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annotate runtime/doc/diff.txt @ 2287:573da4dac306 vim73
Make the dos installer work with more compilers.
author | Bram Moolenaar <bram@vim.org> |
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date | Wed, 07 Jul 2010 15:14:03 +0200 |
parents | 7c8c7c95a865 |
children | 733f0dc510c3 12b829477c60 |
rev | line source |
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2154
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First step in the Vim 7.3 branch. Changed version numbers.
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1 *diff.txt* For Vim version 7.3a. Last change: 2009 Sep 15 |
7 | 2 |
3 | |
4 VIM REFERENCE MANUAL by Bram Moolenaar | |
5 | |
6 | |
7 *diff* *vimdiff* *gvimdiff* *diff-mode* | |
1698 | 8 This file describes the +diff feature: Showing differences between two, |
9 three or four versions of the same file. | |
7 | 10 |
11 The basics are explained in section |08.7| of the user manual. | |
12 | |
13 1. Starting diff mode |vimdiff| | |
14 2. Viewing diffs |view-diffs| | |
15 3. Jumping to diffs |jumpto-diffs| | |
16 4. Copying diffs |copy-diffs| | |
17 5. Diff options |diff-options| | |
18 | |
19 {not in Vi} | |
20 | |
21 ============================================================================== | |
22 1. Starting diff mode | |
23 | |
24 The easiest way to start editing in diff mode is with the "vimdiff" command. | |
25 This starts Vim as usual, and additionally sets up for viewing the differences | |
26 between the arguments. > | |
27 | |
28 vimdiff file1 file2 [file3 [file4]] | |
29 | |
30 This is equivalent to: > | |
31 | |
32 vim -d file1 file2 [file3 [file4]] | |
33 | |
34 You may also use "gvimdiff" or "vim -d -g". The GUI is started then. | |
35 You may also use "viewdiff" or "gviewdiff". Vim starts in readonly mode then. | |
36 "r" may be prepended for restricted mode (see |-Z|). | |
37 | |
38 The second and following arguments may also be a directory name. Vim will | |
39 then append the file name of the first argument to the directory name to find | |
40 the file. | |
41 | |
42 This only works when a standard "diff" command is available. See 'diffexpr'. | |
43 | |
674 | 44 Diffs are local to the current tab page |tab-page|. You can't see diffs with |
45 a window in another tab page. This does make it possible to have several | |
46 diffs at the same time, each in their own tab page. | |
47 | |
7 | 48 What happens is that Vim opens a window for each of the files. This is like |
49 using the |-O| argument. This uses vertical splits. If you prefer horizontal | |
50 splits add the |-o| argument: > | |
51 | |
1698 | 52 vimdiff -o file1 file2 [file3 [file4]] |
7 | 53 |
766 | 54 If you always prefer horizontal splits include "horizontal" in 'diffopt'. |
55 | |
7 | 56 In each of the edited files these options are set: |
57 | |
58 'diff' on | |
59 'scrollbind' on | |
60 'scrollopt' includes "hor" | |
61 'wrap' off | |
62 'foldmethod' "diff" | |
766 | 63 'foldcolumn' value from 'diffopt', default is 2 |
7 | 64 |
65 These options are set local to the window. When editing another file they are | |
66 reset to the global value. | |
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67 The options can still be overruled from a modeline when re-editing the file. |
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68 However, 'foldmethod' and 'wrap' won't be set from a modeline when 'diff' is |
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69 set. |
7 | 70 |
71 The differences shown are actually the differences in the buffer. Thus if you | |
72 make changes after loading a file, these will be included in the displayed | |
73 diffs. You might have to do ":diffupdate" now and then, not all changes are | |
74 immediately taken into account. | |
75 | |
76 In your .vimrc file you could do something special when Vim was started in | |
77 diff mode. You could use a construct like this: > | |
78 | |
79 if &diff | |
80 setup for diff mode | |
81 else | |
82 setup for non-diff mode | |
83 endif | |
84 | |
85 While already in Vim you can start diff mode in three ways. | |
86 | |
87 *E98* | |
88 :diffsplit {filename} *:diffs* *:diffsplit* | |
89 Open a new window on the file {filename}. The options are set | |
90 as for "vimdiff" for the current and the newly opened window. | |
91 Also see 'diffexpr'. | |
92 | |
93 *:difft* *:diffthis* | |
94 :diffthis Make the current window part of the diff windows. This sets | |
16 | 95 the options like for "vimdiff". |
7 | 96 |
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97 :diffpatch {patchfile} *E816* *:diffp* *:diffpatch* |
7 | 98 Use the current buffer, patch it with the diff found in |
99 {patchfile} and open a buffer on the result. The options are | |
100 set as for "vimdiff". | |
101 {patchfile} can be in any format that the "patch" program | |
102 understands or 'patchexpr' can handle. | |
103 Note that {patchfile} should only contain a diff for one file, | |
104 the current file. If {patchfile} contains diffs for other | |
105 files as well, the results are unpredictable. Vim changes | |
106 directory to /tmp to avoid files in the current directory | |
107 accidentally being patched. But it may still result in | |
108 various ".rej" files to be created. And when absolute path | |
109 names are present these files may get patched anyway. | |
110 | |
111 To make these commands use a vertical split, prepend |:vertical|. Examples: > | |
112 | |
113 :vert diffsplit main.c~ | |
114 :vert diffpatch /tmp/diff | |
766 | 115 |
116 If you always prefer a vertical split include "vertical" in 'diffopt'. | |
117 | |
7 | 118 *E96* |
119 There can be up to four buffers with 'diff' set. | |
120 | |
121 Since the option values are remembered with the buffer, you can edit another | |
122 file for a moment and come back to the same file and be in diff mode again. | |
16 | 123 |
124 *:diffo* *:diffoff* | |
125 :diffoff Switch off diff mode for the current window. | |
126 | |
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127 :diffoff! Switch off diff mode for the current window and in all windows |
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128 in the current tab page where 'diff' is set. |
7 | 129 |
16 | 130 The ":diffoff" command resets the relevant options to their default value. |
131 This may be different from what the values were before diff mode was started, | |
132 the old values are not remembered. | |
133 | |
134 'diff' off | |
135 'scrollbind' off | |
136 'scrollopt' without "hor" | |
137 'wrap' on | |
138 'foldmethod' "manual" | |
139 'foldcolumn' 0 | |
7 | 140 |
141 ============================================================================== | |
142 2. Viewing diffs *view-diffs* | |
143 | |
144 The effect is that the diff windows show the same text, with the differences | |
145 highlighted. When scrolling the text, the 'scrollbind' option will make the | |
146 text in other windows to be scrolled as well. With vertical splits the text | |
147 should be aligned properly. | |
148 | |
149 The alignment of text will go wrong when: | |
150 - 'wrap' is on, some lines will be wrapped and occupy two or more screen | |
151 lines | |
152 - folds are open in one window but not another | |
153 - 'scrollbind' is off | |
154 - changes have been made to the text | |
155 - "filler" is not present in 'diffopt', deleted/inserted lines makes the | |
156 alignment go wrong | |
157 | |
158 All the buffers edited in a window where the 'diff' option is set will join in | |
159 the diff. This is also possible for hidden buffers. They must have been | |
160 edited in a window first for this to be possible. | |
161 | |
1121 | 162 *:DiffOrig* *diff-original-file* |
7 | 163 Since 'diff' is a window-local option, it's possible to view the same buffer |
164 in diff mode in one window and "normal" in another window. It is also | |
1121 | 165 possible to view the changes you have made to a buffer since the file was |
166 loaded. Since Vim doesn't allow having two buffers for the same file, you | |
167 need another buffer. This command is useful: > | |
168 command DiffOrig vert new | set bt=nofile | r # | 0d_ | diffthis | |
169 \ | wincmd p | diffthis | |
170 (this is in |vimrc_example.vim|). Use ":DiffOrig" to see the differences | |
171 between the current buffer and the file it was loaded from. | |
7 | 172 |
173 A buffer that is unloaded cannot be used for the diff. But it does work for | |
174 hidden buffers. You can use ":hide" to close a window without unloading the | |
195 | 175 buffer. If you don't want a buffer to remain used for the diff do ":set |
176 nodiff" before hiding it. | |
7 | 177 |
178 *:diffu* *:diffupdate* | |
270 | 179 :diffu[pdate] Update the diff highlighting and folds. |
180 | |
7 | 181 Vim attempts to keep the differences updated when you make changes to the |
182 text. This mostly takes care of inserted and deleted lines. Changes within a | |
183 line and more complicated changes do not cause the differences to be updated. | |
184 To force the differences to be updated use: > | |
185 | |
186 :diffupdate | |
187 | |
188 | |
189 Vim will show filler lines for lines that are missing in one window but are | |
190 present in another. These lines were inserted in another file or deleted in | |
191 this file. Removing "filler" from the 'diffopt' option will make Vim not | |
192 display these filler lines. | |
193 | |
194 | |
195 Folds are used to hide the text that wasn't changed. See |folding| for all | |
196 the commands that can be used with folds. | |
197 | |
198 The context of lines above a difference that are not included in the fold can | |
199 be set with the 'diffopt' option. For example, to set the context to three | |
200 lines: > | |
201 | |
202 :set diffopt=filler,context:3 | |
203 | |
204 | |
205 The diffs are highlighted with these groups: | |
206 | |
207 |hl-DiffAdd| DiffAdd Added (inserted) lines. These lines exist in | |
208 this buffer but not in another. | |
209 |hl-DiffChange| DiffChange Changed lines. | |
210 |hl-DiffText| DiffText Changed text inside a Changed line. Vim | |
211 finds the first character that is different, | |
212 and the last character that is different | |
213 (searching from the end of the line). The | |
214 text in between is highlighted. This means | |
215 that parts in the middle that are still the | |
829 | 216 same are highlighted anyway. Only "iwhite" of |
217 'diffopt' is used here. | |
7 | 218 |hl-DiffDelete| DiffDelete Deleted lines. Also called filler lines, |
219 because they don't really exist in this | |
220 buffer. | |
221 | |
222 ============================================================================== | |
223 3. Jumping to diffs *jumpto-diffs* | |
224 | |
225 Two commands can be used to jump to diffs: | |
226 *[c* | |
227 [c Jump backwards to the previous start of a change. | |
228 When a count is used, do it that many times. | |
229 *]c* | |
230 ]c Jump forwards to the next start of a change. | |
231 When a count is used, do it that many times. | |
232 | |
233 It is an error if there is no change for the cursor to move to. | |
234 | |
235 ============================================================================== | |
236 4. Diff copying *copy-diffs* *E99* *E100* *E101* *E102* *E103* | |
532 | 237 *merge* |
7 | 238 There are two commands to copy text from one buffer to another. The result is |
239 that the buffers will be equal within the specified range. | |
240 | |
241 *:diffg* *:diffget* | |
242 :[range]diffg[et] [bufspec] | |
243 Modify the current buffer to undo difference with another | |
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244 buffer. If [bufspec] is given, that buffer is used. If |
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245 [bufspec] refers to the current buffer then nothing happens. |
7 | 246 Otherwise this only works if there is one other buffer in diff |
247 mode. | |
248 See below for [range]. | |
249 | |
1121 | 250 *:diffpu* *:diffput* *E793* |
7 | 251 :[range]diffpu[t] [bufspec] |
252 Modify another buffer to undo difference with the current | |
253 buffer. Just like ":diffget" but the other buffer is modified | |
254 instead of the current one. | |
532 | 255 When [bufspec] is omitted and there is more than one other |
256 buffer in diff mode where 'modifiable' is set this fails. | |
7 | 257 See below for [range]. |
258 | |
259 *do* | |
260 do Same as ":diffget" without argument or range. The "o" stands | |
261 for "obtain" ("dg" can't be used, it could be the start of | |
262 "dgg"!). | |
263 | |
264 *dp* | |
265 dp Same as ":diffput" without argument or range. | |
266 | |
267 When no [range] is given, the diff at the cursor position or just above it is | |
268 affected. When [range] is used, Vim tries to only put or get the specified | |
269 lines. When there are deleted lines, this may not always be possible. | |
270 | |
271 There can be deleted lines below the last line of the buffer. When the cursor | |
272 is on the last line in the buffer and there is no diff above this line, the | |
273 ":diffget" and "do" commands will obtain lines from the other buffer. | |
274 | |
275 To be able to get those lines from another buffer in a [range] it's allowed to | |
276 use the last line number plus one. This command gets all diffs from the other | |
277 buffer: > | |
278 | |
279 :1,$+1diffget | |
280 | |
281 Note that deleted lines are displayed, but not counted as text lines. You | |
282 can't move the cursor into them. To fill the deleted lines with the lines | |
283 from another buffer use ":diffget" on the line below them. | |
819 | 284 *E787* |
285 When the buffer that is about to be modified is read-only and the autocommand | |
286 that is triggered by |FileChangedRO| changes buffers the command will fail. | |
287 The autocommand must not change buffers. | |
7 | 288 |
289 The [bufspec] argument above can be a buffer number, a pattern for a buffer | |
290 name or a part of a buffer name. Examples: | |
291 | |
292 :diffget Use the other buffer which is in diff mode | |
293 :diffget 3 Use buffer 3 | |
294 :diffget v2 Use the buffer which matches "v2" and is in | |
295 diff mode (e.g., "file.c.v2") | |
296 | |
297 ============================================================================== | |
298 5. Diff options *diff-options* | |
299 | |
300 Also see |'diffopt'| and the "diff" item of |'fillchars'|. | |
301 | |
302 | |
303 FINDING THE DIFFERENCES *diff-diffexpr* | |
304 | |
305 The 'diffexpr' option can be set to use something else than the standard | |
306 "diff" program to compare two files and find the differences. | |
307 | |
308 When 'diffexpr' is empty, Vim uses this command to find the differences | |
309 between file1 and file2: > | |
310 | |
311 diff file1 file2 > outfile | |
312 | |
313 The ">" is replaced with the value of 'shellredir'. | |
314 | |
315 The output of "diff" must be a normal "ed" style diff. Do NOT use a context | |
316 diff. This example explains the format that Vim expects: > | |
317 | |
318 1a2 | |
319 > bbb | |
320 4d4 | |
321 < 111 | |
322 7c7 | |
323 < GGG | |
324 --- | |
325 > ggg | |
326 | |
327 The "1a2" item appends the line "bbb". | |
328 The "4d4" item deletes the line "111". | |
329 The '7c7" item replaces the line "GGG" with "ggg". | |
330 | |
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331 When 'diffexpr' is not empty, Vim evaluates it to obtain a diff file in the |
7 | 332 format mentioned. These variables are set to the file names used: |
333 | |
334 v:fname_in original file | |
335 v:fname_new new version of the same file | |
336 v:fname_out resulting diff file | |
337 | |
338 Additionally, 'diffexpr' should take care of "icase" and "iwhite" in the | |
339 'diffopt' option. 'diffexpr' cannot change the value of 'lines' and | |
340 'columns'. | |
341 | |
342 Example (this does almost the same as 'diffexpr' being empty): > | |
343 | |
344 set diffexpr=MyDiff() | |
345 function MyDiff() | |
346 let opt = "" | |
347 if &diffopt =~ "icase" | |
348 let opt = opt . "-i " | |
349 endif | |
350 if &diffopt =~ "iwhite" | |
351 let opt = opt . "-b " | |
352 endif | |
353 silent execute "!diff -a --binary " . opt . v:fname_in . " " . v:fname_new . | |
354 \ " > " . v:fname_out | |
355 endfunction | |
356 | |
357 The "-a" argument is used to force comparing the files as text, comparing as | |
358 binaries isn't useful. The "--binary" argument makes the files read in binary | |
359 mode, so that a CTRL-Z doesn't end the text on DOS. | |
360 | |
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361 *E810* *E97* |
7 | 362 Vim will do a test if the diff output looks alright. If it doesn't, you will |
363 get an error message. Possible causes: | |
364 - The "diff" program cannot be executed. | |
365 - The "diff" program doesn't produce normal "ed" style diffs (see above). | |
366 - The 'shell' and associated options are not set correctly. Try if filtering | |
367 works with a command like ":!sort". | |
368 - You are using 'diffexpr' and it doesn't work. | |
639 | 369 If it's not clear what the problem is set the 'verbose' option to one or more |
370 to see more messages. | |
7 | 371 |
20 | 372 The self-installing Vim includes a diff program. If you don't have it you |
373 might want to download a diff.exe. For example from | |
374 http://jlb.twu.net/code/unixkit.php. | |
375 | |
7 | 376 |
377 USING PATCHES *diff-patchexpr* | |
378 | |
379 The 'patchexpr' option can be set to use something else than the standard | |
380 "patch" program. | |
381 | |
382 When 'patchexpr' is empty, Vim will call the "patch" program like this: > | |
383 | |
384 patch -o outfile origfile < patchfile | |
385 | |
386 This should work fine with most versions of the "patch" program. Note that a | |
387 CR in the middle of a line may cause problems, it is seen as a line break. | |
388 | |
389 If the default doesn't work for you, set the 'patchexpr' to an expression that | |
390 will have the same effect. These variables are set to the file names used: | |
391 | |
392 v:fname_in original file | |
393 v:fname_diff patch file | |
394 v:fname_out resulting patched file | |
395 | |
396 Example (this does the same as 'patchexpr' being empty): > | |
397 | |
766 | 398 set patchexpr=MyPatch() |
399 function MyPatch() | |
7 | 400 :call system("patch -o " . v:fname_out . " " . v:fname_in . |
401 \ " < " . v:fname_diff) | |
402 endfunction | |
403 | |
404 Make sure that using the "patch" program doesn't have unwanted side effects. | |
405 For example, watch out for additionally generated files, which should be | |
406 deleted. It should just patch the file and nothing else. | |
407 Vim will change directory to "/tmp" or another temp directory before | |
408 evaluating 'patchexpr'. This hopefully avoids that files in the current | |
409 directory are accidentally patched. Vim will also delete files starting with | |
410 v:fname_in and ending in ".rej" and ".orig". | |
411 | |
412 vim:tw=78:ts=8:ft=help:norl: |