IntelliJ IDEA 2023.3 Help

Compare files from the command line

Open the diff viewer to compare two or three files from the command line. For example, you can compare the current version of a file with its backup, or your local copy of a file with its copy from the remote repository or its copy from another branch.

You can find the executable for running IntelliJ IDEA in the installation directory under bin. To use this executable as the command-line launcher, add it to your system PATH as described in Command-line interface.

Syntax
idea64.exe diff <path1> <path2> [<path3>]
Example
idea64.exe diff C:\MyProject\Readme.md C:\MyProject\Readme.md.bak

By default, IntelliJ IDEA does not provide a command-line launcher. For more information about creating a launcher script for IntelliJ IDEA, refer to Command-line interface.

Syntax
idea diff <path1> <path2> [<path3>]
Example
idea diff ~/MyProject/Readme.md ~/MyProject/Readme.md.bak

You can find the script for running IntelliJ IDEA in the installation directory under bin. To use this script as the command-line launcher, add it to your system PATH as described in Command-line interface.

Syntax
idea.sh diff <path1> <path2> [<path3>]
Example
idea.sh diff ~/MyProject/Readme.md ~/MyProject/Readme.md.bak
Last modified: 19 March 2024