Compares two files. The differences are displayed in a special Visual Studio window. Syntax devenv /Diff SourceFile TargetFile SourceDisplayName TargetDisplayName Arguments. The full path and name of the first file to be compared. The full path and name of the second file to be compared. Tip: You can diff any two files by first right clicking on a file in the Explorer or OPEN EDITORS list and selecting Select for Compare and then right-click on the second file to compare with and select Compare with 'filenameyouchose'.
VBinDiff (Visual Binary Diff) displays files in hexadecimal and ASCII(or EBCDIC). It can also display two files at once, and highlightthe differences between them. Unlike diff, it works well withlarge files (up to 4 GB).
VBinDiff was inspired by the Compare Files function of the ProSelutilities by Glen Bredon, for the Apple II. When I couldn’t find asimilar utility for the PC, I wrote it myself.
The single-file mode was inspired by the LIST utility of4DOS and friends.While lessprovides a good line-orienteddisplay, it has no equivalent to LIST’s hex display. (True, you canpipe the file through hexdump, but that’s incredibly inefficient onmulti-gigabyte files.)
I would like to hear from anyone who uses VBinDiff, especially if youfind it useful. You can find my contactinformation here.
Visual Studio Diff Branches
I have been using Visual Studio for years. Every time I have had to diff two files I went to notepad++ or some other great text editor. However I have recently discovered that you can actually do this from Visual Studio - with a bit of tinkering.
Visual Studio can easily diff files that are under source control. However sometimes you have two files which you wish to see the differences of. There is no way to just select two files, right click and diff them. But you can call a command to do so using Tools.DiffFiles in the command window. I will give you an example: If you have a project with two classes like below:
You can easily compare the two files using the following command:
Tools.DiffFiles Class1.cs Class2.cs
Which will give you the usual window when comparing two files:
This is how you can diff files within Visual Studio. Tools.DiffFiles will also help you auto-complete paths to the files you are looking for - making it easier for you to get them right. It can also diff files that are not part of your projects.
The command window which can be seen at the bottom of the above image can be found at 'View -> Other windows -> Command window' or use quicklaunch (ctrl + q and search for 'command window'). This window can also be found using ctrl + alt + a.
Visual Studio Code Diff Tool
That's it, I hope you enjoy this and I wish that the Visual Studio team will build this into the UI at some point! Let me know what you think in the comments.