Text Diff Instantly

Key Features and Benefits

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  Line-by-Line Comparison — The default comparison mode treats each line as an atomic unit. A line is either unchanged, added, or removed. This is the same granularity used by git diff and the standard Unix diff command. Line-level comparison is fast, easy to read for structured content like source code, and produces output that maps directly to the unified diff format used by version control systems. If a single character on a line changes, the entire line shows as removed and re-added -- the next feature handles finer granularity.
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  Word-by-Word and Character-Level Diff — When a line has only minor changes -- a typo fix, a renamed variable, a small wording tweak -- line-level diff marks the entire line as changed. Word-level and character-level diff modes zoom in further, highlighting exactly which words or characters differ within a changed line. This is critical for reviewing prose, documentation, and any content where changes are small relative to the line length. You immediately see that "recieve" was corrected to "receive" rather than having to scan two full lines looking for the difference.
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  Unified Diff Format Output — The tool can produce output in unified diff format -- the standard used by git diff, patch files, and code review tools. Unified diff shows removed lines prefixed with a minus sign, added lines prefixed with a plus sign, and context lines prefixed with a space. Each changed section is preceded by a hunk header like @@ -10,7 +10,8 @@ that tells you the line numbers in both files. This format is machine-readable, which means you can save it as a .patch file and apply it with the patch command or git apply.
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  Side-by-Side and Inline Views — Side-by-side view puts the original on the left and the modified version on the right, with matching lines aligned horizontally. This is the view most people find intuitive for code review. Inline view -- sometimes called unified view -- interleaves deletions and insertions in a single column, showing the old version of a line immediately followed by the new version. Inline view uses less horizontal space and works better on narrow screens or when the lines themselves are long. Switch between views depending on your screen size and the type of content you are comparing.
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  Whitespace and Case Sensitivity Options — Control whether the comparison cares about trailing spaces, tab-versus-space differences, and blank line changes. When comparing code that was reformatted by an auto-formatter, ignoring whitespace changes lets you focus on the actual logic changes. Similarly, a case-insensitive mode helps when comparing text where capitalization differences are not meaningful -- for instance, comparing SQL queries where SELECT and select are functionally identical.
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  Merge Conflict Detection — When two people edit the same section of a file independently, merging their changes produces a conflict. The diff tool can identify overlapping changes and present them in the standard conflict marker format used by Git: <<<<<<< marks the start of the first version, ======= separates the two versions, and >>>>>>> marks the end. Seeing the conflict clearly -- with both versions side by side and the surrounding context intact -- makes resolution faster and less error-prone than staring at raw conflict markers in a text editor.

How to Compare Two Texts

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   Paste the Original Text

   Enter the original -- or older -- version of the text in the left input area. This can be anything: a source code file, a configuration file, a Markdown document, a database schema, or a plain-text email draft. The tool does not need to know the format; it operates on plain text lines regardless of the content type. If you are comparing file versions from Git, you can copy the content from a specific commit using git show commit:path and paste it here.

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   Paste the Modified Text

   Enter the modified -- or newer -- version in the right input area. Make sure you are comparing the correct versions. A common mistake is pasting two copies of the same version and wondering why the diff is empty, or comparing the wrong branches of a document. If the texts are identical, the tool will tell you immediately -- no differences found. If you accidentally swapped the original and modified inputs, the diff will show additions as deletions and vice versa. The content is correct but the direction is reversed.

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   Select the Comparison Mode

   Choose between line-level, word-level, or character-level comparison. For source code, line-level is almost always the right choice because code changes are typically expressed as whole-line additions and removals. For prose and documentation, word-level diff is more useful because it highlights the specific words that changed rather than flagging entire paragraphs. Character-level diff is specialized -- use it when you need to find single-character differences in dense text, like spotting the difference between a zero and an uppercase O in a serial number or API key.

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   Review the Highlighted Differences

   Scan the output from top to bottom. Unchanged context lines anchor you in the document structure. Deleted lines -- highlighted in red or marked with a minus sign -- show what was removed. Added lines -- highlighted in green or marked with a plus sign -- show what was introduced. Modified lines appear as a deletion immediately followed by an insertion. Pay attention to the flow of changes: a block of deletions followed by a block of insertions at the same position usually means a section was rewritten. Scattered single-line changes throughout the document typically indicate small fixes like typo corrections or variable renames.

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   Export or Apply the Diff

   Copy the diff output in unified format if you need to share it with a colleague or apply it as a patch. The unified diff can be saved as a .patch file and applied using standard tools: patch -p1 < changes.patch on Unix systems or git apply changes.patch in a Git repository. If you just need to confirm that two versions match your expectations, the visual comparison is enough -- close the tool and move on. For ongoing comparison needs, consider integrating diff functionality into your development workflow using git diff, diff in CI pipelines, or pre-commit hooks that flag unexpected changes.

Expert Tips for Text Comparison

Related Tools

Text comparison works best when the inputs are normalized and consistently formatted. Format JSON with consistent indentation before diffing two API responses -- otherwise every key reordering and whitespace change shows up as noise. Normalize XML with proper indentation and attribute ordering so structural changes stand out from cosmetic ones. And when you are comparing Markdown documents, preview the rendered output in a Markdown viewer to confirm that the diff you see in the source actually produces the visual change you expect. These tools prepare your content for clean, meaningful comparisons.