Guiffy Compare Controls

This page introduces the compare controls for Guiffy.

Ignore Options

The Ignore options dialog controls Guiffy's compare in terms of ignoring case or whitespace or a field(in columns X through Y) while comparing files. Choose Options -> Ignore to select these controls.

Ignore Case

Causes Case of the text to be ignored during the compare.

Ignore Whitespace

Causes Whitespace ( spaces and tabs ) differences to be ignored during the compare.

Ignore Field in Columns X through Y

Causes differences in columns X through Y to be ignored during the compare.
Tabs are expanded prior to determining columns content.

Show Options

The Show options dialog controls Guiffy's compare display in terms of tab spacing, display only the differences or entire files, display of the differences within N lines of context, and display of line numbers. Choose Options -> Show to select these controls.

Show Tab Size

Sets the number of spaces to be displayed for one tab character. The default is 8 spaces.

Show Only Differences

Causes the compare expression to show only the differences. The default is to show the complete files with matching lines of text and differences.

OR Show Differences within N Lines of Context

Alternatively, Causes the compare expression to show differences with the selected number of lines of matching text before and after each difference.

Show Line Numbers

Causes the compare expression to show the line number with each line of text displayed.

Folder Compare Options

The Folder Compare options dialog controls Guiffy's Folder Compare rules. The Folder Compare Rules include: Show SubFolders, Ignore Modified Date and Time, Ignore File Size and Verify Files Match(byte-by-byte). Choose Options -> Folder Compare to select these controls.

Show SubFolders(Recursively)

Causes Folder Compares to recursively compare SubFolders - Folder Compare becomes a Tree Compare.

Ignore Modified Date and Time

Causes Folder Compares to Ignore the file's Modified Date and Time.

Ignore File Size

Causes Folder Compares to Ignore the file's Size.

Verify Files Match(byte-by-byte)

Causes Folder Compares to Verify if a file pair seem to match by performing a quick byte-by-byte compare(stopping on the first difference).

Compare/Merge Bifocal "Shades" Control

The Compare/Merge Bifocal "Shades" dialog controls which type of compare alogrithm to apply for file compares and 2-way merges. Plus, the Attention Focus Expander allows you to expand the attention(conflict) area for 3-way SureMerges.

Minimize Lines Changed in Diff

This compare algorithm choice will show the differences with a view shaded to the minimum number of lines changed.
If either file has more than 32K lines, Guiffy automatically switches to the Minimize Blocks algorithm.

Minimize Blocks Changed in Diff

This compare algorithm choice will show the differences with a view shaded to reduce the number of change blocks.

Expand Attention Focus of SureMerge by nn Lines

Guiffy's 3-way SureMerge automatically applies the Minimize Blocks compare algorithm and identifies changes of any type(deletes, inserts, or changes) within the same space for the attention of the user to resolve. If changes do not overlap but are very close, the Guiffy Minimize Blocks and SureMerge algorithms will automatically place those changes in the user's attention view. Expanding the Attention Focus will result in more changes which are near to each other placed in the user's attention view.
If the Minimize Blocks algorithm is selected, Expanding the Attention Focus will also affect file compare and 2-way merge views.

See also:

Toolbar
Options Menu