1App::ccdiff(3) User Contributed Perl Documentation App::ccdiff(3)
2
6 ccdiff - Colored Character diff
7
9 ccdiff [options] file1|- file2|-
10 ccdiff --help
12 ccdiff --man
13 ccdiff --info
14
17 Command line options
18 --help -?
19 Show a summary op the available command-line options and exit.
20 --version -V
22 Show the version and exit.
23 --man
25 Show this manual using pod2man and nroff.
26 --info
28 Show this manual using pod2text.
29 --utf-8 -U
31 All I/O (streams to compare and standard out) are in UTF-8.
32 --unified[=3] -u [3]
34 Generate a unified diff. The number of context lines is optional.
35 When omitted it defaults to 3. Currently there is no provision of
36 dealing with overlapping diff chunks. If the common part between two
37 diff chunks is shorter than twice the number of context lines, some
38 lines may show twice.
39 The default is to use traditional diff:
41 5,5c5,5
43 < Sat Dec 18 07:00:33 1993,I.O.D.U.,,756194433,1442539
44 ---
45 > Sat Dec 18 07:08:33 1998,I.O.D.U.,,756194433,1442539
46 a unified diff (-u1) would be
48 5,5c5,5
50 Tue Sep 6 05:43:59 2005,B.O.Q.S.,,1125978239,1943341
51 -Sat Dec 18 07:00:33 1993,I.O.D.U.,,756194433,1442539
52 +Sat Dec 18 07:08:33 1998,I.O.D.U.,,756194433,1442539
53 Mon Feb 23 10:37:02 2004,R.X.K.S.,van,1077529022,1654127
54 --verbose[=1] -v[1]
56 Show an additional line for each old or new section in a change chunk
57 (not for added or deleted lines) that shows the hexadecimal value of
58 each character. If "--utf-8" is in effect, it will show the Unicode
59 character name(s).
60 This is a debugging option, so invisible characters can still be
62 "seen".
63 "--verbose" accepts an optional verbosity-level. On level 2 and up,
65 all horizontal changes get left-and-right markers inserted to enable
66 seeing the location of the ZERO WIDTH or invisible characters. With
67 level 3 and up and Unicode enabled, the changed characters will also
68 show the codepoint in hex.
69 An example of this:
71 With -Uu0v0:
73 1,1c1,1
75 - A BCDE Fg
76 + A BcdEFg
77 With -Uu0v1:
79 1,1c1,1
81 - A BCDE Fg
82 - -- verbose : SPACE, LATIN CAPITAL LETTER C, LATIN CAPITAL LETTER D, SPACE
83 + A BcdEFg
84 + -- verbose : LATIN SMALL LETTER C, LATIN SMALL LETTER D, ZERO WIDTH SPACE
85 With -Uu0v2:
87 1,1c1,1
89 - A ↱ ↰B↱CD↰E↱ ↰Fg
90 - -- verbose : SPACE, LATIN CAPITAL LETTER C, LATIN CAPITAL LETTER D, SPACE
91 + A B↱cd↰E↱↰Fg
92 + -- verbose : LATIN SMALL LETTER C, LATIN SMALL LETTER D, ZERO WIDTH SPACE
93 With -Uu0v3:
95 1,1c1,1
97 - A ↱ ↰B↱CD↰E↱ ↰Fg
98 - -- verbose : SPACE (U+000020), LATIN CAPITAL LETTER C (U+000043), LATIN CAPITAL LETTER D (U+000044), SPACE (U+000020)
99 + A B↱cd↰E↱↰Fg
100 + -- verbose : LATIN SMALL LETTER C (U+000063), LATIN SMALL LETTER D (U+000064), ZERO WIDTH SPACE (U+00200B)
101 With -Uu0v2 --ascii:
103 1,1c1,1
105 - A > <B>CD<E> <Fg
106 - -- verbose : SPACE, LATIN CAPITAL LETTER C, LATIN CAPITAL LETTER D, SPACE
107 + A B>cd<E><Fg
108 + -- verbose : LATIN SMALL LETTER C, LATIN SMALL LETTER D, ZERO WIDTH SPACE
109 the word "verbose" and the character markers will be displayed using
111 the "verbose" color. The characters used for the markers can be
112 defined in your configuration file as "chr_cml" (the character used
113 as marker on the left) and "chr_cmr" (the character used as marker on
114 the right).
115 --markers -m
117 Use markers under each changed character in change-chunks.
118 "--markers" is especially useful if the terminal does not support
120 colors, or if you want to copy/paste the output to (ASCII) mail. See
121 also "--ascii". The markers will have the same color as added or
122 deleted text.
123 This will look like (with unified diff):
125 5,5c5,5
127 -Sat Dec 18 07:08:33 1998,I.O.D.U.,,756194433,1442539
128 - ▼ ▼
129 +Sat Dec 18 07:00:33 1993,I.O.D.U.,,756194433,1442539
130 + ▲ ▲
131 The characters used for the markers can be defined in your
133 configuration file as "chr_old" (the character used as marker under
134 removed characters) and "chr_new" (the character used as marker under
135 added characters).
136 If "--ellipsis" is also in effect and either the "chr_eli" is longer
138 than one character or "--verbose" level is over 2, this options is
139 automatically disabled.
140 --ascii -a
142 Use (colored) ASCII indicators instead of Unicode. The default
143 indicators are Unicode characters that stand out better. The markers
144 will have the same color as added or deleted text.
145 For the vertical markers ("-m") that would look like:
147 5,5c5,5
149 -Sat Dec 18 07:08:33 1998,I.O.D.U.,,756194433,1442539
150 - ^ ^
151 +Sat Dec 18 07:00:33 1993,I.O.D.U.,,756194433,1442539
152 + ^ ^
153 For the positional indicators, I did consider using U+034e (COMBINING
155 UPWARDS ARROW BELOW), but as most terminals are probably unable to
156 show it due to line height changes, I did not pursue the idea.
157 --pink -p
159 Change the default "red" for deleted text to the color closest to
160 pink that is supported by Term::ANSIColor: "magenta".
161 --reverse -r
163 Reverse/invert the foreground and background for the colored
164 indicators.
165 If the foreground color has "bold", it will be stripped from the new
167 background color.
168 --list-colors
170 List available colors and exit.
171 --no-colors
173 Disable all colors. Useful for redirecting the diff output to a file
174 that is to be included in documentation.
175 --old=color
177 Define the foreground color for deleted text.
178 --new=color
180 Define the foreground color for added text.
181 --bg=color
183 Define the background color for changed text.
184 --index --idx -I
186 Prefix position indicators with an index.
187 [001] 5,5c5,5
189 -Sat Dec 18 07:08:33 1998,I.O.D.U.,,756194433,1442539
190 +Sat Dec 18 07:00:33 1993,I.O.D.U.,,756194433,1442539
191 If a positive number is passed ("--index=4" or "-I 4"), display just
193 the chunk with that index, using the "verbose" color:
194 This is useful in combination with "--verbose".
196 --threshold=2 -t 2
198 Defines the number of lines a change block may differ before the
199 fall-back of horizontal diff to vertical diff.
200 If a chunk describes a change, and the number of lines in the
202 original block has less or more lines than the new block and that
203 difference exceeds this threshold, "ccdiff" will fall-back to
204 vertical diff.
205 --heuristics=n -h n
207 Defines the percentage of character-changes a change block may differ
208 before the fall-back of horizontal diff to vertical diff.
209 This percentage is calculated as "(characters removed + characters
211 added) / (2 * characters unchanged))".
212 --ellipsis=n -e n
214 Defines the number of characters to keep on each side of a
215 horizontal-equal segment. The default is 0, meaning do not compress.
216 If set to a positive number, and the length of a segment of equal
218 characters inside a horizontal diff is longer than twice this value,
219 the middle part is replaced with "┈ U02508 \N{BOX DRAWINGS LIGHT
220 QUADRUPLE DASH HORIZONTAL}" (instead of … U02026, as HORIZONTAL
221 ELLIPSIS does not stand out enough).
222 With "-u0me3" that would be like
224 5,5c5,5
226 -Sat┈07:08:33┈ 1998,I.┈539
227 - ▼ ▼
228 +Sat┈07:00:33┈ 1993,I.┈539
229 + ▲ ▲
230 With "-u0e3 -v2" like
232 5,5c5,5
234 -Sat↤9↦07:0↱0↰:33 199↱3↰,I.↤23↦539
235 - -- verbose : DIGIT ZERO, DIGIT THREE
236 +Sat↤9↦07:0↱8↰:33 199↱8↰,I.↤23↦539
237 + -- verbose : DIGIT EIGHT, DIGIT EIGHT
238 The text used for the replaced text can be defined in your
240 configuration file as "chr_eli" and/or "chr_eli_v".
241 --ignore-case -i
243 Ignore case on comparison.
244 --ignore-all-space -w
246 Ignore all white-space changes. This will set all options "-b", "-Z",
247 "-E", and "-B".
248 --ignore-trailing-space -Z
250 Ignore changes in trailing white-space (TAB's and spaces).
251 --ignore-ws|ignore-space-change -b
253 Ignore changes in horizontal white-space (TAB's and spaces). This
254 does not include white-space changes that splits non-white-space or
255 removes white-space between two non-white-space elements.
256 --ignore-tab-expansion -E
258 NYI
259 --ignore-blank-lines -B
261 Just Partly Implemented (WIP)
262 Configuration files
264 In order to be able to overrule the defaults set in "ccdiff", one can
265 set options specific for this login. The following option files are
266 looked for in this order:
267 - $HOME/ccdiff.rc
269 - $HOME/.ccdiffrc
270 - $HOME/.config/ccdiff
271 and evaluated in that order. Any options specified in a file later in
273 that chain will overwrite previously set options.
274 Option files are only read and evaluated if it is not empty and not
276 writable by others than the owner.
277 The syntax of the file is one option per line. where leading and
279 trailing white-space is ignored. If that line then starts with one of
280 the options listed below, followed by optional white-space followed by
281 either an "=" or a ":", followed by optional white-space and the
282 values, the value is assigned to the option. The values "no" and
283 "false" (case insensitive) are aliases for 0. The values "yes" and
284 "true" are aliases to "-1" ("-1" being a true value).
285 Between parens is the corresponding command-line option.
287 unified (-u)
289 If you prefer unified-diff over old-style diff by default, set this
290 to the desired number of context lines:
291 unified : 3
293 The default is undefined
295 markers (-m)
297 markers : false
298 Defines if markers should be used under changed characters. The
300 default is to use colors only. The "-m" command line option will
301 toggle the option when set from a configuration file.
302 ascii (-a)
304 ascii : false
305 Defines to use ASCII markers instead of Unicode markers. The default
307 is to use Unicode markers.
308 reverse (-r)
310 reverse : false
311 Defines if changes are displayed as foreground-color over background-
313 color or background-color over foreground-color. The default is
314 "false", so it will color the changes with the appropriate color
315 ("new" or "old") over the default background color.
316 new (--new)
318 new : green
319 Defines the color to be used for added text. The default is "green".
321 The color "none" is also accepted and disables this color.
323 Any color accepted by Term::ANSIColor is allowed. Any other color
325 will result in a warning. This option can include "bold" either as
326 prefix or as suffix.
327 This option may also be specified as
329 new-color
331 new_color
332 new-colour
333 new_colour
334 old (--old)
336 old : red
337 Defines the color to be used for delete text. The default is "red".
339 The color "none" is also accepted and disables this color.
341 Any color accepted by Term::ANSIColor is allowed. Any other color
343 will result in a warning. This option can include "bold" either as
344 prefix or as suffix.
345 This option may also be specified as
347 old-color
349 old_color
350 old-colour
351 old_colour
352 bg (--bg)
354 bg : white
355 Defines the color to be used as background for changed text. The
357 default is "white".
358 The color "none" is also accepted and disables this color.
360 Any color accepted by Term::ANSIColor is allowed. Any other color
362 will result in a warning. The "bold" attribute is not allowed.
363 This option may also be specified as
365 bg-color
367 bg_color
368 bg-colour
369 bg_colour
370 background
371 background-color
372 background_color
373 background-colour
374 background_colour
375 verbose
377 verbose : cyan
378 Defines the color to be used as color for the verbose tag. The
380 default is "cyan". This color will only be used under "--verbose".
381 The color "none" is also accepted and disables this color.
383 Any color accepted by Term::ANSIColor is allowed. Any other color
385 will result in a warning.
386 This option may also be specified as
388 verbose-color
390 verbose_color
391 verbose-colour
392 verbose_colour
393 utf8 (-U)
395 utf8 : yes
396 Defines whether all I/O is to be interpreted as UTF-8. The default is
398 "no".
399 This option may also be specified as
401 unicode
403 utf
404 utf-8
405 index (-I)
407 index : no
408 Defines if the position indication for a change chunk is prefixed
410 with an index number. The default is "no". The index is 1-based.
411 Without this option, the position indication would be like
413 5,5c5,5
415 19,19d18
416 42a42,42
417 with this option, it would be
419 [001] 5,5c5,5
421 [002] 19,19d18
422 [005] 42a42,42
423 When this option contains a positive integer, "ccdiff" will only show
425 diff the diff chunk with that index.
426 emacs
428 emacs : no
429 If this option is yes/true, calling "ccdiff" with just one single
431 argument, and that argument being an existing file, the arguments
432 will act as
433 $ ccdiff file~ file
435 if file~ exists.
437 threshold (-t)
439 threshold : 2
440 Defines the number of lines a change block may differ before the
442 fall-back of horizontal diff to vertical diff.
443 heuristics (-h)
445 heuristics : 40
446 Defines the percentage of character-changes a change block may differ
448 before the fall-back of horizontal diff to vertical diff. The default
449 is undefined, meaning no fallback based on heuristics.
450 ellipsis (-e)
452 ellipsis : 0
453 Defines the number of characters to keep on each side of a
455 horizontal-equal segment. The default is 0, meaning to not compress.
456 See also "chr_eli".
457 chr_old
459 chr_old : U+25BC
460 Defines the character used to indicate the position of removed text
462 on the line below the text when option "-m" is in effect.
463 chr_new
465 chr_new : U+25B2
466 Defines the character used to indicate the position of added text on
468 the line below the text when option "-m" is in effect.
469 chr_cml
471 chr_cml : U+21B1
472 Defines the character used to indicate the starting position of
474 changed text in a line when verbose level is 3 and up.
475 chr_cmr
477 chr_cmr : U+21B0
478 Defines the character used to indicate the ending position of changed
480 text in a line when verbose level is 3 and up.
481 chr_eli
483 chr_eli : U+21B0
484 Defines the character used to indicate omitted text in large
486 unchanged text when "--ellipsis"/"-e" is in effect.
487 This character is not equally well visible on all terminals or in all
489 fonts, so you might want to chane it to something that stands out
490 better in you environment. Possible suggestions:
491 … U+2026 HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS
493 ‴ U+2034 TRIPLE PRIME
494 ‷ U+2037 REVERSED TRIPLE PRIME
495 ↔ U+2194 LEFT RIGHT ARROW
496 ↭ U+21ad LEFT RIGHT WAVE ARROW
497 ↮ U+21ae LEFT RIGHT ARROW WITH STROKE
498 ↹ U+21b9 LEFTWARDS ARROW TO BAR OVER RIGHTWARDS ARROW TO BAR
499 ⇄ U+21c4 RIGHTWARDS ARROW OVER LEFTWARDS ARROW
500 ⇆ U+21c6 LEFTWARDS ARROW OVER RIGHTWARDS ARROW
501 ⇎ U+21ce LEFT RIGHT DOUBLE ARROW WITH STROKE
502 ⇔ U+21d4 LEFT RIGHT DOUBLE ARROW
503 ⇹ U+21f9 LEFT RIGHT ARROW WITH VERTICAL STROKE
504 ⇼ U+21fc LEFT RIGHT ARROW WITH DOUBLE VERTICAL STROKE
505 ⇿ U+21ff LEFT RIGHT OPEN-HEADED ARROW
506 ≋ U+224b TRIPLE TILDE
507 ┄ U+2504 BOX DRAWINGS LIGHT TRIPLE DASH HORIZONTAL
508 ┅ U+2505 BOX DRAWINGS HEAVY TRIPLE DASH HORIZONTAL
509 ┈ U+2508 BOX DRAWINGS LIGHT QUADRUPLE DASH HORIZONTAL
510 ┉ U+2509 BOX DRAWINGS HEAVY QUADRUPLE DASH HORIZONTAL
511 ⧻ U+29fb TRIPLE PLUS
512 ⬌ U+2b0c LEFT RIGHT BLACK ARROW
513 chr_eli_v
515 chr_eli_v : U+21A4U+21A6
516 When ussing "--ellipsis" with "--verbose" level 2 or up, the single
518 character indicator will be replaced with this character. If it is 2
519 characters wide, the length of the compressed part is put between the
520 characters.
521 A suggested alternative might be U+21E4U+21E5
523
525 You can use ccdiff to show diffs in git. It may work like this:
526 $ git config --global diff.tool ccdiff
528 $ git config --global difftool.prompt false
529 $ git config --global difftool.ccdiff.cmd 'ccdiff --utf-8 -u -r $LOCAL $REMOTE'
530 $ git difftool SHA~..SHA
531 $ wget https://github.com/Tux/App-ccdiff/blob/master/Files/git-ccdiff \
532 -O ~/bin/git-ccdiff
533 $ perl -pi -e 's{/pro/bin/perl}{/usr/bin/env perl}' ~/bin/git-ccdiff
534 $ chmod 755 ~/bin/git-ccdiff
535 $ git ccdiff SHA
536 Of course you can use "curl" instead of "wget" and you can choose your
538 own (fixed) path to "perl" instead of using "/usr/bin/env".
539 From then on you can do
541 $ git ccdiff
543 $ git ccdiff 5c5a39f2
544
546 Due to the implementation, where both sides of the comparison are
547 completely kept in memory, this tool might not be able to deal with
548 (very) large datasets.
549
551 Algorithm::Diff, Text::Diff
552
554 H.Merijn Brand
555
557 Copyright (C) 2018-2018 H.Merijn Brand. All rights reserved.
558 This library is free software; you can redistribute and/or modify it
560 under the same terms as The Artistic License 2.0.
561perl v5.28.1 2018-10-09 App::ccdiff(3)