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 -V, --vcs vcs-list
75 Search for version control systems in the ordering: vcs-list.
76 --line line
78 Start with line line selected.
79 --null-file
81 Create a blank file comparison pane.
82 Display Options
84 Display options specified in the command line arguments will override
85 saved preference values.
86 -b, --ignore-space-change
88 Ignore changes to the amount of white space.
89 -B, --ignore-blank-lines
91 Ignore changes whose lines are all blank.
92 -E, --ignore-end-of-line
94 Ignore end of line differences.
95 -i, --ignore-case
97 Ignore case differences in file contents.
98 -w, --ignore-all-space
100 Ignore all white space.
101
103 Use the File → New 2-Way File Merge, File → New 3-Way File Merge, and
104 File → New N-Way File Merge menu items to create additional tabs for
105 comparing text files. File names and revisions can be specified either
106 in the command line arguments used to invoke Diffuse or in fields on
107 the Open File dialogue.
108 Diffuse displays files side-by-side inserting gaps to align similar
110 lines of text. Differences are highlighted with a different background
111 colour.
112 Comparison Summary
114 A summary of the compared files is located in the far right margin. The
115 summary illustrates where gaps have been inserted to align matching
116 lines of text and highlights differences using colour. Manual edits are
117 also highlighted in green. A blue cursor identifies the region
118 currently being viewed. The viewed region can be changed by clicking
119 anywhere on the summary.
120 Selecting
122 Lines of text can be selected using the mouse pointer or keyboard.
123 Select lines of text with the mouse pointer by clicking on a line.
124 Click and drag to select multiple lines. Holding down the shift key
125 when clicking will extend the current selection. Select lines using the
126 keyboard by pressing the page up/down or arrow keys. Extend the current
127 selection by holding down the shift key and pressing the page up/down
128 or arrow keys. Move the selection to an adjacent file using the left
129 and right arrow keys.
130 Matching Lines
132 The mouse pointer or keyboard can be used to manually align lines of
133 text with adjacent files. To aligning lines of text using the mouse
134 pointer, select a line of text with the left mouse button, right click
135 on a line of text from an adjacent file, and choose Align with
136 Selection. To align lines of text using the keyboard, move the
137 selection with the cursor keys, press the space bar to pick the current
138 line of text, move the selection with the cursor keys to a line of text
139 in an adjacent file, and press the space bar to pick the target line of
140 text. Pressing the Escape key will cancel the operation.
141 Use the Isolate menu item to prevent the selected lines from being
143 matched with any lines from the adjacent files.
144 Editing
146 Press the Enter key or double-click on a text area to enter text
147 editing mode. The cursor will change to indicate text editing mode and
148 the status bar at the bottom of the window will display the cursor's
149 column position.
150 In text editing mode, text can be selected with the mouse pointer by
152 click and dragging. The current selection can be extended by holding
153 down the shift key and moving the cursor by clicking with the mouse
154 pointer or pressing any of the arrow, home, end or page up/down keys.
155 Individual words can be selected by double-clicking on them with the
156 mouse pointer. Whole lines can be selected by triple-clicking on them
157 with the mouse pointer.
158 Modify text by typing on the keyword. Modified lines will be
160 highlighted in green. Use the Undo and Redo menu items to undo and redo
161 the previously preformed operations.
162 Press the Escape key or click on another file's text area using the
164 left mouse button to leave editing mode.
165 Merging
167 Use the difference buttons or menu items to navigate between blocks of
168 differences within a file. When navigating, Diffuse will move the
169 selection to the next continuous set of lines with differences or
170 edits.
171 Use the merge buttons or menu items to copy blocks of text into the
173 selected range of lines. The Undo and Redo menu items can be used to
174 undo and redo the previously preformed operations. All changes to a set
175 of lines can be reverted using the Clear Edits menu item regardless of
176 the order the edits were performed.
177
179 Diffuse can retrieve file revisions from several version control
180 systems via their command line interface. The Microsoft Windows build
181 of Diffuse is able to use both the Cygwin and native versions of the
182 supported version control systems. When using Diffuse with Cygwin,
183 ensure Diffuse's Cygwin preferences correctly describe your system. If
184 the Update paths for Cygwin preference exists for a version control
185 system, it must be enabled to use the Cygwin version.
186 Version control systems are sensitive to the system path and other
188 environment variable settings. The Launch from a Bash login shell
189 preference may be used to easily set the environment for Cygwin version
190 control systems.
191 Viewing Uncommitted Modifications
193 The -m option will cause Diffuse to open comparison tabs for each file
194 the version control system indicates has uncommitted modifications.
195 This is convenient for reviewing all changes before committing or
196 resolving a merge conflict. If no paths are specified the current
197 working directory will be used. For example, view all of your
198 uncommitted modifications with this command line:
199 $ diffuse -m
201 The default revision of a file will be used for comparison if only one
203 file is specified. For example, this will display a 2-way merge between
204 the default revision of foo.C and the local foo.C file:
205 $ diffuse foo.C
207 Specifying Revisions
210 The -r option may also be used to explicitly specify a particular file
211 revision. Any revision specifier understood by the version control
212 system may be used. The local file will be used for comparison if only
213 one file revision is specified. For example, this will display a 2-way
214 merge between revision 123 of foo.C and the local foo.C file:
215 $ diffuse -r 123 foo.C
217 Multiple file revisions can be compared by specifying multiple -r
219 options. For example, this will display a 2-way merge between revision
220 123 of foo.C and revision 321 of foo.C:
221 $ diffuse -r 123 -r 321 foo.C
223 Local files can be mixed with files from the version control system.
225 For example, this will display a 3-way merge between revision
226 MERGE_HEAD of foo.C, the local foo.C file, and revision HEAD of foo.C:
227 $ diffuse -r MERGE_HEAD foo.C foo.C -r HEAD foo.C
229 For the -c option may be used to easily specify a pair of sequential
231 revisions. For example, this will display a 2-way merge between
232 revision 1.2.2 of foo.C and revision 1.2.3 of foo.C:
233 $ diffuse -c 1.2.3 foo.C
235 Diffuse does not limit the number of panes that can be used for
237 comparing files. The inputs to a Git octopus merge could be viewed with
238 a command line like this:
239 $ diffuse -r HEAD^1 -r HEAD^2 -r HEAD^3 -r HEAD^4 -r HEAD^5 foo.C
241
244 Resources can be used to customise several aspects of Diffuse's
245 appearance and behaviour such as changing the colours used in the user
246 interface, customising the keyboard shortcuts, adding or replacing
247 syntax highlighting rules, or changing the mapping from file extensions
248 to syntax highlighting rules.
249 When Diffuse is started, it will read commands from the system wide
251 initialisation file /etc/diffuserc (%INSTALL_DIR%\diffuserc on
252 Microsoft Windows) and then the personal initialisation file
253 ~/.config/diffuse/diffuserc (%HOME%\.config\diffuse\diffuserc on
254 Microsoft Windows). This behaviour can be changed with the --no-rcfile
255 and --rcfile configuration options. A Bourne shell-like lexical
256 analyser is used to parse initialisation commands. Comments and special
257 characters can be embedded using the same style of escaping used in
258 Bourne shell scripts.
259 General
261 import file
262 Processes initialisation commands from file. Initialisation files
263 will only be processed once.
264 Key Bindings
266 keybinding context action key_combination
267 Binds a key combination to action when used in context. Specify
268 Shift and Control modifiers by prepending Shift+ and Ctrl+ to
269 key_combination respectively. Keys normally modified by the Shift
270 key should be specified using their modified value if
271 key_combination involves the Shift key. For example, Ctrl+g and
272 Shift+Ctrl+G. Remove bindings for key_combination by specifying
273 None for the action.
274 Menu Item Key Bindings
276 Use menu for the context to define key bindings for menu items. The
277 following values are valid for action:
278 open_file
280 File → Open File... menu item
281 Default: Ctrl+o
283 open_file_in_new_tab
285 File → Open File In New Tab... menu item
286 Default: Ctrl+t
288 open_modified_files
290 File → Open Modified Files... menu item
291 Default: Shift+Ctrl+O
293 open_commit
295 File → Open Commit... menu item
296 Default: Shift+Ctrl+T
298 reload_file
300 File → Reload File menu item
301 Default: Shift+Ctrl+R
303 save_file
305 File → Save File menu item
306 Default: Ctrl+s
308 save_file_as
310 File → Save File As... menu item
311 Default: Shift+Ctrl+A
313 save_all
315 File → Save All menu item
316 Default: Shift+Ctrl+S
318 new_2_way_file_merge
320 File → New 2-Way File Merge menu item
321 Default: Ctrl+2
323 new_3_way_file_merge
325 File → New 3-Way File Merge menu item
326 Default: Ctrl+3
328 new_n_way_file_merge
330 File → New N-Way File Merge menu item
331 Default: Ctrl+4
333 close_tab
335 File → Close Tab menu item
336 Default: Ctrl+w
338 undo_close_tab
340 File → Undo Close Tab menu item
341 Default: Shift+Ctrl+w
343 quit
345 File → Quit menu item
346 Default: Ctrl+q
348 undo
350 Edit → Undo menu item
351 Default: Ctrl+z
353 redo
355 Edit → Redo menu item
356 Default: Shift+Ctrl+Z
358 cut
360 Edit → Cut menu item
361 Default: Ctrl+x
363 copy
365 Edit → Copy menu item
366 Default: Ctrl+c
368 paste
370 Edit → Paste menu item
371 Default: Ctrl+v
373 select_all
375 Edit → Select All menu item
376 Default: Ctrl+a
378 clear_edits
380 Edit → Clear Edits menu item
381 Default: Ctrl+r
383 dismiss_all_edits
385 Edit → Dismiss All Edits menu item
386 Default: Ctrl+d
388 find
390 Edit → Find... menu item
391 Default: Ctrl+f
393 find_next
395 Edit → Find Next menu item
396 Default: Ctrl+g
398 find_previous
400 Edit → Find Previous menu item
401 Default: Shift+Ctrl+G
403 go_to_line
405 Edit → Go To Line... menu item
406 Default: Shift+Ctrl+L
408 preferences
410 Edit → Preferences menu item
411 Default: None
413 no_syntax_highlighting
415 View → Syntax Highlighting → None menu item
416 Default: None
418 syntax_highlighting_syntax
420 View → Syntax Highlighting → syntax menu item
421 Default: None
423 realign_all
425 View → Realign All menu item
426 Default: Ctrl+l
428 isolate
430 View → Isolate menu item
431 Default: Ctrl+i
433 first_difference
435 View → First Difference menu item
436 Default: Shift+Ctrl+Up
438 previous_difference
440 View → Previous Difference menu item
441 Default: Ctrl+Up
443 next_difference
445 View → Next Difference menu item
446 Default: Ctrl+Down
448 last_difference
450 View → Last Difference menu item
451 Default: Shift+Ctrl+Down
453 first_tab
455 View → First Tab menu item
456 Default: Shift+Ctrl+Page_Up
458 previous_tab
460 View → Previous Tab menu item
461 Default: Ctrl+Page_Up
463 next_tab
465 View → Next Tab menu item
466 Default: Ctrl+Page_Down
468 last_tab
470 View → Last Tab menu item
471 Default: Shift+Ctrl+Page_Down
473 shift_pane_right
475 View → Shift Pane Right menu item
476 Default: Shift+Ctrl+parenleft
478 shift_pane_left
480 View → Shift Pane Left menu item
481 Default: Shift+Ctrl+parenright
483 convert_to_upper_case
485 Format → Convert To Upper Case menu item
486 Default: Ctrl+u
488 convert_to_lower_case
490 Format → Convert To Lower Case menu item
491 Default: Shift+Ctrl+U
493 sort_lines_in_ascending_order
495 Format → Sort Lines In Ascending Order menu item
496 Default: Ctrl+y
498 sort_lines_in_descending_order
500 Format → Sort Lines In Descending Order menu item
501 Default: Shift+Ctrl+Y
503 remove_trailing_white_space
505 Format → Remove Trailing White Space menu item
506 Default: Ctrl+k
508 convert_tabs_to_spaces
510 Format → Convert Tabs To Spaces menu item
511 Default: Ctrl+b
513 convert_leading_spaces_to_tabs
515 Format → Convert Leading Spaces To Tabs menu item
516 Default: Shift+Ctrl+B
518 increase_indenting
520 Format → Increase Indenting menu item
521 Default: Shift+Ctrl+greater
523 decrease_indenting
525 Format → Decrease Indenting menu item
526 Default: Shift+Ctrl+less
528 convert_to_dos
530 Format → Convert To DOS Format menu item
531 Default: Shift+Ctrl+E
533 convert_to_mac
535 Format → Convert To Mac Format menu item
536 Default: Shift+Ctrl+C
538 convert_to_unix
540 Format → Convert To Unix Format menu item
541 Default: Ctrl+e
543 copy_selection_right
545 Merge → Copy Selection Right menu item
546 Default: Shift+Ctrl+Right
548 copy_selection_left
550 Merge → Copy Selection Left menu item
551 Default: Shift+Ctrl+Left
553 copy_left_into_selection
555 Merge → Copy Left Into Selection menu item
556 Default: Ctrl+Right
558 copy_right_into_selection
560 Merge → Copy Right Into Selection menu item
561 Default: Ctrl+Left
563 merge_from_left_then_right
565 Merge → Merge From Left Then Right menu item
566 Default: Ctrl+m
568 merge_from_right_then_left
570 Merge → Merge From Right Then Left menu item
571 Default: Shift+Ctrl+M
573 help_contents
575 Help → Help Contents menu item
576 Default: F1
578 about
580 Help → About menu item
581 Default: None
583 Line Editing Mode Key Bindings
585 Use line_mode for the context to define key bindings for line
586 editing mode. The following values are valid for action:
587 enter_align_mode
589 enter alignment editing mode
590 Default: space
592 enter_character_mode
594 enter character editing mode
595 Defaults: Return, KP_Enter
597 first_line
599 move cursor to the first line
600 Defaults: Home, g
602 extend_first_line
604 move cursor to the first line, extending the selection
605 Default: Shift+Home
607 last_line
609 move cursor to the last line
610 Defaults: End, Shift+G
612 extend_last_line
614 move cursor to the last line, extending the selection
615 Default: Shift+End
617 up
619 move cursor up one line
620 Defaults: Up, k
622 extend_up
624 move cursor up one line, extending the selection
625 Defaults: Shift+Up, Shift+K
627 down
629 move cursor down one line
630 Defaults: Down, j
632 extend_down
634 move cursor down one line, extending the selection
635 Defaults: Shift+Down, Shift+J
637 left
639 move cursor left one file
640 Defaults: Left, h
642 extend_left
644 move cursor left one file, extending the selection
645 Default: Shift+Left
647 right
649 move cursor right one file
650 Defaults: Right, l
652 extend_right
654 move cursor right one file, extending the selection
655 Default: Shift+Right
657 page_up
659 move cursor up one page
660 Defaults: Page_Up, Ctrl+u
662 extend_page_up
664 move cursor up one page, extending the selection
665 Defaults: Shift+Page_Up, Shift+Ctrl+u
667 page_down
669 move cursor down one page
670 Defaults: Page_Down, Ctrl+d
672 extend_page_down
674 move cursor down one page, extending the selection
675 Defaults: Shift+Page_Down, Shift+Ctrl+d
677 delete_text
679 delete the selected text
680 Defaults: BackSpace, Delete, x
682 first_difference
684 select the first difference
685 Defaults: Ctrl+Home, Shift+P
687 previous_difference
689 select the previous difference
690 Default: p
692 next_difference
694 select the next difference
695 Default: n
697 last_difference
699 select the last difference
700 Defaults: Ctrl+End, Shift+N
702 clear_edits
704 clear all edits from the selected lines
705 Default: r
707 copy_selection_left
709 copy lines from the selection into the file on the left
710 Default: None
712 copy_selection_right
714 copy lines from the selection into the file on the right
715 Default: None
717 copy_left_into_selection
719 copy lines from the file on the left into the selection
720 Default: Shift+L
722 copy_right_into_selection
724 copy lines from the file on the right into the selection
725 Default: Shift+H
727 merge_from_left_then_right
729 merge lines from file on the left then file on the right
730 Default: m
732 merge_from_right_then_left
734 merge lines from file on the right then file on the left
735 Default: Shift+M
737 isolate
739 isolate the selected lines
740 Default: i
742 Alignment Editing Mode Key Bindings
744 Use align_mode for the context to define key bindings for alignment
745 editing mode. The following values are valid for action:
746 enter_line_mode
748 enter line editing mode
749 Default: Escape
751 enter_character_mode
753 enter character editing mode
754 Defaults: Return, KP_Enter
756 first_line
758 move cursor to the first line
759 Default: g
761 last_line
763 move cursor to the last line
764 Default: Shift+G
766 up
768 move cursor up one line
769 Defaults: Up, k
771 down
773 move cursor down one line
774 Defaults: Down, j
776 left
778 move cursor left one file
779 Defaults: Left, h
781 right
783 move cursor right one file
784 Defaults: Right, l
786 page_up
788 move cursor up one page
789 Defaults: Page_Up, Ctrl+u
791 page_down
793 move cursor down one page
794 Defaults: Page_Down, Ctrl+d
796 align
798 align the selected line to the cursor position
799 Default: space
801 Character Editing Mode Key Bindings
803 Use character_mode for the context to define key bindings for
804 character editing mode. The following values are valid for action:
805 enter_line_mode
807 enter line editing mode
808 Default: Escape
810 Strings
812 string name value
813 Declares a string resource called name with value value.
814 Used String Resources
816 The following string resources are used by Diffuse:
817 difference_colours
819 a list of colour resources used to indicate differences
820 Default: difference_1 difference_2 difference_3
822 Colours
824 [ colour | color ] name red green blue
825 Declares a colour resource called name. Individual colour
826 components should be expressed as a value between 0 and 1.
827 Used Colour Resources
829 The following colour resources are used by Diffuse:
830 alignment
832 colour used to indicate a line picked for manual alignment
833 Default: 1 1 0
835 character_selection
837 colour used to indicate selected characters
838 Default: 0.7 0.7 1
840 cursor
842 colour used for the cursor
843 Default: 0 0 0
845 difference_1
847 colour used to identify differences between the first pair of
848 files
849 Default: 1 0.625 0.625
851 difference_2
853 colour used to identify differences between the second pair of
854 files
855 Default: 0.85 0.625 0.775
857 difference_3
859 colour used to identify differences between the third pair of
860 files
861 Default: 0.85 0.775 0.625
863 edited
865 colour used to indicate edited lines
866 Default: 0.5 1 0.5
868 hatch
870 colour used for indicating alignment gaps
871 Default: 0.8 0.8 0.8
873 line_number
875 colour used for line numbers
876 Default: 0 0 0
878 line_number_background
880 background colour for the line number area
881 Default: 0.75 0.75 0.75
883 line_selection
885 colour used to indicate selected lines
886 Default: 0.7 0.7 1
888 map_background
890 background colour for the map area
891 Default: 0.6 0.6 0.6
893 margin
895 colour used to indicate the right margin
896 Default: 0.8 0.8 0.8
898 preedit
900 pre-edit text colour
901 Default: 0 0 0
903 text
905 regular text colour
906 Default: 0 0 0
908 text_background
910 background colour for the text area
911 Default: 1 1 1
913 Floating Point Values
915 float name value
916 Declares a floating point resource called name with value value.
917 Used Floating Point Resources
919 The following floating point resources are used by Diffuse:
920 alignment_opacity
922 opacity used when compositing the manual alignment colour
923 Defaults: 1
925 character_difference_opacity
927 opacity used when compositing character difference colours
928 Defaults: 0.4
930 character_selection_opacity
932 opacity used when compositing the character selection colour
933 Defaults: 0.4
935 edited_opacity
937 opacity used when compositing the edited line colour
938 Defaults: 0.4
940 line_difference_opacity
942 opacity used when compositing line difference colours
943 Defaults: 0.3
945 line_selection_opacity
947 opacity used when compositing the line selection colour
948 Defaults: 0.4
950 Syntax Highlighting
952 syntax name [initial_state default_tag]
953 Declares a new syntax style called name. Syntax highlighting uses a
954 simple state machine that transitions between states when certain
955 patterns are matched. The initial state for the state machine will
956 be initial_state. All characters not matched by a pattern will be
957 tagged as default_tag for highlighting. The syntax style called
958 name can be removed by omitting initial_state and default_tag.
959 syntax_files name [pattern]
961 Specifies that files with a name matching pattern should be
962 highlighted using the syntax style called name. Patterns used to
963 match files for use with the syntax style called name can be
964 removed by omitting pattern.
965 syntax_magic name [pattern [ignorecase]]
967 Specifies that files with a first line matching pattern should be
968 highlighted using the syntax style called name. Patterns used to
969 match files for use with the syntax style called name can be
970 removed by omitting pattern.
971 syntax_pattern name initial_state final_state tag pattern [ignorecase]
973 Adds a pattern to the previously declared syntax style. Patterns
974 are tried one at a time in the order they were declared until the
975 first match is found. A pattern will only be used to match
976 characters if the state machine is in the state initial_state. The
977 state machine will transition to final_state if the pattern defined
978 by pattern is matched. Case insensitive pattern matching will be
979 used if ignorecase is specified. All characters matched by the
980 pattern will be tagged as tag for highlighting.
981
983 The following files are used by Diffuse:
984 /etc/diffuserc
986 system wide initialisations (%INSTALL_DIR%\diffuserc on Microsoft
987 Windows)
988 /usr/share/diffuse/syntax/*.syntax
990 syntax files for various languages (%INSTALL_DIR%\syntax\*.syntax
991 on Microsoft Windows)
992 ~/.config/diffuse/diffuserc
994 your initialisations (%HOME%\.config\diffuse\diffuserc on Microsoft
995 Windows)
996 ~/.config/diffuse/prefs
998 your saved preferences (%HOME%\.config\diffuse\prefs on Microsoft
999 Windows)
1000 ~/.local/share/diffuse/state
1002 data persistent across sessions (%HOME%\.local\share\diffuse\state
1003 on Microsoft Windows)
1004
1006 Diffuse was written by Derrick Moser <derrick_moser@yahoo.com>.
1007 © 2006-2014 Derrick Moser. All Rights Reserved.
1009
1011 Diffuse is free software; you may redistribute it and/or modify it
1012 under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the
1013 Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the licence, or (at your
1014 option) any later version.
1015diffuse 0.4.8 2014-07-18 DIFFUSE(1)