Visual diff Tools

1 Overview

diff is a utility that allows you to find the differences between two text files. Unfortunately, while it is very powerful, many people find it difficult to interpret the results. Fortunately, a number of "visual" diff utilities have been developed over the years. Some of this tools also allow you to merge the two files together.

2 Standalone Tools

Several standalon "visual diff" tools exist, including:

kdiff3 (for Linux, OS X, and MS-Windows)
Meld (for Linux)
WinMerge (for MS-Windows)

3 Within Editors

Some editors include "visual diff" functionality, including:

Eclipse: Enter "Compare with Other Resource" in the "Quick Access" field

Emacs: M-x ediff-buffers

Vim: gvimdiff file1 file2