In the next article we are going to take a look at Kompare. If you are interested compare files in a simple way, this tool can be useful and easy to install through its corresponding Snap package. Kompare offers a graphical user interface, which is also open source and written in C ++.
This tool can be used to compare differences in files or folder contents. It also supports a variety of difference formats and provides many options for customizing the level of information it displays. Us it will allow to compare the differences in the files or the contents of the folder recursively, thanks to its variety of difference formats and its many options. In addition to allowing users to customize the level of information to be displayed.
Compare (formerly known as 'Kdiff') is a graphical fusion and differentiation tool aimed at developers. It allows users to compare two different text files or two directories. It is part of the KDE applications, and was previously part of the KDE software build. It is mainly used on Gnu / Linux and other Unix-like operating systems, as well as Windows. Actually, Kompare does not calculate the differences between the compared files, it is simply a graphical interface for the diff command line utility.
General characteristics of Kompare
Its features include:
- Compare files or directories via a graphical interface.
- Bézier-based connection widget allows you to see the origin and destination as they actually appear.
- Graphical display of patch files in normal, contextual, unified and differential formats.
- Interactive application of differences.
- It will give us the ability to see the output of plain text differences in the integrated viewer.
- Easy navigation Multiple file differences with the dockable navigation tree.
- It is a graphical interface for the most commonly used diff command line options.
- We can change source and destination with a command.
- Is going to offer us statistics of the differences found.
These are just some of the features of this program. They can consult all of them from project GitHub page.
Install Kompare file comparer via Snap
For install kompare file comparer via Snap, it is necessary to have support for this technology installed in our system. Although this in the latest versions of Ubuntu is no longer a problem.
Ubuntu users can install this file comparer through Snap by opening a terminal (Ctrl + Alt + T). Now we are going to install the stable version of this program using the following command:
sudo snap install kompare
In the moment we need update the program, we can do it with the command:
sudo snap refresh kompare
After the installation, we can start the program on the menu Applications / Activities or any other application launcher that we have on our team. We can also launch the program by opening a terminal (Ctrl + Alt + T) and typing in it:
kompare
A look at Kompare
Compare shows the two files compared side by side, so the corresponding lines are always placed as close to each other as possibleregardless of the position of the scroll bar.
Lines that are different in the compared files are highlighted in both views. Three different colors are used to highlight, which will indicate that the highlighted fragment;
- It exists in the first file but not in the second. This means that the highlighted fragment has been removed from the second file.
- If it exists in the second file but not the first, it means that the fragment has been added to the second file.
- Or if it exists in both files but is different, it tells us that the fragment has been changed in the second file.
uninstall
For uninstall this file comparer from our computer, we will only have to open a terminal (Ctrl + Alt + T) and use the following command:
sudo snap remove kompare
If you are a developer comparing source code or you just want to see the difference between the draft research paper and the final document, Kompare can be a useful and easy-to-use tool. Users can get more information about this tool in the project website.