Comparing files is a common task for developers, writers, and anyone who works with text documents. Notepad++, a popular free source code editor, offers powerful comparison capabilities through its ComparePlus plugin. This guide will walk you through how to effectively use ComparePlus for Comparing In Notepad++, addressing common questions and exploring its features.
While Notepad++ doesn’t have a built-in feature to directly “copy all diffs” from a comparison, ComparePlus provides several tools to navigate and understand differences between files. Let’s delve into how you can make the most of this plugin for your comparing in notepad++ needs.
One of the primary ways to work with differences in ComparePlus is using the navigation buttons. Located in the ComparePlus section of the toolbar, the “Next” and “Previous” buttons allow you to jump between each identified difference in your compared files. This is particularly useful for reviewing changes sequentially. Once you’ve navigated to a specific difference, you can manually copy the line or lines that are different using standard Notepad++ copy commands (Ctrl+C). This method gives you precise control over what differences you copy and where you paste them.
For a quick visual overview of the changes, ComparePlus offers the “Show Only Diffs” feature. Accessible via Plugins > ComparePlus > Show Only Diffs or the “ShowOnlyDiffs” button on the toolbar, this function temporarily hides identical lines, displaying only the lines that are different between your files. This can be incredibly helpful for focusing solely on the modifications. However, it’s important to note a limitation: even when “Show Only Diffs” is active, using “Ctrl+A, Ctrl+C” will still copy all lines from the file, including the hidden identical lines. This means “Show Only Diffs” is primarily a visual aid and not a method for selectively copying only the differing lines in Notepad++.
It’s worth considering why you might want to “copy all diffs” in the first place. If your goal is to simply make one file identical to another, copying all content from the modified file to the original file achieves this directly. The visual marking of differences in ComparePlus is already beneficial for understanding what has changed. The navigation features further enhance this by allowing you to step through each modification. Bookmarking differences, while a common feature in some comparison tools, is somewhat redundant in ComparePlus, as the plugin’s navigation buttons already serve this purpose efficiently.
The desire to “copy all diffs” might stem from a workflow where users want to generate a difference report, similar to the output of the diff command-line tool. Historically, there might have been requests for such a feature in the older “Compare” plugin (the predecessor to ComparePlus). However, due to the underlying technical differences in how Compare and ComparePlus operate, implementing a direct diff-style report export has proven challenging and hasn’t been implemented.
Looking beyond just comparison, many advanced compare tools also incorporate “merge” functionalities. These features allow users to actively integrate changes between files, often with options like “Use Left Block” or “Use Right Block.” Tools like TortoiseDiff and TortoiseMerge, commonly used in version control systems like TortoiseSVN, exemplify this approach. In these tools, you can selectively apply changes from one file to another directly within the comparison interface.
For users seeking more than just visual comparison in Notepad++, requesting “merge”-style features for the ComparePlus plugin would be a valuable suggestion to the plugin developer, @pnedev. Features that allow users to “Use Left Block” or “Use Right Block” to actively merge differences would significantly enhance the plugin’s capabilities and streamline workflows that involve integrating changes between files within Notepad++. Such enhancements would make comparing in notepad++ with ComparePlus even more powerful and user-friendly for a wider range of text editing and code management tasks.
