diff is an often requested feature but it is fairly difficult to implement any kind of diff, let alone a really good one. Total Commander can diff-change directory structures, archives, and diff-view files. There are many diff-change only tools.
WinMerge
kdiff3
Googling for those two will reveal many others.
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The best file compare tool, in my view, is the simplest, and should be very easy to implement in Notepad++. The following is similar to how it was implemented in the old DOS Norton Editor.
Open two or more text files in Notepad++ at the same time.
Right click and select "Go to another view" to move one of the files to a second window.
Position the cursor in each window.
Click on a "Difference" icon to cause Notepad++ to compare the character after the cursor in each window, and either:
stop the operation if the characters after the cursors are different,
or:
move both cursors to the next character if the characters after the cursors are the same, and repeat this operation until either the characters being compared are different, or the end of file is reached in at least one of the windows.
My colleagues and I found the Norton Editor tool very useful. The Norton Editor was never published as a Windows program, and became unavailable. We have failed to find a satisfactory replacement for the File Compare. We wrote a macro to do this in Brief, but that disappeared too.
Most tools compare the whole file and mark all the differences. For many purposes this has a lot of disadvantages. For most purposes it is much better to simply find the first difference and then allow the user to edit as appropriate, reposition the cursors in both windows, and compare again from there. Occasionally comparing the whole file in one go is what is needed, and as you say, there are many tools out there that will do that.
I am sure that many people would be grateful if you would implement the above procedure.
Every now and again I do a search to see if anyone has implemented the procedure proposed above, and so far have been unsuccessful. Meanwhile Notepad++ has become my favourite text editor.
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is there a tool where you can compare two files?
diff is an often requested feature but it is fairly difficult to implement any kind of diff, let alone a really good one. Total Commander can diff-change directory structures, archives, and diff-view files. There are many diff-change only tools.
WinMerge
kdiff3
Googling for those two will reveal many others.
The best file compare tool, in my view, is the simplest, and should be very easy to implement in Notepad++. The following is similar to how it was implemented in the old DOS Norton Editor.
Open two or more text files in Notepad++ at the same time.
Right click and select "Go to another view" to move one of the files to a second window.
Position the cursor in each window.
Click on a "Difference" icon to cause Notepad++ to compare the character after the cursor in each window, and either:
stop the operation if the characters after the cursors are different,
or:
move both cursors to the next character if the characters after the cursors are the same, and repeat this operation until either the characters being compared are different, or the end of file is reached in at least one of the windows.
My colleagues and I found the Norton Editor tool very useful. The Norton Editor was never published as a Windows program, and became unavailable. We have failed to find a satisfactory replacement for the File Compare. We wrote a macro to do this in Brief, but that disappeared too.
Most tools compare the whole file and mark all the differences. For many purposes this has a lot of disadvantages. For most purposes it is much better to simply find the first difference and then allow the user to edit as appropriate, reposition the cursors in both windows, and compare again from there. Occasionally comparing the whole file in one go is what is needed, and as you say, there are many tools out there that will do that.
I am sure that many people would be grateful if you would implement the above procedure.
Every now and again I do a search to see if anyone has implemented the procedure proposed above, and so far have been unsuccessful. Meanwhile Notepad++ has become my favourite text editor.
winmerge >open source
windiff >available for user owning a license of winxp pro or windows server 2000/2003
but it would be nice to have a good compare option built in...
you might want to talk with the winmerge people to agree on a interface/plugin basis
would be good for you and for them ?
I like "Compare It!" over at GrigSoft (http://www.grigsoft.com). It is shareware, but I believe there is an older freeware version available.
Oh yeah!!! Me too. I love Compare It! soooo koool!!! :D
http://winmerge.sourceforge.net/ is a pretty decent tool...
I back up this feature request. It is essential.
Just highlight text which is differing between two docs would make it.
Cheeks
I back up this feature request too!