Compare files, folders, and text sources
IntelliJ?IDEA lets you review the differences between any files, folders, text sources, or database objects, as well as between local files and their repository versions.
Compare files
IntelliJ?IDEA displays the differences in the
Differences Viewer for Files
:
Color
| Description
|
---|
Green
| Added
|
Blue
| Modified
|
Gray
| Deleted
|
To apply changes, use the chevron buttons ?
and
.
To append changes, press
Control
? the
buttons will turn into
.
Compare two or three files
In the Project tool window, select the files you want to compare and choose
, or press
Control+D
.
Alternatively, select one file, choose
Compare With
from its context menu, and select a file that is outside your project.
Compare active editor with Clipboard
Compare active editor with a project file
In the Project tool window, right-click the file you want to compare with the currently opened file.
Choose
Compare File with Editor
from the context menu.
Compare active editor with any file
If you often need to compare files that are outside your project with the active editor, or don't want to have the Project tool window open, you can use the
Compare File with Editor
action that lets you choose any file and compare it with the active editor.
To add this action to the editor tab's context menu:
Press
Control+Alt+S
to open the IDE settings and then select
.
In the right pane, expand the
Editor Tab Popup Menu
node, select where you want to add the new action, click
and select
Add Action…
.
Find and add the
Compare File with Editor
action under
.
Compare a local file with its repository version
Select a modified file anywhere in the
Version Control
tool window.
Click
on the toolbar or press
Control+D
.
Productivity tips
- Assign shortcuts for 'accept' and 'append'
To assign shortcuts to the
accept
and
append
actions, open the
Keymap
page of the IDE settings?
Control+Alt+S
and locate these actions under
Version Control Systems | Diff & Merge
.
- Swap sides
When you are comparing two files, or a file with the Clipboard contents, you can swap sides by clicking
on the toolbar.
- Compare files from the command line
You can compare two or three files from the command line and use IntelliJ?IDEA as an external diff tool. For more information, refer to
Compare files from the command line
.
Compare folders
IntelliJ?IDEA lets you compare files in two folders against their file size, content, or timestamp. The differences are displayed in the
Differences Viewer for Folders
:
The top pane lists all files in the selected folders, while the bottom pane shows the differences between two versions of the selected file (refer to
Compare files
).
Compare folders
Select the folders you want to compare in the Project tool window.
From the context menu, choose
Compare Directories
, or press
Control+D
.
Use the following toolbar buttons to filter the list:
: click to display files that are present in the left folder, but are missing from the right one.
: click to display files that are present in the right folder, but are missing from the left one.
: click to display files that are present in both folders, but whose contents, timestamp or size are different.
: click to display files that are present in both folders and that are identical with regard to the option selected in the
Compare by
dropdown.
Synchronize folders
IntelliJ?IDEA lets you sync the contents of two folders, or apply changes from one folder to another.
For each file, click the icon in the * column until you've set an action to be taken on that file.
: copy the selected item from the left to the right folder. If such file already exists in the right folder, it will be overwritten.
: copy the selected item from the right to the left folder. If such file already exists in the left folder, it will be overwritten.
: no action will be performed (the two files are identical).
: no action will be performed (the two files are different).
: remove the selected item.
Do one of the following:
To apply the selected action to the current item, click the
Synchronize Selected
button
on the toolbar or press
Enter
.
To apply the selected actions to all items, click the
Synchronize All
button
on the toolbar.
Compare different files in two folders
Sometimes a file may be present in one folder, and another file with a similar name in the other folder (for example,
VCS_library_1.4
and
VCS_library_1.5
). These may be versions of the same file that you want to compare. Also, there may be a situation when you think a file was renamed, but is otherwise identical to a file in another folder. IntelliJ?IDEA lets you compare two files, one of which is present in the right folder, and another one in the left even though such files are treated as different entities.
Select the files you want to compare in the left and the right pane.
Click the
Compare New Files with Each Other
icon
on the toolbar. The differences between the selected files will be displayed in the bottom pane.
Compare any text sources
Apart from comparing files' or folders' contents, you can open an empty
Differences Viewer
and paste any text or drag files into the right and left panels to compare. This can be useful, for example, if you want to compare an application's console output with the output of the same application albeit a little modified.
Press
Control+Shift+A
and start typing to locate the
Open Blank Diff Window
action.
Paste any text you want to compare in the left and right panels.
Right-click either left or right panel and select
Switch to Three-Side Viewer
to compare any three text sources.
Productivity tips
- Assign a shortcut for the 'Open Blank Diff' action
On the
Keymap
page of the IDE settings?
Control+Alt+S
, locate this action under
Version Control Systems | Diff & Merge
.
- Swap sides
You can swap sides in the
Diff Viewer
by pressing the
icon on the toolbar.
- Open Diff in a separate window
By default,
Differences Viewer
opens in an editor tab. You can configure the settings to open the viewer in a separate window instead. On the
Advanced Settings
page of the IDE settings?
Control+Alt+S
, disable the
Open Diff as Editor Tab
option.
You can set up and launch an external diff tool to compare your files and changes right from IntelliJ?IDEA. Make sure to install the necessary diff tool on your machine beforehand.
Press
Control+Alt+S
to open the IDE settings and then select
.
Select the
Enable external tools
option.
In the
Configure external tools
section, click
.
In the
Add An External Tool
dialog that opens, fill in the following details:
Tool group
: select
Diff tool
from the list.
Program path
: specify the path to the diff tool executable in your system.
Argument pattern
: if necessary, adjust the pattern for displaying changes, where:
Click
Test Diff
or
Test Three-Side Diff
to check that the external diff tool launches from IntelliJ?IDEA successfully.
Click
OK
to save the changes.
Last modified: 18 October 2023