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<html><head><title>Comparing Files And Interpreting The Information In The Input Windows</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="help:/common/tde-default.css" type="text/css"><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets V1.67.2"><meta name="keywords" content="KDE, kdeextragear, kdiff3, diff, merge, CVS, triplediff, compare, files, directories, version control, three-way-merge, in-line-differences, synchronise, kpart, tdeio, networktransparent, editor, white space, comments"><link rel="start" href="index.html" title="The KDiff3 Handbook"><link rel="up" href="documentation.html" title="Chapter 2. File Comparison And Merge"><link rel="prev" href="pasteinput.html" title="Paste and Drop Input"><link rel="next" href="merging.html" title="Merging And The Merge Output Editor Window"><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"><meta name="GENERATOR" content="KDE XSL Stylesheet V1.13 using libxslt"></head><body bgcolor="white" text="black" link="#0000FF" vlink="#840084" alink="#0000FF"><div style="background-image: url(help:/common/top-middle.png); width: 100%; height: 131px;"><div style="position: absolute; right: 0px;"><img src="help:/common/top-right-konqueror.png" style="margin: 0px" alt=""></div><div style="position: absolute; top: 25px; right: 100px; text-align: right; font-size: xx-large; font-weight: bold; text-shadow: #fff 0px 0px 5px; color: #444">Comparing Files And Interpreting The Information In The Input Windows</div></div><div style="margin-top: 20px; background-color: #white; color: black; margin-left: 20px; margin-right: 20px;"><div style="position: absolute; left: 20px;"><a accesskey="p" href="pasteinput.html">Prev</a></div><div style="position: absolute; right: 20px;"><a accesskey="n" href="merging.html">Next</a></div><div class="navCenter">File Comparison And Merge</div></div><div class="sect1" lang="en"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a name="interpretinginformation"></a>Comparing Files And Interpreting The Information In The Input Windows</h2></div></div></div><div class="screenshot"><div xmlns:doc="http://nwalsh.com/xsl/documentation/1.0" class="mediaobject"><hr><img src="screenshot_diff.png"><hr></div></div><div class="sect2" lang="en"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a name="id2564410"></a>Info Line</h3></div></div></div><p>
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At the top of each text window is its "info line". The info lines of
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the input windows contain a letter "A", "B" or "C", the editable filename,
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a button for browsing, and the line number of the first visible line in the window.
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(Note that window "C" is optional.) Each info line appears in a different color.
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</p><p>
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When you selected another file via browsing or finished editing the filename here
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by pressing enter, the new file will be loaded and
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compared with the already loaded file(s).
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</p></div><div class="sect2" lang="en"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a name="id2564428"></a>Coloring</h3></div></div></div><p>
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The three input windows are assigned the letters "A", "B" and "C".
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"A" has color blue, "B" has green and "C" has magenta. (These are the
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defaults, but can be changed in the Settings-Menu.)
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</p><p>
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When a difference is detected then the color shows which input file
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differs. When both other input files differ then the color used to express
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this is red by default ("Conflict color" in the Settings).
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This colorscheme is especially useful in the case of three input files, which will be
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seen in the next section (<a href="merging.html" title="Merging And The Merge Output Editor Window">Merging</a>).
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</p></div><div class="sect2" lang="en"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a name="id2564454"></a>Summary Column</h3></div></div></div><p>
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Left of each text is the "summary column". If differences occurred on a
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line then the summary column shows the respective color. For a white-space-only
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difference the summary is chequered. For programming languages where white
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space is not so important this is useful to see at one glance if anything
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of importance was modified. (In C/C++ white space is only interesting within
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strings, comments, for the preprocessor, and some only very esoteric situations.)
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</p><p>
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The vertical line separating the summary column and the text is interrupted
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if the input file had no lines there. When word-wrap is enabled then this vertical
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line appears dotted for wrapped lines.
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</p></div><div class="sect2" lang="en"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a name="id2564475"></a>Overview Column</h3></div></div></div><p>
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On the right side a "overview"-column is visible left of the vertical scrollbar.
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It shows the compressed summary column of input "A". All the differences
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and conflicts are visible at one glance. When only two input windows are
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used, then all differences appear red here because every difference is
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also a conflict. A black rectangle frames the visible part of the inputs.
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For very long input files, when the number of input lines is bigger than
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the height of the overview column in pixels, then several input lines share
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one overview line. A conflict then has top priority over simple differences,
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which have priority over no change, so that no difference or conflict is
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lost here. By clicking into this overview column the corresponding text
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will be shown.
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</p></div><div class="sect2" lang="en"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a name="manualdiffhelp"></a>Manually Aligning Lines</h3></div></div></div><p>
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Sometimes the algorithm places the wrong lines next to each other. Or you want to compare
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one piece of text with text at a completely different position in the other file.
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For these situations you can manually instruct <span class="application">KDiff3</span> to align certain lines.
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Mark the text for which you want to improve the alignment with the mouse as you would
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for copy and paste in the first diff view and then choose "Add Manual Diff Alignment"
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in the "Diffview"-menu (keyboard shortcut "Ctrl-Y") . An orange bar will appear in
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the summary column next to the chosen text. Repeat this for the second and
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(if available) third diff view. <span class="application">KDiff3</span> will immediately recalculate the differences everytime you do this.
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and will align the chosen lines. Of course some of the previously matching lines in between
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might not match anymore.
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</p><p>
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Currently merging doesn't support the use of manual diff help.
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</p></div><div class="sect2" lang="en"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title"><a name="joinsplitsections"></a>Manually Joining and Splitting Diff Sections</h3></div></div></div><p>
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In some cases <span class="application">KDiff3</span> will see too many or too few diff sections for merging. In such a
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case you can join or split existing sections.
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</p><p>
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Add new sections by first selecting text in the lines that belong together in either input window (as for copying to the clipboard).
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Then choose "Split Diff At Selection" in the "Merge" menu.
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Splits will be added above the first line and below the last line of the selected text.
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If you only want to add one section, then select text beginning at another section-split.
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</p><p>
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For joining sections in either input window select something in the lines from the sections to join.
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(You can join several sections in one step too.) Then choose "Join selected Diffs" in the "Merge"-menu.
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</p></div></div><div style="background-color: #white; color: black; margin-top: 20px; margin-left: 20px; margin-right: 20px;"><div style="position: absolute; left: 20px;"><a accesskey="p" href="pasteinput.html">Prev</a></div><div style="position: absolute; right: 20px;"><a accesskey="n" href="merging.html">Next</a></div><div align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="index.html">Home</a></div></div><div style="background-color: #white; color: black; margin-left: 20px; margin-right: 20px;"><div class="navLeft">Paste and Drop Input </div><div class="navRight"> Merging And The Merge Output Editor Window</div><div class="navCenter"><a accesskey="u" href="documentation.html">Up</a></div></div><br><br><div class="bannerBottom" style="background-image: url(help:/common/bottom-middle.png); background-repeat: x-repeat; width: 100%; height: 100px; bottom:0px;"><div class="BannerBottomRight"><img src="help:/common/bottom-right.png" style="margin: 0px" alt=""></div><div class="bannerBottomLeft"><img src="help:/common/bottom-left.png" style="margin: 0px;" alt=""></div><div id="comments" style="position:relative; top: 5px; left: 1em; height:85px; width: 50%; color: #cfe1f6"><p>Would you like to make a comment or contribute an update to this page?<br>
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