Provided by: ccdiff_0.33-1_all bug

NAME

       ccdiff - Colored Character diff

SYNOPSIS

        ccdiff [options] file1|- file2|-
        ccdiff [options] dir1    dir2

        ccdiff --help
        ccdiff --man
        ccdiff --info

DESCRIPTION

       Show the diff between two files on a character by character base. In contrast to the
       standard diff tools, this tool uses the diff algorithm horizontally for each line in the
       vertical diff, highlighting the changes. This is very handy in hard to spot changes like
       "O" to 0, "I" to "l" or 1 and whitespace.

       If there are two argument, and both are a folder/directory, a recursive diff is executed.
       This is not available whan used as a (sub)class.

OPTIONS

   Command line options
       --help -?
         Show a summary of the available command-line options and exit.

       --version -V
         Show the version and exit.

       --man
         Show this manual using pod2man and nroff.

       --info
         Show this manual using pod2text.

       --utf-8 -U
         All I/O (streams to compare and standard out) are in UTF-8.

       --diff-class=C --dc=C
         Select the class used to execute the diff. By default "ccdiff" will select the first
         available out of "Algorithm::Diff::XS" or "Algorithm::Diff".

         Sometime the "XS" version fails on encoding and the pure-perl version will work just
         fine. You can force "ccdiff" to use either

         Select the pure-perl version with any of "PP", "AD", "Algorthm::Diff", "Algorithm-Diff",
         or "Algorithm::Diff::PP" (case insensitive)

          --dc=pp
          --dc=algorithm-diff
          --diff-class=Algorithm::Diff::PP

         Select the XS version with any of "XS", "ADX", "Algorthm::Diff::XS", or
         "Algorithm-Diff-XS" (case insensitive)

          --dc=xs
          --dc=algorithm-diff-xs
          --diff-class=Algorithm::Diff::XS

       --unified[=3] -u [3]
         Generate a unified diff. The number of context lines is optional. When omitted it
         defaults to 3. Currently there is no provision of dealing with overlapping diff chunks.
         If the common part between two diff chunks is shorter than twice the number of context
         lines, some lines may show twice.

         The default is to use traditional diff:

          5,5c5,5
          < Sat Dec 18 07:00:33 1993,I.O.D.U.,,756194433,1442539
          ---
          > Sat Dec 18 07:08:33 1998,I.O.D.U.,,756194433,1442539

         a unified diff (-u1) would be

          5,5c5,5
           Tue Sep  6 05:43:59 2005,B.O.Q.S.,,1125978239,1943341
          -Sat Dec 18 07:00:33 1993,I.O.D.U.,,756194433,1442539
          +Sat Dec 18 07:08:33 1998,I.O.D.U.,,756194433,1442539
           Mon Feb 23 10:37:02 2004,R.X.K.S.,van,1077529022,1654127

       --verbose[=1] -v[1]
         Show an additional line for each old or new section in a change chunk (not for added or
         deleted lines) that shows the hexadecimal value of each character. If "--utf-8" is in
         effect, it will show the Unicode character name(s).

         This is a debugging option, so invisible characters can still be "seen".

         "--verbose" accepts an optional verbosity-level. On level 2 and up, all horizontal
         changes get left-and-right markers inserted to enable seeing the location of the ZERO
         WIDTH or invisible characters. With level 3 and up and Unicode enabled, the changed
         characters will also show the codepoint in hex.

         An example of this:

         With -Uu0v0:

          1,1c1,1
          - A  BCDE Fg
          + A BcdE​Fg

         With -Uu0v1:

          1,1c1,1
          - A  BCDE Fg
          - -- verbose : SPACE, LATIN CAPITAL LETTER C, LATIN CAPITAL LETTER D, SPACE
          + A BcdE​Fg
          + -- verbose : LATIN SMALL LETTER C, LATIN SMALL LETTER D, ZERO WIDTH SPACE

         With -Uu0v2:

          1,1c1,1
          - A ↱ ↰B↱CD↰E↱ ↰Fg
          - -- verbose : SPACE, LATIN CAPITAL LETTER C, LATIN CAPITAL LETTER D, SPACE
          + A B↱cd↰E↱​↰Fg
          + -- verbose : LATIN SMALL LETTER C, LATIN SMALL LETTER D, ZERO WIDTH SPACE

         With -Uu0v3:

          1,1c1,1
          - A ↱ ↰B↱CD↰E↱ ↰Fg
          - -- verbose : SPACE (U+000020), LATIN CAPITAL LETTER C (U+000043), LATIN CAPITAL LETTER D (U+000044), SPACE (U+000020)
          + A B↱cd↰E↱​↰Fg
          + -- verbose : LATIN SMALL LETTER C (U+000063), LATIN SMALL LETTER D (U+000064), ZERO WIDTH SPACE (U+00200B)

         With -Uu0v2 --ascii:

          1,1c1,1
          - A > <B>CD<E> <Fg
          - -- verbose : SPACE, LATIN CAPITAL LETTER C, LATIN CAPITAL LETTER D, SPACE
          + A B>cd<E>​<Fg
          + -- verbose : LATIN SMALL LETTER C, LATIN SMALL LETTER D, ZERO WIDTH SPACE

         the word "verbose" and the character markers will be displayed using the "verbose"
         color. The characters used for the markers can be defined in your configuration file as
         "chr_cml" (the character used as marker on the left) and "chr_cmr" (the character used
         as marker on the right).

       --markers -m
         Use markers under each changed character in change-chunks.

         "--markers" is especially useful if the terminal does not support colors, or if you want
         to copy/paste the output to (ASCII) mail. See also "--ascii". The markers will have the
         same color as added or deleted text.

         This will look like (with unified diff):

          5,5c5,5
          -Sat Dec 18 07:08:33 1998,I.O.D.U.,,756194433,1442539
          -               ▼       ▼
          +Sat Dec 18 07:00:33 1993,I.O.D.U.,,756194433,1442539
          +               ▲       ▲

         The characters used for the markers can be defined in your configuration file as
         "chr_old" (the character used as marker under removed characters) and "chr_new" (the
         character used as marker under added characters).

         If "--ellipsis" is also in effect and either the "chr_eli" is longer than one character
         or "--verbose" level is over 2, this option is automatically disabled.

       --ascii -a
         Use (colored) ASCII indicators instead of Unicode. The default indicators are Unicode
         characters that stand out better. The markers will have the same color as added or
         deleted text.

         For the vertical markers ("-m") that would look like:

          5,5c5,5
          -Sat Dec 18 07:08:33 1998,I.O.D.U.,,756194433,1442539
          -               ^       ^
          +Sat Dec 18 07:00:33 1993,I.O.D.U.,,756194433,1442539
          +               ^       ^

         For the positional indicators, I did consider using U+034e (COMBINING UPWARDS ARROW
         BELOW), but as most terminals are probably unable to show it due to line height changes,
         I did not pursue the idea.

       --pink -p
         Change the default "red" for deleted text to the color closest to pink that is supported
         by Term::ANSIColor: "magenta".

       --reverse -r
         Reverse/invert the foreground and background for the colored indicators.

         If the foreground color has "bold", it will be stripped from the new background color.

       --swap -s
         Swap the colors for new and old.

       --list-colors
         List available colors and exit.

       --no-colors
         Disable all colors. Useful for redirecting the diff output to a file that is to be
         included in documentation.

         This is the default if the environment variable $NO_COLOR has a true value or if the
         environment variable $CLICOLOR is set to a false value.  If set, $CLICOLOR_FORCE will
         overrule the default of $NO_COLOR.

       --old=color
         Define the foreground color for deleted text.

       --new=color
         Define the foreground color for added text.

       --bg=color
         Define the background color for changed text.

       --index --idx -I
         Prefix position indicators with an index.

          [001] 5,5c5,5
          -Sat Dec 18 07:08:33 1998,I.O.D.U.,,756194433,1442539
          +Sat Dec 18 07:00:33 1993,I.O.D.U.,,756194433,1442539

         If a positive number is passed ("--index=4" or "-I 4"), display just the chunk with that
         index, using the "verbose" color:

         This is useful in combination with "--verbose".

       --threshold=2 -t 2
         Defines the number of lines a change block may differ before the fall-back of horizontal
         diff to vertical diff.

         If a chunk describes a change, and the number of lines in the original block has fewer
         or more lines than the new block and that difference exceeds this threshold, "ccdiff"
         will fall-back to vertical diff.

       --heuristics=n -h n
         Defines the percentage of character-changes a change block may differ before the fall-
         back of horizontal diff to vertical diff.

         This percentage is calculated as "(characters removed + characters added) / (2 *
         characters unchanged))".

       --ellipsis=n -e n
         Defines the number of characters to keep on each side of a horizontal-equal segment. The
         default is 0, meaning do not compress.

         If set to a positive number, and the length of a segment of equal characters inside a
         horizontal diff is longer than twice this value, the middle part is replaced with "┈
         U02508 \N{BOX DRAWINGS LIGHT QUADRUPLE DASH HORIZONTAL}" (instead of … U02026, as
         HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS does not stand out enough).

         With "-u0me3" that would be like

          5,5c5,5
          -Sat┈07:08:33┈ 1998,I.┈539
          -        ▼        ▼
          +Sat┈07:00:33┈ 1993,I.┈539
          +        ▲        ▲

         With "-u0e3 -v2" like

          5,5c5,5
          -Sat↤9↦07:0↱0↰:33 199↱3↰,I.↤23↦539
          - -- verbose : DIGIT ZERO, DIGIT THREE
          +Sat↤9↦07:0↱8↰:33 199↱8↰,I.↤23↦539
          + -- verbose : DIGIT EIGHT, DIGIT EIGHT

         The text used for the replaced text can be defined in your configuration file as
         "chr_eli" and/or "chr_eli_v".

       --ignore-case -i
         Ignore case on comparison.

       --ignore-all-space -w
         Ignore all white-space changes. This will set all options "-b", "-Z", "-E", and "-B".

       --ignore-trailing-space -Z
         Ignore changes in trailing white-space (tabs and spaces).

       --ignore-ws|ignore-space-change -b
         Ignore changes in horizontal white-space (tabs and spaces). This does not include white-
         space changes that split non-white-space or remove white-space between two non-white-
         space elements.

       --ignore-tab-expansion -E
         NYI

       --ignore-blank-lines -B
         Just Partly Implemented (WIP)

   Configuration files
       In order to be able to overrule the defaults set in "ccdiff", one can set options specific
       for this login. The following option files are looked for in this order:

        - $HOME/ccdiff.rc
        - $HOME/.ccdiffrc
        - $HOME/.config/ccdiff

       and evaluated in that order. Any options specified in a file later in that chain will
       overwrite previously set options.

       Option files are only read and evaluated if they are not empty and not writable by others
       than the owner.

       The syntax of the file is one option per line, where leading and trailing white-space is
       ignored. If that line then starts with one of the options listed below, followed by
       optional white-space followed by either an "=" or a ":", followed by optional white-space
       and the values, the value is assigned to the option. The values "no" and "false" (case
       insensitive) are aliases for 0. The values "yes" and "true" are aliases to "-1" ("-1"
       being a true value).

       Between parens is the corresponding command-line option.

       unified (-u)
         If you prefer unified-diff over old-style diff by default, set this to the desired
         number of context lines:

          unified : 3

         The default is undefined

       markers (-m)
          markers : false

         Defines if markers should be used under changed characters. The default is to use colors
         only. The "-m" command line option will toggle the option when set from a configuration
         file.

       ascii (-a)
          ascii   : false

         Defines to use ASCII markers instead of Unicode markers. The default is to use Unicode
         markers.

       reverse (-r)
          reverse : false

         Defines if changes are displayed as foreground-color over background-color or
         background-color over foreground-color. The default is "false", so it will color the
         changes with the appropriate color ("new" or "old") over the default background color.

       swap (-s)
          swap    : false

         Swap the colors for new and old.

       new (--new)
          new     : green

         Defines the color to be used for added text. The default is "green".

         The color "none" is also accepted and disables this color.

         Any color accepted by Term::ANSIColor is allowed. Any other color will result in a
         warning. This option can include "bold" either as prefix or as suffix.

         This option may also be specified as

          new-color
          new_color
          new-colour
          new_colour

       old (--old)
          old     : red

         Defines the color to be used for deleted text. The default is "red".

         The color "none" is also accepted and disables this color.

         Any color accepted by Term::ANSIColor is allowed. Any other color will result in a
         warning. This option can include "bold" either as prefix or as suffix.

         This option may also be specified as

          old-color
          old_color
          old-colour
          old_colour

       bg (--bg)
          bg      : white

         Defines the color to be used as background for changed text. The default is "white".

         The color "none" is also accepted and disables this color.

         Any color accepted by Term::ANSIColor is allowed. Any other color will result in a
         warning. The "bold" attribute is not allowed.

         This option may also be specified as

          bg-color
          bg_color
          bg-colour
          bg_colour
          background
          background-color
          background_color
          background-colour
          background_colour

       header (-H --header --HC=color --header-color=color)
          header  : 1
          header  : blue_on_white

         Defines if a header is displayed above the diff (default is 1), supported colors are
         allowed.

         If the value is a valid supported color, it will show the header in that color scheme.
         To disable the header set it to 0 in the RC file or use "--no-header" as a command line
         argument.

       verbose
          verbose : cyan

         Defines the color to be used as color for the verbose tag. The default is "cyan". This
         color will only be used under "--verbose".

         The color "none" is also accepted and disables this color.

         Any color accepted by Term::ANSIColor is allowed. Any other color will result in a
         warning.

         This option may also be specified as

          verbose-color
          verbose_color
          verbose-colour
          verbose_colour

       utf8 (-U)
          utf8    : yes

         Defines whether all I/O is to be interpreted as UTF-8. The default is "no".

         This option may also be specified as

          unicode
          utf
          utf-8

       index (-I)
          index   : no

         Defines if the position indication for a change chunk is prefixed with an index number.
         The default is "no". The index is 1-based.

         Without this option, the position indication would be like

          5,5c5,5
          19,19d18
          42a42,42

         with this option, it would be

          [001] 5,5c5,5
          [002] 19,19d18
          [005] 42a42,42

         When this option contains a positive integer, "ccdiff" will only show the diff chunk
         with that index.

       emacs
          emacs   : no

         If this option is yes/true, calling "ccdiff" with just one single argument, and that
         argument being an existing file, the arguments will act as

          $ ccdiff file~ file

         if file~ exists.

       threshold (-t)
          threshold : 2

         Defines the number of lines a change block may differ before the fall-back of horizontal
         diff to vertical diff.

       heuristics (-h)
          heuristics : 40

         Defines the percentage of character-changes a change block may differ before the fall-
         back of horizontal diff to vertical diff. The default is undefined, meaning no fallback
         based on heuristics.

       ellipsis (-e)
          ellipsis : 0

         Defines the number of characters to keep on each side of a horizontal-equal segment. The
         default is 0, meaning to not compress. See also "chr_eli".

       chr_old
          chr_old : U+25BC

         Defines the character used to indicate the position of removed text on the line below
         the text when option "-m" is in effect.

       chr_new
          chr_new : U+25B2

         Defines the character used to indicate the position of added text on the line below the
         text when option "-m" is in effect.

       chr_cml
          chr_cml : U+21B1

         Defines the character used to indicate the starting position of changed text in a line
         when verbose level is 3 and up.

       chr_cmr
          chr_cmr : U+21B0

         Defines the character used to indicate the ending position of changed text in a line
         when verbose level is 3 and up.

       chr_eli
          chr_eli : U+21B0

         Defines the character used to indicate omitted text in large unchanged text when
         "--ellipsis"/"-e" is in effect.

         This character is not equally well visible on all terminals or in all fonts, so you
         might want to change it to something that stands out better in your environment.
         Possible suggestions:

          … U+2026 HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS
          ‴ U+2034 TRIPLE PRIME
          ‷ U+2037 REVERSED TRIPLE PRIME
          ↔ U+2194 LEFT RIGHT ARROW
          ↭ U+21ad LEFT RIGHT WAVE ARROW
          ↮ U+21ae LEFT RIGHT ARROW WITH STROKE
          ↹ U+21b9 LEFTWARDS ARROW TO BAR OVER RIGHTWARDS ARROW TO BAR
          ⇄ U+21c4 RIGHTWARDS ARROW OVER LEFTWARDS ARROW
          ⇆ U+21c6 LEFTWARDS ARROW OVER RIGHTWARDS ARROW
          ⇎ U+21ce LEFT RIGHT DOUBLE ARROW WITH STROKE
          ⇔ U+21d4 LEFT RIGHT DOUBLE ARROW
          ⇹ U+21f9 LEFT RIGHT ARROW WITH VERTICAL STROKE
          ⇼ U+21fc LEFT RIGHT ARROW WITH DOUBLE VERTICAL STROKE
          ⇿ U+21ff LEFT RIGHT OPEN-HEADED ARROW
          ≋ U+224b TRIPLE TILDE
          ┄ U+2504 BOX DRAWINGS LIGHT TRIPLE DASH HORIZONTAL
          ┅ U+2505 BOX DRAWINGS HEAVY TRIPLE DASH HORIZONTAL
          ┈ U+2508 BOX DRAWINGS LIGHT QUADRUPLE DASH HORIZONTAL
          ┉ U+2509 BOX DRAWINGS HEAVY QUADRUPLE DASH HORIZONTAL
          ⧻ U+29fb TRIPLE PLUS
          ⬌ U+2b0c LEFT RIGHT BLACK ARROW

       chr_eli_v
          chr_eli_v : U+21A4U+21A6

         When using "--ellipsis" with "--verbose" level 2 or up, the single character indicator
         will be replaced with this character. If it is 2 characters wide, the length of the
         compressed part is put between the characters.

         A suggested alternative might be U+21E4U+21E5

Git integration

       You can use ccdiff to show diffs in git. It may work like this:

        $ git config --global diff.tool ccdiff
        $ git config --global difftool.prompt false
        $ git config --global difftool.ccdiff.cmd 'ccdiff --utf-8 -u -r $LOCAL $REMOTE'
        $ git difftool SHA~..SHA
        $ wget https://github.com/Tux/App-ccdiff/raw/master/Files/git-ccdiff \
           -O ~/bin/git-ccdiff
        $ perl -pi -e 's{/pro/bin/perl}{/usr/bin/env perl}' ~/bin/git-ccdiff
        $ chmod 755 ~/bin/git-ccdiff
        $ git ccdiff SHA

       Of course you can use "curl" instead of "wget" and you can choose your own (fixed) path to
       "perl" instead of using "/usr/bin/env".

       From then on you can do

        $ git ccdiff
        $ git ccdiff 5c5a39f2

CAVEATS

       Due to the implementation, where both sides of the comparison are completely kept in
       memory, this tool might not be able to deal with (very) large datasets.

   Speed
       There are situations where Algorithm::Diff takes considerably more time compared to e.g.
       GNU diff. Installing Algorithm::Diff::XS will make "ccdiff" a lot faster. "ccdiff" will
       choose Algorithm::Diff::XS if available.

SEE ALSO

       Algorithm::Diff::XS, Algorithm::Diff, Text::Diff

AUTHOR

       H.Merijn Brand

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

        Copyright (C) 2018-2023 H.Merijn Brand.  All rights reserved.

       This library is free software;  you can redistribute and/or modify it under the same terms
       as The Artistic License 2.0.