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 Open separate file comparison tabs for all files affected by commit
46 rev from the remaining paths specified in the command line
47 arguments.
48 -D, --close-if-same
50 Close all tabs with no differences.
51 -e, --encoding codec
53 Use codec to read and write files.
54 -L, --label label
56 Display label instead of the file name.
57 -m, --modified
59 Open separate file comparison tabs for all modified files from the
60 remaining paths specified in the command line arguments.
61 -r, --revision rev
63 Include revision rev of the next file named in the command line
64 arguments in a file comparison tab.
65 -s, --separate
67 Open all remaining files specified in the command line arguments in
68 separate file comparison tabs.
69 -t, --tab
71 Start a new tab for any remaining files named in the command line
72 arguments.
73 --line line
75 Start with line line selected.
76 --null-file
78 Create a blank file comparison pane.
79 Display Options
81 Display options specified in the command line arguments will override
82 saved preference values.
83 -b, --ignore-space-change
85 Ignore changes to the amount of white space.
86 -B, --ignore-blank-lines
88 Ignore changes whose lines are all blank.
89 -E, --ignore-end-of-line
91 Ignore end of line differences.
92 -i, --ignore-case
94 Ignore case differences in file contents.
95 -w, --ignore-all-space
97 Ignore all white space.
98
100 Use the File → New 2-Way File Merge, File → New 3-Way File Merge, and
101 File → New N-Way File Merge menu items to create additional tabs for
102 comparing text files. File names and revisions can be specified either
103 in the command line arguments used to invoke Diffuse or in fields on
104 the Open File dialogue.
105 Diffuse displays files side-by-side inserting gaps to align similar
107 lines of text. Differences are highlighted with a different background
108 colour.
109 Comparison Summary
111 A summary of the compared files is located in the far right margin. The
112 summary illustrates where gaps have been inserted to align matching
113 lines of text and highlights differences using colour. Manual edits are
114 also highlighted in green. A blue cursor identifies the region
115 currently being viewed. The viewed region can be changed by clicking
116 anywhere on the summary.
117 Selecting
119 Lines of text can be selected using the mouse pointer or keyboard.
120 Select lines of text with the mouse pointer by clicking on a line.
121 Click and drag to select multiple lines. Holding down the shift key
122 when clicking will extend the current selection. Select lines using the
123 keyboard by pressing the page up/down or arrow keys. Extend the current
124 selection by holding down the shift key and pressing the page up/down
125 or arrow keys. Move the selection to an adjacent file using the left
126 and right arrow keys.
127 Matching Lines
129 The mouse pointer or keyboard can be used to manually align lines of
130 text with adjacent files. To aligning lines of text using the mouse
131 pointer, select a line of text with the left mouse button, right click
132 on a line of text from an adjacent file, and choose Align with
133 Selection. To align lines of text using the keyboard, move the
134 selection with the cursor keys, press the space bar to pick the current
135 line of text, move the selection with the cursor keys to a line of text
136 in an adjacent file, and press the space bar to pick the target line of
137 text. Pressing the Escape key will cancel the operation.
138 Use the Isolate menu item to prevent the selected lines from being
140 matched with any lines from the adjacent files.
141 Editing
143 Press the Enter key or double-click on a text area to enter text
144 editing mode. The cursor will change to indicate text editing mode and
145 the status bar at the bottom of the window will display the cursor's
146 column position.
147 In text editing mode, text can be selected with the mouse pointer by
149 click and dragging. The current selection can be extended by holding
150 down the shift key and moving the cursor by clicking with the mouse
151 pointer or pressing any of the arrow, home, end or page up/down keys.
152 Individual words can be selected by double-clicking on them with the
153 mouse pointer. Whole lines can be selected by triple-clicking on them
154 with the mouse pointer.
155 Modify text by typing on the keyword. Modified lines will be
157 highlighted in green. Use the Undo and Redo menu items to undo and redo
158 the previously preformed operations.
159 Press the Escape key or click on another file's text area using the
161 left mouse button to leave editing mode.
162 Merging
164 Use the difference buttons or menu items to navigate between blocks of
165 differences within a file. When navigating, Diffuse will move the
166 selection to the next continuous set of lines with differences or
167 edits.
168 Use the merge buttons or menu items to copy blocks of text into the
170 selected range of lines. The Undo and Redo menu items can be used to
171 undo and redo the previously preformed operations. All changes to a set
172 of lines can be reverted using the Clear Edits menu item regardless of
173 the order the edits were performed.
174
176 Diffuse can retrieve file revisions from several version control
177 systems via their command line interface. The Microsoft Windows build
178 of Diffuse is able to use both the Cygwin and native versions of the
179 supported version control systems. When using Diffuse with Cygwin,
180 ensure Diffuse's Cygwin preferences correctly describe your system. If
181 the Update paths for Cygwin preference exists for a version control
182 system, it must be enabled to use the Cygwin version.
183 Version control systems are sensitive to the system path and other
185 environment variable settings. The Launch from a Bash login shell
186 preference may be used to easily set the environment for Cygwin version
187 control systems.
188 Viewing Uncommitted Modifications
190 The -m option will cause Diffuse to open comparison tabs for each file
191 the version control system indicates has uncommitted modifications.
192 This is convenient for reviewing all changes before committing or
193 resolving a merge conflict. If no paths are specified the current
194 working directory will be used. For example, view all of your
195 uncommitted modifications with this command line:
196 $ diffuse -m
198 The default revision of a file will be used for comparison if only one
200 file is specified. For example, this will display a 2-way merge between
201 the default revision of foo.C and the local foo.C file:
202 $ diffuse foo.C
204 Specifying Revisions
207 The -r option may also be used to explicitly specify a particular file
208 revision. Any revision specifier understood by the version control
209 system may be used. The local file will be used for comparison if only
210 one file revision is specified. For example, this will display a 2-way
211 merge between revision 123 of foo.C and the local foo.C file:
212 $ diffuse -r 123 foo.C
214 Multiple file revisions can be compared by specifying multiple -r
216 options. For example, this will display a 2-way merge between revision
217 123 of foo.C and revision 321 of foo.C:
218 $ diffuse -r 123 -r 321 foo.C
220 Local files can be mixed with files from the version control system.
222 For example, this will display a 3-way merge between revision
223 MERGE_HEAD of foo.C, the local foo.C file, and revision HEAD of foo.C:
224 $ diffuse -r MERGE_HEAD foo.C foo.C -r HEAD foo.C
226 For the -c option may be used to easily specify a pair of sequential
228 revisions. For example, this will display a 2-way merge between
229 revision 1.2.2 of foo.C and revision 1.2.3 of foo.C:
230 $ diffuse -c 1.2.3 foo.C
232 Diffuse does not limit the number of panes that can be used for
234 comparing files. The inputs to a Git octopus merge could be viewed with
235 a command line like this:
236 $ diffuse -r HEAD^1 -r HEAD^2 -r HEAD^3 -r HEAD^4 -r HEAD^5 foo.C
238
241 Resources can be used to customise several aspects of Diffuse's
242 appearance and behaviour such as changing the colours used in the user
243 interface, customising the keyboard shortcuts, adding or replacing
244 syntax highlighting rules, or changing the mapping from file extensions
245 to syntax highlighting rules.
246 When Diffuse is started, it will read commands from the system wide
248 initialisation file /etc/diffuserc (%INSTALL_DIR%\diffuserc on
249 Microsoft Windows) and then the personal initialisation file
250 ~/.config/diffuse/diffuserc (%HOME%\.config\diffuse\diffuserc on
251 Microsoft Windows). This behaviour can be changed with the --no-rcfile
252 and --rcfile configuration options. A Bourne shell-like lexical
253 analyser is used to parse initialisation commands. Comments and special
254 characters can be embedded using the same style of escaping used in
255 Bourne shell scripts.
256 General
258 import file
259 Processes initialisation commands from file. Initialisation files
260 will only be processed once.
261 Key Bindings
263 keybinding context action key_combination
264 Binds a key combination to action when used in context. Specify
265 Shift and Control modifiers by prepending Shift+ and Ctrl+ to
266 key_combination respectively. Keys normally modified by the Shift
267 key should be specified using their modified value if
268 key_combination involves the Shift key. For example, Ctrl+g and
269 Shift+Ctrl+G. Remove bindings for key_combination by specifying
270 None for the action.
271 Menu Item Key Bindings
273 Use menu for the context to define key bindings for menu items. The
274 following values are valid for action:
275 open_file
277 File → Open File... menu item
278 Default: Ctrl+o
280 open_file_in_new_tab
282 File → Open File In New Tab... menu item
283 Default: Ctrl+t
285 open_modified_files
287 File → Open Modified Files... menu item
288 Default: Shift+Ctrl+O
290 open_commit
292 File → Open Commit... menu item
293 Default: Shift+Ctrl+T
295 reload_file
297 File → Reload File menu item
298 Default: Shift+Ctrl+R
300 save_file
302 File → Save File menu item
303 Default: Ctrl+s
305 save_file_as
307 File → Save File As... menu item
308 Default: Shift+Ctrl+A
310 save_all
312 File → Save All menu item
313 Default: Shift+Ctrl+S
315 new_2_way_file_merge
317 File → New 2-Way File Merge menu item
318 Default: Ctrl+2
320 new_3_way_file_merge
322 File → New 3-Way File Merge menu item
323 Default: Ctrl+3
325 new_n_way_file_merge
327 File → New N-Way File Merge menu item
328 Default: Ctrl+4
330 close_tab
332 File → Close Tab menu item
333 Default: Ctrl+w
335 undo_close_tab
337 File → Undo Close Tab menu item
338 Default: Shift+Ctrl+w
340 quit
342 File → Quit menu item
343 Default: Ctrl+q
345 undo
347 Edit → Undo menu item
348 Default: Ctrl+z
350 redo
352 Edit → Redo menu item
353 Default: Shift+Ctrl+Z
355 cut
357 Edit → Cut menu item
358 Default: Ctrl+x
360 copy
362 Edit → Copy menu item
363 Default: Ctrl+c
365 paste
367 Edit → Paste menu item
368 Default: Ctrl+v
370 select_all
372 Edit → Select All menu item
373 Default: Ctrl+a
375 clear_edits
377 Edit → Clear Edits menu item
378 Default: Ctrl+r
380 dismiss_all_edits
382 Edit → Dismiss All Edits menu item
383 Default: Ctrl+d
385 find
387 Edit → Find... menu item
388 Default: Ctrl+f
390 find_next
392 Edit → Find Next menu item
393 Default: Ctrl+g
395 find_previous
397 Edit → Find Previous menu item
398 Default: Shift+Ctrl+G
400 go_to_line
402 Edit → Go To Line... menu item
403 Default: Shift+Ctrl+L
405 preferences
407 Edit → Preferences menu item
408 Default: None
410 no_syntax_highlighting
412 View → Syntax Highlighting → None menu item
413 Default: None
415 syntax_highlighting_syntax
417 View → Syntax Highlighting → syntax menu item
418 Default: None
420 realign_all
422 View → Realign All menu item
423 Default: Ctrl+l
425 isolate
427 View → Isolate menu item
428 Default: Ctrl+i
430 first_difference
432 View → First Difference menu item
433 Default: Shift+Ctrl+Up
435 previous_difference
437 View → Previous Difference menu item
438 Default: Ctrl+Up
440 next_difference
442 View → Next Difference menu item
443 Default: Ctrl+Down
445 last_difference
447 View → Last Difference menu item
448 Default: Shift+Ctrl+Down
450 first_tab
452 View → First Tab menu item
453 Default: Shift+Ctrl+Page_Up
455 previous_tab
457 View → Previous Tab menu item
458 Default: Ctrl+Page_Up
460 next_tab
462 View → Next Tab menu item
463 Default: Ctrl+Page_Down
465 last_tab
467 View → Last Tab menu item
468 Default: Shift+Ctrl+Page_Down
470 shift_pane_right
472 View → Shift Pane Right menu item
473 Default: Shift+Ctrl+parenleft
475 shift_pane_left
477 View → Shift Pane Left menu item
478 Default: Shift+Ctrl+parenright
480 convert_to_upper_case
482 Format → Convert To Upper Case menu item
483 Default: Ctrl+u
485 convert_to_lower_case
487 Format → Convert To Lower Case menu item
488 Default: Shift+Ctrl+U
490 sort_lines_in_ascending_order
492 Format → Sort Lines In Ascending Order menu item
493 Default: Ctrl+y
495 sort_lines_in_descending_order
497 Format → Sort Lines In Descending Order menu item
498 Default: Shift+Ctrl+Y
500 remove_trailing_white_space
502 Format → Remove Trailing White Space menu item
503 Default: Ctrl+k
505 convert_tabs_to_spaces
507 Format → Convert Tabs To Spaces menu item
508 Default: Ctrl+b
510 convert_leading_spaces_to_tabs
512 Format → Convert Leading Spaces To Tabs menu item
513 Default: Shift+Ctrl+B
515 increase_indenting
517 Format → Increase Indenting menu item
518 Default: Shift+Ctrl+greater
520 decrease_indenting
522 Format → Decrease Indenting menu item
523 Default: Shift+Ctrl+less
525 convert_to_dos
527 Format → Convert To DOS Format menu item
528 Default: Shift+Ctrl+E
530 convert_to_mac
532 Format → Convert To Mac Format menu item
533 Default: Shift+Ctrl+C
535 convert_to_unix
537 Format → Convert To Unix Format menu item
538 Default: Ctrl+e
540 copy_selection_right
542 Merge → Copy Selection Right menu item
543 Default: Shift+Ctrl+Right
545 copy_selection_left
547 Merge → Copy Selection Left menu item
548 Default: Shift+Ctrl+Left
550 copy_left_into_selection
552 Merge → Copy Left Into Selection menu item
553 Default: Ctrl+Right
555 copy_right_into_selection
557 Merge → Copy Right Into Selection menu item
558 Default: Ctrl+Left
560 merge_from_left_then_right
562 Merge → Merge From Left Then Right menu item
563 Default: Ctrl+m
565 merge_from_right_then_left
567 Merge → Merge From Right Then Left menu item
568 Default: Shift+Ctrl+M
570 help_contents
572 Help → Help Contents menu item
573 Default: F1
575 about
577 Help → About menu item
578 Default: None
580 Line Editing Mode Key Bindings
582 Use line_mode for the context to define key bindings for line
583 editing mode. The following values are valid for action:
584 enter_align_mode
586 enter alignment editing mode
587 Default: space
589 enter_character_mode
591 enter character editing mode
592 Defaults: Return, KP_Enter
594 first_line
596 move cursor to the first line
597 Defaults: Home, g
599 extend_first_line
601 move cursor to the first line, extending the selection
602 Default: Shift+Home
604 last_line
606 move cursor to the last line
607 Defaults: End, Shift+G
609 extend_last_line
611 move cursor to the last line, extending the selection
612 Default: Shift+End
614 up
616 move cursor up one line
617 Defaults: Up, k
619 extend_up
621 move cursor up one line, extending the selection
622 Defaults: Shift+Up, Shift+K
624 down
626 move cursor down one line
627 Defaults: Down, j
629 extend_down
631 move cursor down one line, extending the selection
632 Defaults: Shift+Down, Shift+J
634 left
636 move cursor left one file
637 Defaults: Left, h
639 extend_left
641 move cursor left one file, extending the selection
642 Default: Shift+Left
644 right
646 move cursor right one file
647 Defaults: Right, l
649 extend_right
651 move cursor right one file, extending the selection
652 Default: Shift+Right
654 page_up
656 move cursor up one page
657 Defaults: Page_Up, Ctrl+u
659 extend_page_up
661 move cursor up one page, extending the selection
662 Defaults: Shift+Page_Up, Shift+Ctrl+u
664 page_down
666 move cursor down one page
667 Defaults: Page_Down, Ctrl+d
669 extend_page_down
671 move cursor down one page, extending the selection
672 Defaults: Shift+Page_Down, Shift+Ctrl+d
674 delete_text
676 delete the selected text
677 Defaults: BackSpace, Delete, x
679 first_difference
681 select the first difference
682 Defaults: Ctrl+Home, Shift+P
684 previous_difference
686 select the previous difference
687 Default: p
689 next_difference
691 select the next difference
692 Default: n
694 last_difference
696 select the last difference
697 Defaults: Ctrl+End, Shift+N
699 clear_edits
701 clear all edits from the selected lines
702 Default: r
704 copy_selection_left
706 copy lines from the selection into the file on the left
707 Default: None
709 copy_selection_right
711 copy lines from the selection into the file on the right
712 Default: None
714 copy_left_into_selection
716 copy lines from the file on the left into the selection
717 Default: Shift+L
719 copy_right_into_selection
721 copy lines from the file on the right into the selection
722 Default: Shift+H
724 merge_from_left_then_right
726 merge lines from file on the left then file on the right
727 Default: m
729 merge_from_right_then_left
731 merge lines from file on the right then file on the left
732 Default: Shift+M
734 isolate
736 isolate the selected lines
737 Default: i
739 Alignment Editing Mode Key Bindings
741 Use align_mode for the context to define key bindings for alignment
742 editing mode. The following values are valid for action:
743 enter_line_mode
745 enter line editing mode
746 Default: Escape
748 enter_character_mode
750 enter character editing mode
751 Defaults: Return, KP_Enter
753 first_line
755 move cursor to the first line
756 Default: g
758 last_line
760 move cursor to the last line
761 Default: Shift+G
763 up
765 move cursor up one line
766 Defaults: Up, k
768 down
770 move cursor down one line
771 Defaults: Down, j
773 left
775 move cursor left one file
776 Defaults: Left, h
778 right
780 move cursor right one file
781 Defaults: Right, l
783 page_up
785 move cursor up one page
786 Defaults: Page_Up, Ctrl+u
788 page_down
790 move cursor down one page
791 Defaults: Page_Down, Ctrl+d
793 align
795 align the selected line to the cursor position
796 Default: space
798 Character Editing Mode Key Bindings
800 Use character_mode for the context to define key bindings for
801 character editing mode. The following values are valid for action:
802 enter_line_mode
804 enter line editing mode
805 Default: Escape
807 Strings
809 string name value
810 Declares a string resource called name with value value.
811 Used String Resources
813 The following string resources are used by Diffuse:
814 difference_colours
816 a list of colour resources used to indicate differences
817 Default: difference_1 difference_2 difference_3
819 Colours
821 [ colour | color ] name red green blue
822 Declares a colour resource called name. Individual colour
823 components should be expressed as a value between 0 and 1.
824 Used Colour Resources
826 The following colour resources are used by Diffuse:
827 alignment
829 colour used to indicate a line picked for manual alignment
830 Default: 1 1 0
832 character_selection
834 colour used to indicate selected characters
835 Default: 0.7 0.7 1
837 cursor
839 colour used for the cursor
840 Default: 0 0 0
842 difference_1
844 colour used to identify differences between the first pair of
845 files
846 Default: 1 0.625 0.625
848 difference_2
850 colour used to identify differences between the second pair of
851 files
852 Default: 0.85 0.625 0.775
854 difference_3
856 colour used to identify differences between the third pair of
857 files
858 Default: 0.85 0.775 0.625
860 edited
862 colour used to indicate edited lines
863 Default: 0.5 1 0.5
865 hatch
867 colour used for indicating alignment gaps
868 Default: 0.8 0.8 0.8
870 line_number
872 colour used for line numbers
873 Default: 0 0 0
875 line_number_background
877 background colour for the line number area
878 Default: 0.75 0.75 0.75
880 line_selection
882 colour used to indicate selected lines
883 Default: 0.7 0.7 1
885 map_background
887 background colour for the map area
888 Default: 0.6 0.6 0.6
890 margin
892 colour used to indicate the right margin
893 Default: 0.8 0.8 0.8
895 preedit
897 pre-edit text colour
898 Default: 0 0 0
900 text
902 regular text colour
903 Default: 0 0 0
905 text_background
907 background colour for the text area
908 Default: 1 1 1
910 Floating Point Values
912 float name value
913 Declares a floating point resource called name with value value.
914 Used Floating Point Resources
916 The following floating point resources are used by Diffuse:
917 alignment_opacity
919 opacity used when compositing the manual alignment colour
920 Defaults: 1
922 character_difference_opacity
924 opacity used when compositing character difference colours
925 Defaults: 0.4
927 character_selection_opacity
929 opacity used when compositing the character selection colour
930 Defaults: 0.4
932 edited_opacity
934 opacity used when compositing the edited line colour
935 Defaults: 0.4
937 line_difference_alpha
939 alpha value used when compositing line difference colours
940 Defaults: 0.3
942 line_selection_opacity
944 opacity used when compositing the line selection colour
945 Defaults: 0.4
947 Syntax Highlighting
949 syntax name [initial_state default_tag]
950 Declares a new syntax style called name. Syntax highlighting uses a
951 simple state machine that transitions between states when certain
952 patterns are matched. The initial state for the state machine will
953 be initial_state. All characters not matched by a pattern will be
954 tagged as default_tag for highlighting. The syntax style called
955 name can be removed by omitting initial_state and default_tag.
956 syntax_files name [pattern]
958 Specifies that files with a name matching pattern should be
959 highlighted using the syntax style called name. Patterns used to
960 match files for use with the syntax style called name can be
961 removed by omitting pattern.
962 syntax_magic name [pattern [ignorecase]]
964 Specifies that files with a first line matching pattern should be
965 highlighted using the syntax style called name. Patterns used to
966 match files for use with the syntax style called name can be
967 removed by omitting pattern.
968 syntax_pattern name initial_state final_state tag pattern [ignorecase]
970 Adds a pattern to the previously declared syntax style. Patterns
971 are tried one at a time in the order they were declared until the
972 first match is found. A pattern will only be used to match
973 characters if the state machine is in the state initial_state. The
974 state machine will transition to final_state if the pattern defined
975 by pattern is matched. Case insensitive pattern matching will be
976 used if ignorecase is specified. All characters matched by the
977 pattern will be tagged as tag for highlighting.
978
980 The following files are used by Diffuse:
981 /etc/diffuserc
983 system wide initialisations (%INSTALL_DIR%\diffuserc on Microsoft
984 Windows)
985 /usr/share/diffuse/syntax/*.syntax
987 syntax files for various languages (%INSTALL_DIR%\syntax\*.syntax
988 on Microsoft Windows)
989 ~/.config/diffuse/diffuserc
991 your initialisations (%HOME%\.config\diffuse\diffuserc on Microsoft
992 Windows)
993 ~/.config/diffuse/prefs
995 your saved preferences (%HOME%\.config\diffuse\prefs on Microsoft
996 Windows)
997 ~/.local/share/diffuse/state
999 data persistent across sessions (%HOME%\.local\share\diffuse\state
1000 on Microsoft Windows)
1001
1003 Diffuse was written by Derrick Moser <derrick_moser@yahoo.com>.
1004 © 2006-2014 Derrick Moser. All Rights Reserved.
1006
1008 Diffuse is free software; you may redistribute it and/or modify it
1009 under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the
1010 Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the licence, or (at your
1011 option) any later version.
1012diffuse 0.4.8 2014-07-18 DIFFUSE(1)