Let’s say you have two text files that are pretty similar in content and you want to find out what the differences are between those two. You can easily do so using Notepad++.
Basically, once you have Notepad++ installed, here is what you do:
1. Open up the two files that you want to compare in Notepad++.
2. Goto Plugins > Compare > Compare
3. That’s it! Both files will show up side by side and you will see the differences highlighted.
Update 1: For those who have downloaded newer versions and can’t find the Plugins > Compare > Compare menu, please read how to get compare plugin back into notepad++.
Update 2: There’s now an even easier way to get new plugins such as the “compare plugin” installed into Notepad++. Just use the new Notepad++ Plugin Manager introduced since Notepad v5.6.
Go to the Plugins menu > Plugin Manager , check the Compare checkbox and press install.
Tips: You can also use winmerge to compare two text files.
Kewl~ thanks for the great tip man. Really gonna be useful for me:)
thanks for the tip. this is just what i was looking for!
Thanks for the tip. Sometimes these things are so hard to find !
No such option (Plugins > Compare > Compare) exists in my notepad++
Open the plug-in manager and install the ‘Compare’ Plugin.
@kh
You can refer to this article http://www.davidtan.org/how-to-get-compare-plugin-back-into-notepad/
Thanksssssssssss Thanksssssssssss Thankssssssssssss
Is it possible to count the number of lines which differ from each other when comparing to txt files in Notepad++ ?
Thanks
Thanks for info…
Thanks Man , this tip is very helpful
When I use the compare plugin built into Notepad++ to compare line text between two text files, how do I select & copy just the added lines (highlighted in green with the + sign icon to the left)?
What I’m trying to do is simply select all the line differences in one text file so that I can copy and paste them into a new text file.
I searched everywhere and I can’t figure out how to do this.
Any suggestions on how to accomplish this are most appreciated.
Thanks
amazing! i’ve used Notepad++ for long time. but didn’t know Notepad++ has a plugin like this. good post bro!
Just wanted to thank you so much! This just saved my ass when working with a server configuration file.
Glad it helped
Super tip! Thanks!!
Thank you very much for this tutorial. I had to update a WordPress theme and didn’t want to lose all of my work. This made the whole update process complete inside of 1 hour vs days.
Thank you thank you thank you.
Thanks! I can save a lot of time for proofing of 1200 pages!!
Thank you very much for this tutorial. Editing and checking those XML files would have taken a lot of time. Now I made it in 5 minutes.
This saved me a tonne of time so nice that the differences between the files are highlighted when using the Compare Plugin.
Glad you find it useful. You should check out winmerge (another freeare) too which IMHO does a better job when it comes to comparing differences between text files.
Great tip, thanks!
use linux and use vimdiff. The greatest tool ever!
Thank you for the tip!!!