IntelliJ IDEA 2017.3 Help

Differences Viewer for Files

Project tool window | context menu of a file | Compare File with Editor
Project tool window | context menu of a file | Compare Files
Version Control tool window | Local Changes tab | - icon showDiff
Version Control tool window | context menu of a folder or file | Show Diff

In this section:

Basics

This dialog is displayed every time you compare two files or two versions of a file (local changes or changes between local files and their revisions in a remote repository). You can compare files of any types, including binaries and .jar files.

Note that you can open the differences viewer without running IntelliJ IDEA. To do this, execute the following command:

<path to IntelliJ IDEA executable file> diff <path_1> <path_2>
where path_1 and path_2 are paths to the files you want to compare.

The differences viewer provides a powerful editor that enables code completion, live templates, etc.

Diff & Merge viewer

ItemTooltip and ShortcutDescription
arrowUparrowDownPrevious Difference / Next Difference Shift+F7 F7
Use these buttons to jump to the next/previous difference.

When the last/first difference is hit, IntelliJ IDEA suggests to click the arrow buttons F7/Shift+F7 once more and compare other files, depending on the Go to the next file after reaching last change option in the Differences Viewer settings.

This behavior is supported only when the Differences Viewer is invoked from the Version Control tool window.

comparePreviousFile
compareNextFile
Compare Previous/Next File
Alt+LeftAlt+Right
Click these buttons to compare the local copy of the previous/next file with its update from the server.

These controls are only available if more than one file has been modified locally.

icon show paths Go To Changed File Ctrl+NClick this button to display all changed files in a current change set (and navigate to them).
edit Jump to Source
F4
Click this button to open the selected file in the active pane in the editor. The caret will be placed in the same position as in the Differences Viewer.
Viewer type
diffViewer type
Use this drop-down list to choose the desired viewer type. The side-by-side viewer has two panels; the unified viewer has one panel only.

Both types of viewers enable you to

  • Edit code. Note that one can change text only in the right-hand part of the default viewer, or, in case of the unified viewer, in the lower ("after") line, i.e. in your local version of the file.
  • Perform the Apply/Append/Revert actions.
Whitespace
diffViewer whitespaces
Use this drop-down list to define how the differences viewer should treat white spaces in the text.
  • Do not ignore: white spaces are important, and all differences are highlighted. This option is selected by default.
  • Trim whitespaces: ("\t", " "), if they appear in the end and in the beginning of a line.
    • If two lines differ in trailing whitespaces only, these lines are considered equal.
    • If two lines are different, such trailing whitespaces are not highlighted in the By word mode.
  • Ignore whitespaces: white spaces are not important, regardless of their location in the source code.
  • Ignore whitespaces and empty lines: the following entities are ignored:
    • all whitespaces (as in the 'Ignore whitespaces' option)
    • all added or removed lines consisting of whitespaces only
    • all changes consisting of splitting or joining lines without changes to non-whitespace parts.
      For example, changing a b c to a \n b c is not highlighted in this mode.
  • Ignore imports and formatting: changes within import statements and whitespaces are ignored (whitespaces within String literals are respected though).
Highlighting mode
diffViewer highlight
Select the way differences granularity is highlighted.
The available options are:
  • Highlight words: the modified words are highlighted
  • Highlight lines: the modified lines are highlighted
  • Highlight split changes: if this option is selected, big changes are split into smaller 'atomic' changes.
    For example, A \n B vs. A X \n B X will be treated as two changes instead of one.
  • Do not highlight: if this option is selected, the differences are not highlighted at all. This option is intended for significantly modified files, where highlighting only introduces additional difficulties.
collapseAll Collapse unchanged fragmentsClick this button to collapse all unchanged fragments in both files. The amount of non-collapsible unchanged lines is configurable in the Diff & Merge settings page.
sync scrollingSynchronize scrollingClick this button to simultaneously scroll both differences panes; if this button is released, each of the panes can be scrolled independently.
cogwheel blue with arrow Editor settingsClick this button to invoke the list of available settings. Select or clear this options to show or hide whitespaces, line numbers and indent guides, to use or disable the use of soft wraps, and to set the highlighting level.

These commands are also available from the context menu of the differences viewer gutter.

Include into commit Alt+I This checkbox only appears if you invoke the Differences Viewer from the Commit Changes dialog with multiple changed files (all of which are deselected), and you explore the differences between them and hit the last difference in a file.

Select this checkbox if you want to include the file you've reviewed into the commit.

moveToOtherChangelist Move to Another Changelist F6 This button only appears if you invoke the Differences Viewer from the Commit Changes dialog with multiple changed files (all of which are deselected), and you explore the differences between them and hit the last difference in a file.

Click this icon to move the file you've reviewed to another changelist.

external toolShow diff in external toolClick this button to invoke an external differences viewer, specified in the External Diff Tools settings page.

This button only appears on the toolbar when the Use external diff tool option is enabled in the External Diff Tools settings page.

icon helpHelp
F1
Click this button to show the corresponding help page.
Ctrl+TabUse this keyboard shortcut to switch between the panes of the Differences viewer. The active pane has the cursor.
icon InsertReplaceicon InsertReplace2Use these chevron buttons to apply differences between panes (in case of the side-by-side viewer) or between lines (in case of the unified viewer).

The chevron buttons can change their behavior:

  • Click icon InsertReplaceicon InsertReplace2 to apply changes. This behavior is the default one.
  • Press Ctrl to change icon InsertReplace icon InsertReplace2 to arrowRightDown or arrowLeftDown and append changes.
Merge actions
conflicts compare options N/A Click this icon to invoke the list of options allowing you to compare different versions of a file to resolve a conflict. Note that Base refers to the file version that the local and the repository versions originated from (initially displayed in the middle pane), while Middle refers to the resulting version.
applyNotConflictsApply All Non-Conflicting ChangesClick this button to apply all non-conflicting changes. You can also make this behavior automatic, by selecting the checkbox Automatically apply non-conflicting changes in the Diff & Merge page of the Settings/Preferences dialog.
applyNotConflictsLeft/applyNotConflictsRightApply Non-Conflicting Changes from the Left/Right SideClick these buttons to merge non-conflicting changes from the left/right parts of the dialog.
N/A Annotate

This option is only available from the context menu of the gutter.

Use this option to explore who introduced which changes to the repository version of the file in question, and when. The annotations view lets you see detailed information for each line of code, such as the version from which this line originated, the ID of the user who committed this line, and the commit date.

You can configure the amount of information displayed in the annotations pane.

For more details on annotations, refer to Viewing Changes Information

Keyboard shortcuts

Keyboard shortcutDescription
Use this keyboard shortcut to show the popup menu of the most commonly user diff commands.
Ctrl+Tab Use this keyboard shortcut to switch between the left and the right panes.
Ctrl+Shift+Tab Use this keyboard shortcut to select the position obtained by Ctrl+Tab in the opposite pane.
Ctrl+Z/Ctrl+Shift+Z Use this keyboard shortcut to undo/redo a merge operation. Conflicts will be kept in sync with the text.

Context menu commands

This context menu is available in the middle of the editor:

ItemDescription
Show WhitespacesSelect this check command to show whitespaces as the dots in the Differences Viewer .
Show Line NumbersSelect this check command to show line numbers in the Differences Viewer.
Show Indent GuidesSelect this check command to have IntelliJ IDEA display vertical lines in the Differences Viewer to indicate positions of indents.
Use Soft WrapsSelect this check command to have IntelliJ IDEA wrap the lines of code, when the dialog box is resized.
Highlighting levelUse this menu item to select the highlighting level in the Differences Viewer. To learn more about the level of highlighting, refer to the description of the Status Bar.
AnnotateSelect this check command to annotate the changes.

This command is available only for the files under version control.

This context menu is available in both editors:

ItemDescription
Accept/AppendSelect these commands to accept or append the lines shown in the Differences Viewer.
Compare with ClipboardSelect this command to compare the file in the respective pane of the Differences Viewer with the contents of the Clipboard .
AnnotateSelect this check command to annotate the changes.

This command is available only for the files under version control.

This context menu is available in the right-hand strip of the Differences Viewer:

ItemDescription
Go to high-priority problems only/Go to next problemClick one of these radio-buttons to define the way of navigating between the encountered problems.
Customize highlighting level Click to show the slider to change the highlighting level in the Differences Viewer.
Show code lens on scrollbar hoverSelect this checkbox to switch the Differences Viewer to the lens mode.
Last modified: 6 March 2018

See Also