Comparing the contents of two files in Sublime Text

Question

I have two cloned repositories of two very similar open-source projects  which I have been working on in different instances in Sublime Text 2 to arrive at my desired result  Code from both of these projects was used  I have been using Git as version control for my project  but have not included the original projects  Thus  I would like to be able to quickly compare the contents of two files of the original project and compare the differences between them and my project   I was hoping that Sublime Text 2 would have a  Compare File  feature  but I can t seem to find anything related to it in the settings or online  A third-party ST2 package to accomplish this task would also work well  Is such a task possible to do within the ST2 text editor

User · Accepted Answer

You can actually compare files natively right in Sublime Text.

Navigate to the folder containing them through Open Folder... or in a project
Select the two files (ie, by holding Ctrl on Windows or ? on macOS) you want to compare in the sidebar
Right click and select the Diff files... option.

User · Answer

UPDATE JAN 2018 - especially for Sublime Mac  This is very similar to Marty F s reply  but addresses some issues from previous responses  combines several different suggestions and discusses the critical distinction that gave me problems at first   I m using Sublime Text 3  build 3143  on Mac and have been trying for about 30 minutes to find this File Compare feature  I had used it before on Sublime Mac without any problems  but this time  it was trickier  But  I finally figured it out   The file format does not need to be UTF-8  I have successfully compared files that are UTF-8  ISO-8559-1  and Windows-1252   There is no File  gt  Open Folders on Sublime Mac  Many instructions above start with  quot Select File  gt  Open Folders  quot  but that doesn t exist on Sublime Mac   File compare works on a Project basis  If you want to compare two files  they must be saved to disk and part of the current project   Ways to open a project    If Sublime Mac is not running or if it s running but no windows are open  drag a folder onto the Sublime app  If Sublime Mac is running  select  quot File  gt  Open quot   navigate to the desired folder  don t select a file or folder and click  quot Open quot     Add a folder to a project  If the files you want to compare are not part of the same hierarchy  first open the folder containing one of the files  Then  select  quot Project  gt  Add Folder to Project quot   navigate to the folder you want and click  quot Open quot   You will now see two root-level folders in your sidebar   The Sidebar must be visible  You can either  quot View  gt  Side Bar  gt  Show Side Bar quot  or use the shortcut  Command-K  Command-B   Files must be closed  ie  saved  to compare  Single-clicking a file in the Side Bar does not open the file  but it does display it  You can tell if a file is open if it s listed in the  quot Open Files quot  section at the top of the Side Bar  Double-clicking a file or making a modification to a file will automatically change a file s status to  quot Open quot   In this case  be sure to close it before trying to compare   Select files from the folder hierarchy  Standard Mac shorcut here   single  click the first file  then Command-click the second file  When you select the first file  you ll see its contents  but it s not open  Then  when you Command-click the second file  you ll see its contents  but again  neither are open  You ll notice only one tab in the editing panel   Control-click is not the same as right-click  This was the one that got me  I use my trackpad and often resort to Control-click as a right-click or secondary-click  This does not work for me  However  since I configured my trackpad in System Preferences to use the bottom-right corner of my trackpad as a right-click  that worked  displaying the contextual menu  with  quot Delete quot    quot Reveal in Finder quot   and      quot Diff Files    quot    Voil

User · Answer

UPDATE  Given the upvotes  I feel there is a need for a complete step-by-step explanation       In the Menu bar click on File- Open Folder    Select a folder  the actual folder does not really matter  this step is just to make the FOLDERS sidebar available  If there is no Side Bar shown yet  make it appear via View -  Side Bar -  Show Side Bar  Use this FOLDERS-titled Side Bar to navigate to the first file you want to compare  Select it  click on it   hold down ctrl and select the second file  Having two files selected  right click on one of the two and select Diff Files      There should be a new Tab now showing the comparison     Original short answer  Note that   The  Diff files  only appears with the  folders  sidebar  to open a folder  File- Open Folder    not with  open files  sidebar

User · Answer

No one is talking about Linux but all above answers will work  Just use Ctrl to select more than one file  If you are looking to compare side by side  Meld is lovely

User · Answer

View - Layout and View - Groups will do in latest Sublime 3  eg   Shift Alt 2 --  creates 2 columns  Ctrl 2 --  move selected file to column 2  This is for side by side comparison   For actual diff  there is the diff function other already mentioned   Unfortunately  I can t find a way to make columns scroll at the same time  which would be a nice feature

User · Answer

There are a number of diff plugins available via Package Control  I ve used Sublimerge Pro  which worked well enough  but it s a commercial product  with an unlimited trial period  and closed-source  so you can t tweak it if you want to change something  or just look at its internals  FileDiffs is quite popular  judging by the number of installs  so you might want to try that one out

User · Answer

There s a BeyondCompare plugin as well  It opens the 2 files in a BeyondCompare window  Pretty convenient to open files from the sublime window   You will need BC3 installation present in the system  After installing the plugin  you will have to provide the path to the installation   Example           Define a custom path to beyond compare      beyond compare path    G  Softwares Beyond Compare 3 BCompare exe

User · Answer

UPDATE OCTOBER 2017 I never knew this feature existed in Sublime Text  but the interface appears to have changed slightly from the previous answer - at least on OS X   Here are the detailed steps I followed    In the Menu Bar click File -  Open    Navigate to the FOLDER that contains the files to be compared and with the FOLDER selected  click the Open button  this makes the FOLDERS sidebar appear In the FOLDERS sidebar  click on the first file to be compared Hold the Ctrl on Windows or   on OS X  and click the second file With both files selected  right click on one and select Diff Files      This opens a new tab showing the comparison   The first file in red  the second in green

User · Answer

The Diff Option only appears if the files are in a folder that is part of a Project   Than you can actually compare files natively right in Sublime Text   Navigate to the folder containing them through Open Folder    or in a project Select the two files  ie  by holding Ctrl on Windows or   on macOS  you want to compare in the sidebar Right click and select the Diff files    option

User · Answer

Compare Side-By-Side looks like the most convenient to me though it s not the most popular     UPD  I need to add that this plugin can freeze ST while comparing big files  It is certainly not the best decision if you are going to compare large texts

[compare] Comparing the contents of two files in Sublime Text

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