Compare View Toolbar

The toolbar of the Compare view contains the operations that can be performed on the source and target files.

Compare View Toolbar

The following actions are available:

Algorithm

The algorithm to be used for performing a comparison. The following options are available:

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

• Lines - Computes the differences at line level, meaning that it compares two files or fragments looking for identical lines of text.

• 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. It compares two XML files or fragments looking for identical XML nodes.

Save action

Saves the content of the left editor when it can be edited.

Perform Files Differencing

Looks for differences between the two files displayed in the left and right side panels.

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

Toggles synchronized scrolling. When enabled, a selected difference can be seen in both panels.

Format and Indent Both Files (Ctrl + Shift + P (Command + 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.

Note

When comparing two JSON files, the Format and Indent Both Files action will automatically sort the keys in both files the same to make it easier to compare.

Copy Change from Right to Left

Copies the selected difference from the file in the right panel to the file in the left panel.

Copy All Changes from Right to Left

Copies all changes from the file in the right panel to the file in the left panel.

Next Block of Changes (Ctrl + Period (Command + 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 (Command + 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 (Command + 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 (Command + 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.

Ignore Nodes by XPath

You can use this text field to enter an XPath expression to ignore certain nodes from the comparison. It will be processed as XPath version 2.0. You can also enter the name of the node to ignore all nodes with the specified name (for example, if you want to ignore all ID attributes from the document, you could simply enter @id). This field is only available when comparing XML documents using the XML Fast or XML Accurate algorithms.

Note

If an XPath expression is specified in the Ignore nodes by XPath option in the Diff / File Comparison preferences page, that one is used as a default when the application is started. If you then enter an expression in this field on the toolbar, this one will be used instead of the default. If you delete the expression from this field, neither will be used.

First Change (Ctrl + B (Command + B on OS X))

Jumps to the first change.