shift+Ctrl+greater
509 decrease_indenting
511 Format → Decrease Indenting menu item
512 Default: Shift+Ctrl+less
514 convert_to_dos
516 Format → Convert To DOS Format menu item
517 Default: Shift+Ctrl+E
519 convert_to_mac
521 Format → Convert To Mac Format menu item
522 Default: Shift+Ctrl+C
524 convert_to_unix
526 Format → Convert To Unix Format menu item
527 Default: Ctrl+e
529 copy_selection_right
531 Merge → Copy Selection Right menu item
532 Default: Shift+Ctrl+Right
534 copy_selection_left
536 Merge → Copy Selection Left menu item
537 Default: Shift+Ctrl+Left
539 copy_left_into_selection
541 Merge → Copy Left Into Selection menu item
542 Default: Ctrl+Right
544 copy_right_into_selection
546 Merge → Copy Right Into Selection menu item
547 Default: Ctrl+Left
549 merge_from_left_then_right
551 Merge → Merge From Left Then Right menu item
552 Default: Ctrl+m
554 merge_from_right_then_left
556 Merge → Merge From Right Then Left menu item
557 Default: Shift+Ctrl+M
559 help_contents
561 Help → Help Contents menu item
562 Default: F1
564 about
566 Help → About menu item
567 Default: None
569 Line Editing Mode Key Bindings
571 Use line_mode for the context to define key bindings for line
572 editing mode. The following values are valid for action:
573 enter_align_mode
575 enter alignment editing mode
576 Default: space
578 enter_character_mode
580 enter character editing mode
581 Defaults: Return, KP_Enter
583 first_line
585 move cursor to the first line
586 Defaults: Home, g
588 extend_first_line
590 move cursor to the first line, extending the selection
591 Default: Shift+Home
593 last_line
595 move cursor to the last line
596 Defaults: End, Shift+G
598 extend_last_line
600 move cursor to the last line, extending the selection
601 Default: Shift+End
603 up
605 move cursor up one line
606 Defaults: Up, k
608 extend_up
610 move cursor up one line, extending the selection
611 Defaults: Shift+Up, Shift+K
613 down
615 move cursor down one line
616 Defaults: Down, j
618 extend_down
620 move cursor down one line, extending the selection
621 Defaults: Shift+Down, Shift+J
623 left
625 move cursor left one file
626 Defaults: Left, h
628 extend_left
630 move cursor left one file, extending the selection
631 Default: Shift+Left
633 right
635 move cursor right one file
636 Defaults: Right, l
638 extend_right
640 move cursor right one file, extending the selection
641 Default: Shift+Right
643 page_up
645 move cursor up one page
646 Defaults: Page_Up, Ctrl+u
648 extend_page_up
650 move cursor up one page, extending the selection
651 Defaults: Shift+Page_Up, Shift+Ctrl+u
653 page_down
655 move cursor down one page
656 Defaults: Page_Down, Ctrl+d
658 extend_page_down
660 move cursor down one page, extending the selection
661 Defaults: Shift+Page_Down, Shift+Ctrl+d
663 delete_text
665 delete the selected text
666 Defaults: BackSpace, Delete, x
668 first_difference
670 select the first difference
671 Defaults: Ctrl+Home, Shift+P
673 previous_difference
675 select the previous difference
676 Default: p
678 next_difference
680 select the next difference
681 Default: n
683 last_difference
685 select the last difference
686 Defaults: Ctrl+End, Shift+N
688 clear_edits
690 clear all edits from the selected lines
691 Default: r
693 copy_left_into_selection
695 copy lines from the file on the left into the selection
696 Default: Shift+L
698 copy_right_into_selection
700 copy lines from the file on the right into the selection
701 Default: Shift+H
703 merge_from_left_then_right
705 merge lines from file on the left then file on the right
706 Default: m
708 merge_from_right_then_left
710 merge lines from file on the right then file on the left
711 Default: Shift+M
713 isolate
715 isolate the selected lines
716 Default: i
718 Alignment Editing Mode Key Bindings
720 Use align_mode for the context to define key bindings for alignment
721 editing mode. The following values are valid for action:
722 enter_line_mode
724 enter line editing mode
725 Default: Escape
727 enter_character_mode
729 enter character editing mode
730 Defaults: Return, KP_Enter
732 first_line
734 move cursor to the first line
735 Default: g
737 last_line
739 move cursor to the last line
740 Default: Shift+G
742 up
744 move cursor up one line
745 Defaults: Up, k
747 down
749 move cursor down one line
750 Defaults: Down, j
752 left
754 move cursor left one file
755 Defaults: Left, h
757 right
759 move cursor right one file
760 Defaults: Right, l
762 page_up
764 move cursor up one page
765 Defaults: Page_Up, Ctrl+u
767 page_down
769 move cursor down one page
770 Defaults: Page_Down, Ctrl+d
772 align
774 align the selected line to the cursor position
775 Default: space
777 Character Editing Mode Key Bindings
779 Use character_mode for the context to define key bindings for
780 character editing mode. The following values are valid for action:
781 enter_line_mode
783 enter line editing mode
784 Default: Escape
786 Strings
788 string name value
789 Declares a string resource called name with value value.
790 Used String Resources
792 The following string resources are used by Diffuse:
793 difference_colours
795 a list of colour resources used to indicate differences
796 Default: difference_1 difference_2 difference_3
798 Colours
800 [ colour | color ] name red green blue
801 Declares a colour resource called name. Individual colour
802 components should be expressed as a value between 0 and 1.
803 Used Colour Resources
805 The following colour resources are used by Diffuse:
806 alignment
808 colour used to indicate a line picked for manual alignment
809 Default: 1 1 0
811 character_selection
813 colour used to indicate selected characters
814 Default: 0.7 0.7 1
816 cursor
818 colour used for the cursor
819 Default: 0 0 0
821 difference_1
823 colour used to identify differences between the first pair of
824 files
825 Default: 1 0.625 0.625
827 difference_2
829 colour used to identify differences between the second pair of
830 files
831 Default: 0.85 0.625 0.775
833 difference_3
835 colour used to identify differences between the third pair of
836 files
837 Default: 0.85 0.775 0.625
839 edited
841 colour used to indicate edited lines
842 Default: 0.5 1 0.5
844 hatch
846 colour used for indicating alignment gaps
847 Default: 0.8 0.8 0.8
849 line_number
851 colour used for line numbers
852 Default: 0 0 0
854 line_number_background
856 background colour for the line number area
857 Default: 0.75 0.75 0.75
859 line_selection
861 colour used to indicate selected lines
862 Default: 0.7 0.7 1
864 map_background
866 background colour for the map area
867 Default: 0.6 0.6 0.6
869 margin
871 colour used to indicate the right margin
872 Default: 0.8 0.8 0.8
874 preedit
876 pre-edit text colour
877 Default: 0 0 0
879 text
881 regular text colour
882 Default: 0 0 0
884 text_background
886 background colour for the text area
887 Default: 1 1 1
889 Floating Point Values
891 float name value
892 Declares a floating point resource called name with value value.
893 Used Floating Point Resources
895 The following floating point resources are used by Diffuse:
896 alignment_opacity
898 opacity used when compositing the manual alignment colour
899 Defaults: 1
901 character_difference_opacity
903 opacity used when compositing character difference colours
904 Defaults: 0.4
906 character_selection_opacity
908 opacity used when compositing the character selection colour
909 Defaults: 0.4
911 edited_opacity
913 opacity used when compositing the edited line colour
914 Defaults: 0.4
916 line_difference_alpha
918 alpha value used when compositing line difference colours
919 Defaults: 0.3
921 line_selection_opacity
923 opacity used when compositing the line selection colour
924 Defaults: 0.4
926 Syntax Highlighting
928 syntax name [initial_state default_tag]
929 Declares a new syntax style called name. Syntax highlighting uses a
930 simple state machine that transitions between states when certain
931 patterns are matched. The initial state for the state machine will
932 be initial_state. All characters not matched by a pattern will be
933 tagged as default_tag for highlighting. The syntax style called
934 name can be removed by omitting initial_state and default_tag.
935 syntax_files name [pattern]
937 Specifies that files with a name matching pattern should be
938 highlighted using the syntax style called name. Patterns used to
939 match files for use with the syntax style called name can be
940 removed by omitting pattern.
941 syntax_magic name [pattern [ignorecase]]
943 Specifies that files with a first line matching pattern should be
944 highlighted using the syntax style called name. Patterns used to
945 match files for use with the syntax style called name can be
946 removed by omitting pattern.
947 syntax_pattern name initial_state final_state tag pattern [ignorecase]
949 Adds a pattern to the previously declared syntax style. Patterns
950 are tried one at a time in the order they were declared until the
951 first match is found. A pattern will only be used to match
952 characters if the state machine is in the state initial_state. The
953 state machine will transition to final_state if the pattern defined
954 by pattern is matched. Case insensitive pattern matching will be
955 used if ignorecase is specified. All characters matched by the
956 pattern will be tagged as tag for highlighting.
957
959 The following files are used by Diffuse:
960 /etc/diffuserc
962 system wide initialisations (%INSTALL_DIR%\diffuserc on Microsoft
963 Windows)
964 /usr/share/diffuse/syntax/*.syntax
966 syntax files for various languages (%INSTALL_DIR%\syntax\*.syntax
967 on Microsoft Windows)
968 ~/.config/diffuse/diffuserc
970 your initialisations (%HOME%\.config\diffuse\diffuserc on Microsoft
971 Windows)
972 ~/.config/diffuse/prefs
974 your saved preferences (%HOME%\.config\diffuse\prefs on Microsoft
975 Windows)
976 ~/.config/diffuse/state
978 data persistent across sessions (%HOME%\.config\diffuse\state on
979 Microsoft Windows)
980
982 Diffuse was written by Derrick Moser derrick_moser@yahoo.com.
983 © 2006-2011 Derrick Moser. All Rights Reserved.
985
987 Diffuse is free software; you may redistribute it and/or modify it
988 under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the
989 Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the licence, or (at your
990 option) any later version.
991diffuse 0.4.5 2011-07-13 DIFFUSE(1)