winmerge command line compare folders and copy differences

There is a left pane showing coloured lines representing which areas in the files are different.WinMerge has a really simple interface, similar to Beyond Compare, which does all of the major file / code comparison operations you would expect. For most people, this is probably something they can live with. Instead, the only option is to launch the program for the “left side” file, and then use the browse interface from within WinMerge to select the “right side” file. On the completely free side of things, WinMerge is a program that does all of the standard operations well except for the right-click context menu behavior above (and maybe it will soon have such functionality). This automatically launches the comparison window and integrates very nicely into regular file browsing processes. (Note: you can try it out for free for 30 days.) One really good thing that it has is a Windows Explorer context menu, where you can right-click on a file, select it as the “left side” of the compare operation, then browse to another file, right-click on that one, and select it as the “right side” of the compare operation. Aside from creating word processor documents (and then using the “compare and merge” functionality) or using a command line diff, there are a couple of good Windows applications to make file comparisons of code more user friendly.īeyond Compare, which is available for both Windows and Linux, costs $30 and does a really good job. This is especially important if you are working with code.

If you work with different versions of files, you often need to compare them to see what has changed between files and to merge changes if necessary.

Winmerge command line compare folders and copy differences