diff showing only differences inside line
I want to compare lines in two files, but to minimize noise in the output, I want only the actual differences in the lines to be printed.
For instance, given the two files below:
a.txt
a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z
b.txt
a B c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z
(the difference between them is the case of letter b)
I want the output to be something like:
[-b-]{+B+}
Currently, the best approach I found was to use git diff --word-diff, but it outputs the whole line:
a [-b-]{+B+} c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z
Is there a more direct way to do it, other than manually parsing the output? Also, ideally I would prefer to use something more commonly available than git diff, e.g. a POSIX shell tool that would not require the user to install extra packages.
shell-script diff
asked Jan 18 at 8:16
anolanol
381411
add a comment |
I want to compare lines in two files, but to minimize noise in the output, I want only the actual differences in the lines to be printed.
For instance, given the two files below:
a.txt
a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z
b.txt
a B c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z
(the difference between them is the case of letter b)
I want the output to be something like:
[-b-]{+B+}
Currently, the best approach I found was to use git diff --word-diff, but it outputs the whole line:
a [-b-]{+B+} c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z
Is there a more direct way to do it, other than manually parsing the output? Also, ideally I would prefer to use something more commonly available than git diff, e.g. a POSIX shell tool that would not require the user to install extra packages.
shell-script diff
asked Jan 18 at 8:16
anolanol
381411
It would be nice if you used an example where the differences were more visible. I had to squint to see that those two characters are not the same.
– Barmar
Jan 18 at 17:48
Sorry, I added a note describing the difference between the lines.
– anol
Jan 18 at 17:53
Why not just usebandBso it's obvious? I understand that this was probably the actual difference, but for purposes of the question you can make it easier.
– Barmar
Jan 18 at 18:02
1
I wanted to avoid solutions that would only work on ASCII characters, but since the proposed solution does not depend on it, I changed it. However, I cannot update the answer to reflect the new changes since the edit would be smaller than 6 characters long.
– anol
Jan 18 at 18:26
add a comment |
I want to compare lines in two files, but to minimize noise in the output, I want only the actual differences in the lines to be printed.
For instance, given the two files below:
a.txt
a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z
b.txt
a B c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z
(the difference between them is the case of letter b)
I want the output to be something like:
[-b-]{+B+}
Currently, the best approach I found was to use git diff --word-diff, but it outputs the whole line:
a [-b-]{+B+} c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z
Is there a more direct way to do it, other than manually parsing the output? Also, ideally I would prefer to use something more commonly available than git diff, e.g. a POSIX shell tool that would not require the user to install extra packages.
shell-script diff
asked Jan 18 at 8:16
anolanol
381411
I want to compare lines in two files, but to minimize noise in the output, I want only the actual differences in the lines to be printed.
For instance, given the two files below:
a.txt
a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z
b.txt
a B c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z
(the difference between them is the case of letter b)
I want the output to be something like:
[-b-]{+B+}
Currently, the best approach I found was to use git diff --word-diff, but it outputs the whole line:
a [-b-]{+B+} c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z
Is there a more direct way to do it, other than manually parsing the output? Also, ideally I would prefer to use something more commonly available than git diff, e.g. a POSIX shell tool that would not require the user to install extra packages.
shell-script diff
shell-script diff
asked Jan 18 at 8:16
anolanol
381411
asked Jan 18 at 8:16
anolanol
381411
edited Jan 18 at 18:24
anol
asked Jan 18 at 8:16
anolanol
381411
asked Jan 18 at 8:16
anolanol
381411
asked Jan 18 at 8:16
anolanol
381411
381411
It would be nice if you used an example where the differences were more visible. I had to squint to see that those two characters are not the same.
– Barmar
Jan 18 at 17:48
Sorry, I added a note describing the difference between the lines.
– anol
Jan 18 at 17:53
Why not just usebandBso it's obvious? I understand that this was probably the actual difference, but for purposes of the question you can make it easier.
– Barmar
Jan 18 at 18:02
1
I wanted to avoid solutions that would only work on ASCII characters, but since the proposed solution does not depend on it, I changed it. However, I cannot update the answer to reflect the new changes since the edit would be smaller than 6 characters long.
– anol
Jan 18 at 18:26
add a comment |
It would be nice if you used an example where the differences were more visible. I had to squint to see that those two characters are not the same.
– Barmar
Jan 18 at 17:48
Sorry, I added a note describing the difference between the lines.
– anol
Jan 18 at 17:53
Why not just usebandBso it's obvious? I understand that this was probably the actual difference, but for purposes of the question you can make it easier.
– Barmar
Jan 18 at 18:02
1
I wanted to avoid solutions that would only work on ASCII characters, but since the proposed solution does not depend on it, I changed it. However, I cannot update the answer to reflect the new changes since the edit would be smaller than 6 characters long.
– anol
Jan 18 at 18:26
It would be nice if you used an example where the differences were more visible. I had to squint to see that those two characters are not the same.
– Barmar
Jan 18 at 17:48
It would be nice if you used an example where the differences were more visible. I had to squint to see that those two characters are not the same.
– Barmar
Jan 18 at 17:48
Sorry, I added a note describing the difference between the lines.
– anol
Jan 18 at 17:53
Sorry, I added a note describing the difference between the lines.
– anol
Jan 18 at 17:53
Why not just use
b and B so it's obvious? I understand that this was probably the actual difference, but for purposes of the question you can make it easier.– Barmar
Jan 18 at 18:02
Why not just use
b and B so it's obvious? I understand that this was probably the actual difference, but for purposes of the question you can make it easier.– Barmar
Jan 18 at 18:02
1
1
I wanted to avoid solutions that would only work on ASCII characters, but since the proposed solution does not depend on it, I changed it. However, I cannot update the answer to reflect the new changes since the edit would be smaller than 6 characters long.
– anol
Jan 18 at 18:26
I wanted to avoid solutions that would only work on ASCII characters, but since the proposed solution does not depend on it, I changed it. However, I cannot update the answer to reflect the new changes since the edit would be smaller than 6 characters long.
– anol
Jan 18 at 18:26
add a comment |
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
Using wdiff:
$ wdiff -3 a.txt b.txt
======================================================================
[-b-] {+B+}
======================================================================
The -3 or ---no-common option will remove words that are common between the two files and only show the differences.
The ===... banner (and empty lines) may be removed with grep:
$ wdiff -3 a.txt b.txt | grep -vx '=*'
[-b-] {+B+}
wdiff may also read unified diff data if you give it the -d or --diff-input option, for example from git:
git diff somefile | wdiff -d -3
Although wdiff is not a POSIX tool, it is commonly available.
answered Jan 18 at 8:38
KusalanandaKusalananda
128k16242399
It might be worth noting that if your terminal supports ANSI escapes, you can make wdiff print fancy colored output that's (imo) easier to read with this in your bashrc:alias wdiff="wdiff -n -w $'33[30;41m' -x $'33[0m' -y $'33[30;42m' -z $'33[0m'"(taken from here).
– scohe001
Jan 18 at 17:18
add a comment |
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1 Answer
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1 Answer
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votes
Using wdiff:
$ wdiff -3 a.txt b.txt
======================================================================
[-b-] {+B+}
======================================================================
The -3 or ---no-common option will remove words that are common between the two files and only show the differences.
The ===... banner (and empty lines) may be removed with grep:
$ wdiff -3 a.txt b.txt | grep -vx '=*'
[-b-] {+B+}
wdiff may also read unified diff data if you give it the -d or --diff-input option, for example from git:
git diff somefile | wdiff -d -3
Although wdiff is not a POSIX tool, it is commonly available.
answered Jan 18 at 8:38
KusalanandaKusalananda
128k16242399
It might be worth noting that if your terminal supports ANSI escapes, you can make wdiff print fancy colored output that's (imo) easier to read with this in your bashrc:alias wdiff="wdiff -n -w $'33[30;41m' -x $'33[0m' -y $'33[30;42m' -z $'33[0m'"(taken from here).
– scohe001
Jan 18 at 17:18
add a comment |
Using wdiff:
$ wdiff -3 a.txt b.txt
======================================================================
[-b-] {+B+}
======================================================================
The -3 or ---no-common option will remove words that are common between the two files and only show the differences.
The ===... banner (and empty lines) may be removed with grep:
$ wdiff -3 a.txt b.txt | grep -vx '=*'
[-b-] {+B+}
wdiff may also read unified diff data if you give it the -d or --diff-input option, for example from git:
git diff somefile | wdiff -d -3
Although wdiff is not a POSIX tool, it is commonly available.
answered Jan 18 at 8:38
KusalanandaKusalananda
128k16242399
It might be worth noting that if your terminal supports ANSI escapes, you can make wdiff print fancy colored output that's (imo) easier to read with this in your bashrc:alias wdiff="wdiff -n -w $'33[30;41m' -x $'33[0m' -y $'33[30;42m' -z $'33[0m'"(taken from here).
– scohe001
Jan 18 at 17:18
add a comment |
Using wdiff:
$ wdiff -3 a.txt b.txt
======================================================================
[-b-] {+B+}
======================================================================
The -3 or ---no-common option will remove words that are common between the two files and only show the differences.
The ===... banner (and empty lines) may be removed with grep:
$ wdiff -3 a.txt b.txt | grep -vx '=*'
[-b-] {+B+}
wdiff may also read unified diff data if you give it the -d or --diff-input option, for example from git:
git diff somefile | wdiff -d -3
Although wdiff is not a POSIX tool, it is commonly available.
answered Jan 18 at 8:38
KusalanandaKusalananda
128k16242399
Using wdiff:
$ wdiff -3 a.txt b.txt
======================================================================
[-b-] {+B+}
======================================================================
The -3 or ---no-common option will remove words that are common between the two files and only show the differences.
The ===... banner (and empty lines) may be removed with grep:
$ wdiff -3 a.txt b.txt | grep -vx '=*'
[-b-] {+B+}
wdiff may also read unified diff data if you give it the -d or --diff-input option, for example from git:
git diff somefile | wdiff -d -3
Although wdiff is not a POSIX tool, it is commonly available.
answered Jan 18 at 8:38
KusalanandaKusalananda
128k16242399
edited Jan 18 at 18:35
answered Jan 18 at 8:38
KusalanandaKusalananda
128k16242399
answered Jan 18 at 8:38
KusalanandaKusalananda
128k16242399
answered Jan 18 at 8:38
KusalanandaKusalananda
128k16242399
128k16242399
It might be worth noting that if your terminal supports ANSI escapes, you can make wdiff print fancy colored output that's (imo) easier to read with this in your bashrc:alias wdiff="wdiff -n -w $'33[30;41m' -x $'33[0m' -y $'33[30;42m' -z $'33[0m'"(taken from here).
– scohe001
Jan 18 at 17:18
add a comment |
It might be worth noting that if your terminal supports ANSI escapes, you can make wdiff print fancy colored output that's (imo) easier to read with this in your bashrc:alias wdiff="wdiff -n -w $'33[30;41m' -x $'33[0m' -y $'33[30;42m' -z $'33[0m'"(taken from here).
– scohe001
Jan 18 at 17:18
It might be worth noting that if your terminal supports ANSI escapes, you can make wdiff print fancy colored output that's (imo) easier to read with this in your bashrc:
alias wdiff="wdiff -n -w $'33[30;41m' -x $'33[0m' -y $'33[30;42m' -z $'33[0m'" (taken from here).– scohe001
Jan 18 at 17:18
It might be worth noting that if your terminal supports ANSI escapes, you can make wdiff print fancy colored output that's (imo) easier to read with this in your bashrc:
alias wdiff="wdiff -n -w $'33[30;41m' -x $'33[0m' -y $'33[30;42m' -z $'33[0m'" (taken from here).– scohe001
Jan 18 at 17:18
add a comment |
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It would be nice if you used an example where the differences were more visible. I had to squint to see that those two characters are not the same.
– Barmar
Jan 18 at 17:48
Sorry, I added a note describing the difference between the lines.
– anol
Jan 18 at 17:53
Why not just use
bandBso it's obvious? I understand that this was probably the actual difference, but for purposes of the question you can make it easier.– Barmar
Jan 18 at 18:02
1
I wanted to avoid solutions that would only work on ASCII characters, but since the proposed solution does not depend on it, I changed it. However, I cannot update the answer to reflect the new changes since the edit would be smaller than 6 characters long.
– anol
Jan 18 at 18:26