Guiffy Compare/Merge Controls
This page introduces the compare/merge controls for Guiffy.
Ignore Options
The Ignore options dialog controls Guiffy's compare/merge in terms of ignoring
case or whitespace, blanklines, field(s)(in columns A-B and X-Y), or changes
matching a regular expression while comparing and/or merging files. Each of
the options may be selected for only during compare, only during merge, or both.
Selecting the Show Ignored differences for Compare views results in a view of the
2nd file which reflects the file's content(including any ignored differences).
This selection is useful if you wish to make a variant of the 2nd file by picking
some of the changes from the first file, perhaps do some editing, and then Save
the new 2nd file.
The merge results when a difference is ignored are the contents
from the 1st file.
Choose Options -> Ignore to select these controls.
Ignore Case
Causes Case of the text to be ignored during the compare and/or merge.
Ignore Whitespace
Causes Whitespace ( spaces and tabs ) differences to be ignored during
the compare and/or merge. The Whitespace differences to be ignored are
controlled by type: Leading, Embedded, and/or Trailing. Leading Whitespace
is at the beginning of the line (up to the first non-whitespace character).
Embedded Whitespace is between the first and last non-whitespace characters
in the line. Trailing Whitespace is at the end of the line (after the last
non-whitespace character).
Ignore Whitespace EOL
Causes EOL (End of Line) Whitespace to be ignored during the compare.
Use with above Ignore Whitespace Leading, Embedded and Trailing types.
To see Ignore Differences, select Show Ignored differences.
Without Ignore Whitespace EOL:
With Ignore Whitespace EOL:
Ignore Blanklines (inserted or deleted)
Causes Blanklines (inserted or deleted) to be ignored during
the compare and/or merge.
Ignore Field(s) in Columns A-B and X-Y
Causes differences in columns specified to be ignored during
the compare and/or merge. One or two separate fields can be specified.
Tabs are expanded prior to determining columns content.
Ignore differences matching a regular expression
Type=Line:
Causes changed, inserted, or deleted lines which match any of the regular expressions to be ignored during
the compare and/or merge.
Examples(Line):
guiffy --- Matches lines containing the word guiffy
^guiffy$ --- Matches lines containing only the word guiffy
^[:blank:]*//.*$ --- Matches lines containing only (C++ or Java) comments
(guiffy|suremerge) --- Matches lines containing the word guiffy or suremerge
^[ \t]*//.*\$Date:.*\$.*$ --- Matches lines containing the VSS $Date keyword within C++ comments
Type=Part:
Causes parts of a line which match any of the regular expressions to be ignored during
the compare and/or merge.
Examples(Part):
//.*$ --- Matches the (C++ or Java) comment part of a line
Type=Block:
Causes blocks of lines which match any of the regular expressions to be ignored during
the compare and/or merge.
Examples(Block):
/\*.*?\*/ --- Matches the (C++ or Java) comment block lines
Here's a reference for the Jakarta Regular Expression engine used in Guiffy:
RE Reference
Show Ignored differences
Results in a Compare view of the
2nd file which reflects the file's content(including any ignored differences).
Show Options
The Show options dialog controls Guiffy's compare display in terms of
tab spacing, display only the differences or entire files, display
of the differences within N lines of context (When files are > specified size), display inline differences,
align similar lines, and display of line numbers.
Choose Options -> Show to select these controls.
Show Tab Size
Sets the number of spaces to be displayed for one tab character. The
default is 8 spaces.
Show Only Differences
Causes the compare expression to show only the differences.
OR Show Differences within N Lines of Context
By default, Causes the compare expression to show differences with the
selected number of lines of matching text before and after each difference.
When files are > nnnnKb
These default settings are referred to as
Folded Compare/Merge Views
Show Inline Differences
Highlight Inline Differences when < NN% of line. The default is 50%.
The difference is highlighted as a single string or character-by-character.
When differences are highlighted as a single string, the NN% is calculated as the length of the span from the first character diff
to the last chacter diff (divided by the length of the line).
When differences are highlighted character-by-character, the NN% is calculated as the number of characters different
(divided by the length of the line).
Align similar lines
Where lines have strong similarities, they are aligned in the compare view to facilitate the inline
difference highighting.
Without Align similar lines:
With Align similar lines:
Show Line Numbers
Causes the compare expression to show the line number with each line of
text displayed.
Show Syntax Highlighting
Causes the compare/merge views to display syntax highlighting. Syntax highlighting is
supported for more than 20 syntax types (See Options->Syntax Highlighting File Types). Highlighting
properties for 10 syntax elements include Italics, Bold, and Color (See Options->Syntax Highlighting Styles).
Folder Ignore Options
The Folder Ignore options dialog controls Guiffy's Folder Compare.
The Folder Compare Ignore options include: Ignore these SubFolders,
Ignore these Files, Ignore these FileTypes, Ignore Symbolic Links, Ignore Modified Date and Time,
Ignore File Size, Verify SubFolders Match and Verify Files Match(byte-by-byte) or by Text compares.
Choose Options -> Folder Ignore to select these controls.
Ignore these SubFolders
Causes Folder Compares to Ignore the SubFolders listed(separated by ';'s).
SubFolders to Ignore may also be specified as "SubPaths" such as "Backup/Release".
And, SubFolders to Ignore may be specified using a * wildcard pattern such as ".*" or "*test".
Example: Debug;Release;images;.*
During a Folder Compare(when comparing recursively) any
folder matching one of listed SubFolders to Ignore is NOT compared(recursively).
Ignore these Files
Causes Folder Compares to Ignore the Files listed(separated by ';'s).
Files to Ignore may also be specified using a * wildcard pattern such as ".#*" or "*Dialog.java".
Example: Guiffy.jar;.#*
-OR- Ignore All Files Except these
Causes Folder Compares to Ignore all Files Except those listed(separated by ';'s).
Files not to Ignore may also be specified using the * wildcard.
Example: Guiffy*;Jiffy*;SureMerge*
Ignore these FileTypes
Causes Folder Compares to Ignore the FileTypes listed(separated by ';'s).
Example: .class;.jar;.exe
-OR- Ignore All FileTypes Except these
Causes Folder Compares to Ignore all FileTypes Except those listed(separated by ';'s).
Example: .java;.html
Ignore Symbolic Links
Causes Folder Compares to Ignore Symbolic Links --- often found in Unix/Linux build environments.
Folder Compares automatically detect and ignore circular links.
Ignore Modified Date and Time
Causes Folder Compares to Ignore the file's Modified Date and Time.
Ignore File Size
Causes Folder Compares to Ignore the file's Size.
Verify SubFolders Match
Causes Folder Compares to Verify if a Subfolder pair match by performing
a compare(stopping on the first difference). This option is applied when
the entire file subtree is NOT being compared - the Folder Compare Show
Recursive option is not selected.
Verify Files Match(byte-by-byte)
Causes Folder Compares to Verify if a file pair seem to match by performing
a quick byte-by-byte(binary) compare(stopping on the first difference).
Verify Files Match(Text compare)
Causes Folder Compares to Verify if a file pair seem to match by performing
a Text compare(stopping on the first difference). The Text compare ignores
end-of-line differences, applies the Encoding selection and any file compare
ignore options selected.
Folder Show Options
The Folder Show options dialog controls Guiffy's Folder Compare display.
The Folder Compare Show options include: Show SubFolders, Show Archive
Filetypes, Show Details, Show Matching files,
Show files Added, Show files Deleted, Show files Changed.
Choose Options -> Folder Show to select these controls.
Show SubFolders (Recursively)
Causes Folder Compares to recursively compare SubFolders - Folder Compare becomes
a Tree Compare.
Show Archive Filetypes (Recursively)
Causes Folder Compares to recursively compare Archive Filetypes as SubFolders - Folder Compare becomes
a Tree Compare including the contents of Archive Filetypes.
Show Details (Size and Modified Date)
Causes Folder Compare to display the details (file size and modified date).
Show compare using default Tree Font
Causes Folder Compare to use the default Tree Font (rather than Font settings).
Show Matching files
Causes Folder Compares to display Matching files.
Show files Added
Causes Folder Compares to display files Added.
Show files Deleted
Causes Folder Compares to display files Deleted.
Show files Changed
Causes Folder Compares to display files Changed.
Compare/Merge Bifocal "Shades" Control
The Compare/Merge Bifocal "Shades" dialog controls which
type of compare alogrithm to apply for file compares and 2-way merges. Plus,
the Attention Focus Expander allows you to expand the attention(conflict) area
for 3-way SureMerges.
Minimize Lines Changed in Diff
This compare algorithm choice will show the differences with a view shaded to
the minimum number of lines changed.
If either file has more than 32K lines, Guiffy automatically switches to the
Minimize Blocks algorithm.
Minimize Blocks Changed in Diff
This compare algorithm choice will show the differences with a view shaded to
reduce the number of change blocks.
Expand Attention Focus of SureMerge by nn Lines
Guiffy's 3-way SureMerge automatically applies the Minimize Blocks compare
algorithm and identifies changes of any type(deletes, inserts, or changes)
within the same space for the attention of the user to resolve. If changes
do not overlap but are very close, the Guiffy Minimize Blocks and SureMerge algorithms
will automatically place those changes in the user's attention view. Expanding
the Attention Focus will result in more changes which are near to each other
placed in the user's attention view.
If the Minimize Blocks algorithm is selected, Expanding the Attention Focus
will also affect file compare and 2-way merge views.
>See also:
- Toolbar
- Options Menu
- Folded Compare/Merge Views
Documentation by
Guiffy Software, Inc. 2012