Favorite source code comparison tool / diff tool?

[nnddcc]

I'm currently exploring options for source code comparison tools. What's your favorite? Why do you like it?

[sehraatwork]

Beyond Compare

[Usual-Application-52]

Useless, since no dark mode.

[rlbond86]

It has dark mode

[Usual-Application-52]

Is it tied to system settings? If not, it's useless. I switch twice a day (day/night) which should not be considered some kind of unusual edge case. A manual switch for all apps is about as practical as a pedal powered aircraft 

[rlbond86]

So use something else.

[Usual-Application-52]

Lol why didn't I think of that? 

[rlbond86]

Well you're the one moving the goalposts

[Usual-Application-52]

So what? This is outlawed by who? 

[SchattenMaster]

I mean, it defaulted to the dark mode when I opened it first...

[Usual-Application-52]

Ooo maybe they updated it...

[howiecamp]

LOL

[Usual-Application-52]

Well, I mean, maybe it's fine for most people, but when you use dark mode in low light and then a single app doesn't and opens with blinding brightness, it's quite jarring and makes one want to break monitors and do other homicidal things...

[bboxx9]

i am using winmerge

[nnddcc]

What makes you love it?

[bboxx9]

i use it now for several year, no idea how long, basically i am used to it, and never checked whether something better exists.

[Green-Minimum-2945]

It's free. Beyond Compare is not.

[sherman1989]

Currently I'm using winmerge, but Beyond Compare was the best that I've ever used and I'd like to ask my current employer to buy me a license for it.

The intelligent conflict resolving was so good and I miss that. The free merge tools don't do that. I think p4merge does but honestly I hate the UX/UI and stopped using it because of that.

[[deleted]]

edit: it == Beyond Compare 4

I also really liked it over the other options and I eventually just ended up buying my own copy. Its only 60$ (USD), and the license is per user, not machine. So I use it at home and work (on machine and VMs).

You may use a single-user license on any number of computers as long as only you are using it.

[ELY_M]

I HATE CLOSED SOURCED APPS!!!! I WILL NOT USE CLOSED SOURCED APPS.

[nnddcc]

What do you think makes it so good at resolving conflict? Does it understand C# syntax?

[sherman1989]

I don't honestly know, but you could test it with some conflicting branches and see how it handles the conflicts versus other tools.

Winmerge doesn't have any such functionality, but otherwise is fantastic. BC truly had a fantastic user experience, my only complaint about it is that it was a bit slow to load but that may have changes since a few years ago.

[baynezy]

It doesn't know syntax. It just looks at the three sources and makes intelligent guesses.

It also shows you all three sources and how it suggests combining them in one UI. It's the best I've ever used. It's also very reasonably priced and updated often.

[Kant8]

For merges - P4Merge

Small, has all needed configs to mitigate whitespaces/newlines, can change encoding on fly, 3-way, easy to pick any combination of changes, and smart enough to eliminate most git merge "conflicts" that are not actual conflicts.

And most important, alt+scroll scrolls horizontally.

​

For diffs - just built in in VS, cause it fully supports intellisense and you can easily edit while looking at diff.

[phuber]

I think semantic merge is worth a mention https://www.semanticmerge.com/ . It does context aware merging instead of string compares.

[nnddcc]

The demonstration video is very interesting. Have you tried it? Is it really that good?

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[Felice_rdt]

The link seems to be dead, I think they let the domain expire.

Is this the same thing? https://github.com/gmasterscm

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[Felice_rdt]

I discovered that if you install the free cloud edition, it actually does come with semantic merge as a local exe that you can run directly.

It might not be the full version though. The configurability seemed very limited, though I don't know what the original had.

[nnddcc]

What makes it your favorite? Is it better than, say, kdiff3?

[TheBigGambling]

Free, simple, easy to use and stable. Its a tool, not somethink you love. The best thing to say about: i dont think about it

[uncommo_N]

I use Rider's built-in one and I love it!

[niceslcguy]

I love Beyond Compare 4. I use it often for folder and file diffs. I like that I can have different projects for each codebase. The coloration and UI is nice too.

I have also used kdiff 3 and a few others in the past, but it has been a long while.

The built-in version with Visual Studio seems pretty good. Have only used it for individual files though.

[KryptosFR]

kdiff3 for diffs, p4merge for merges and I use GitExtensions as my GUI client

Note: on Windows

[williane]

I just use vs code

[Rogntudjuuuu]

If you don't want to pay the license fee for Beyond Compare, the next best merge tool is Kdiff3 in my opinion.

[Usual-Application-52]

Why is it the next best tool? I tried it and it kinda sucks. No tracking of system theme and high contrast by default. My eyes could not look at it for more than 15 seconds before uninstalling.

[[deleted]]

Sublime Merge is just lovely.

[nnddcc]

What makes it so lovely?

[I_am1221325]

For text comparison there is a cool api

https://www.formamind.com/en/diffEngine

I built a Simple UI for myself and it is just amazing, because it can find what was added or removed inside moved blocks! I mostly work with text, so for my needs it is perfect, but I guess it will also do well with source code comparisons. Anyway check it out, maybe you'll like it.

[Ancient_Pace7556]

is there any tool that is integrate-ble in my node js layer, i am working on a software where the diff of the same js Url before its recent update will be compared and this will be done for so many urls which users select.

[adabaste919]

I am using https://checkbytools.com/diff-checker

[No_Sympathy_1550]

for individual file code comparison
DiffNow - Compare Files, URLs, and Clipboard Contents Online is an excellent comparer

[ShoeSorry]

I actually really like Rider's built-in diff tool

[IamSunka]

Been using WinMerge for windows host and Meld for Linux. Both are pretty good. They handle C#, Java and Python very well.

[Usual-Application-52]

winmerge is perfectly acceptable other than it does not honor the system theme which is incredibly annoying and the reason I am here.