Then anything not in this lcs is declared to belong to the difference set - the minimal set of lines that needs to be changed for the transformationīut both string diff and diff based on words are definitely possible. As file difference is an illusiveĬoncept that simplest approach is consider line indivisible and compute so called 'longest common subsequence While it is the first it is still one of the best.īoth files in a classic UNIX diff are assumed to be text files.

McIlroy,Īn algorithm for differential file comparison, Bell Telephone Laboratories CSTRĮdited from OCR, figures redrawn)).

lines that are changed or absent in either of files.Īnd based on the algorithm for file comparison that they created (see J. It compares the contents of the two files source fileĪnd target file (modified version) and produces 'delta'

(slightly skeptical) Educational society promoting ' Back to basics' movement against IT overcomplexityĭiff and other Tools for detecting changes in sourcesĭiff is one of the oldest UNIX commands (was included in Softpanorama May the source be with you, but remember the KISS principle -)

Tools for detecting changes in sources (diff, sdiff, tkdiff, etc)

Winmerge compare folders slow