KDiff3 — The Complete Guide: Comparing and Merging Input Files, Scripts and Configs
KDiff3 is an open-source tool from the KDE community for comparing and merging two or three text files or folders. It shows differences line by line and character by character, merges automatically what it can and leaves the conflicts for you to resolve in a built-in editor.
KDiff3
KDE
Compare and merge two or three files or folders — to reconcile changes to scripts, input files and configs.
Get it from the vendorWhat you get
- Two- or three-way comparison — files or whole folders.
- Character-level highlighting — see exactly which number changed.
- Automatic merging — only real conflicts are left for you.
- Built-in editor — resolve conflicts inside the tool.
- Explorer and Git integration — as the default merge tool.
When to use it
Two engineers edited the same model input file; you want to know what changed between the submitted version and the revised one; or you are comparing controller configuration files. Worth knowing: the tool suits text files, not Word or PDF files.
Related tools
For version control — Git. Alternative comparison tools — Meld and WinMerge. To compare PDF files — diff-pdf.
Meld
GNOME / Meld project
Visual two- and three-way diff and merge for files and folders, with Git and version-control support.
Get it from the vendor
WinMerge
WinMerge team
Compare and merge files, folders, tables and images on Windows — see what changed between revisions.
Get it from the vendor
Git
Git project
Version control for code, scripts and input files — who changed what and when, and return to any version.
Get it from the vendordiff-pdf
Vaclav Slavik
Visual comparison of two PDF versions — see at once what changed between revisions of a drawing or report.
Get it from the vendorThe bottom line
KDiff3 answers quickly the question of what exactly changed in a file. Open source and free for any use, on Windows, macOS and Linux.