Compare Toolbar of the Compare Files Tool

This toolbar contains the operations that can be performed on the source and target files or XML fragments.

Figure: The Compare Toolbar

The following actions are available:

Algorithm

This drop-down menu allows you to select one of the following diff algorithms:

• Auto - Selects the most appropriate algorithm, based on the compared content and its size (selected by default).

• Characters - Computes the differences at character level.

• Words - Computes the differences at word level.

• Lines - Computes the differences at line level, meaning that it compares two files or fragments looking for identical lines of text. Once identical lines are found, it is considered a match. The content that precedes the match is considered to be a difference and marked accordingly. The algorithm then continues to look for matching lines.

• Syntax Aware - Computes differences for known file types or XML fragments. Known file types include those listed in the New dialog box, such as XML file types (XSLT files, XSL-FO files, XSD files, RNG files, NVDL files, etc.), XQuery file types (.xquery, .xq, .xqy, .xqm extensions), DTD file types (.dtd, .ent, .mod extensions), TEXT file type (.txt extension), or PHP file type (.php extension).

  This algorithm splits the files or fragments into sequences of tokens and computes the differences between them. A token can have a different meaning, depending on the type of the compared files or fragments . For example:

  • When comparing XML files or fragments, a token can be one of the following:
    • The name of an XML tag
    • The < character
    • The /> sequence of characters
    • The name of an attribute inside an XML tag
    • The = sign
    • The " character
    • An attribute value
    • The text string between the start tag and the end tag (a text node that is a child of the XML element corresponding to the XML tag that encloses the text string)
  • When comparing plain text, a token can be any continuous sequence of characters or any continuous sequence of whitespaces, including a new line character.

• XML Fast - Comparison that works well on large files or fragments, but it is less precise than XML Accurate.

• XML Accurate - Comparison that is more precise than XML Fast, at the expense of speed.

Diff Options

Opens the Files Comparison page.

Perform directories differencing

Looks for differences between the two directories displayed in the left and right side of the application window.

Ignore Whitespaces

Enables or disables the whitespace ignoring feature. Ignoring whitespace means that before performing the comparison, the application normalizes the content and trims its leading and trailing whitespaces.

Synchronized scrolling

Synchronizes scrolling so that a selected difference can be seen on both sides of the application window. This action enables/disables the previously described behavior.

Format and Indent Both Files (Ctrl Shift P (Meta Shift P on OS X))

Formats and indents both files before comparing them. Use this option for comparisons that contain long lines that make it difficult to spot differences.

Copy Change from Right to Left

Copies the selected difference from the target file in the right side to the source file in the left side.

Copy All Changes from Right to Left

Copies all changes from the target file in the right side to the source file in the left side.

Next Block of Changes (Ctrl Period (Meta Period on OS X))

Jumps to the next block of changes. This action is disabled when the cursor is positioned on the last change block or when there are no changes.

Note: A change block groups one or more consecutive lines that contain at least one change.

Previous Block of Changes (Ctrl Comma (Meta Comma on OS X))

Jumps to the previous block of changes. This action is disabled when the cursor is positioned on the first change block or when there are no changes.

Next Change (Ctrl Shift Period (Meta Shift Period on OS X))

Jumps to the next change from the current block of changes. When the last change from the current block of changes is reached, it highlights the next block of changes. This action is disabled when the cursor is positioned on the last change or when there are no changes.

Previous Change (Ctrl Shift Comma (Meta Shift M on OS X))

Jumps to the previous change from the current block of changes. When the first change from the current block of changes is reached, it highlights the previous block of changes. This action is disabled when the cursor is positioned on the first change or when there are no changes.

Copy All Changes from Left to Right

Copies all changes from the source file in the left side to the target file in the right side.

Copy Change from Left to Right

Copies the selected difference from the source file in the left side to the target file in the right side.

First Change (Ctrl B (Meta B on OS X))

Jumps to the first change.