Compare two files in Visual Studio

Question

I saw new comparsion tool in VS 2012 for comparing two files or two versions of file. I like it. But when I tried to find it I can't because I don't use TFS.

Is there a way how I can just compare two files with the built-in feature in VS (but without TFS)?

Answer 1

You can invoke devenv.exe /diff list1.txt list2.txt from the VS Developer Command Prompt or, if a Visual Studio instance is already running, you can type Tools.DiffFiles in the Command window, with a handy file name completion:

Answer 2

Inspired by the accepted answer above, I found a very comfortable way how you can instantly compare two files with Visual Studio by using drag and drop or via the "Send To" context menu. It only requires a little preparation which you need to do once and then it is useful like a Swiss army knife.

Visual Studio already has everything you need, there are only some configuration steps required to make this working:

File compare using drag & drop

Preparation:

1. Create a new batch file using your favorite text editor. Type the following:

@echo off
setlocal
set vspath=C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Enterprise\Common7\IDE
start "Compare files" /B /MIN "%vspath%\devenv.exe" /diff %2 %1 First:'%2' Second:'%1'

You might notice that I have reversed the %1 and %2 parameters in the batch. This is because I noticed that the file explorer passes the 2nd file as first parameter, then the 1st file as second parameter.

2. Save this code as VS_FileCompare.cmd to use it, modify vspath if required to match the location of devenv.exe (depending on the Visual Studio version you're currently using, see footnote^*) )

3. Either create a shortcut named "File Compare" for VS_FileCompare.cmd and place it on the desktop (as used in the animation below), so it is always available to drag & drop files onto it or directly place the batch file on the desktop. That's all!

Usage:

1. Open the Windows explorer via Win + E

2. Select two files to compare in the explorer

3. Drag and drop them as shown in the animation below:

4. After a few seconds (depending on the launch time of Visual Studio), the results will be shown in Visual Studio:

Note: It does not harm if Visual Studio is already open. In this case it will just open up a new window within the running instance of Visual Studio. So you can compare multiple file pairs, but please ensure you have selected only 2 files at a time.

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Alternative way: SendTo context menu

Here's an alternative how you can use the batch file VS_FileCompare.cmd mentioned in the section above. It allows to use the context menu's Send To folder to compare the files.

Preparation:

1. Create a shortcut "Compare2Files VS" for the batch file VS_FileCompare.cmd and copy it into the SendTo folder. Open the Windows explorer via Win + E
2. Open the SendTo folder by entering shell:sendto into the file explorer's address bar (as described here). Then, put the prepared shortcut into this folder.

Usage:

1. Open the Windows explorer via Win + E

2. Select two files to compare in the explorer

3. Assuming the shortcut for the batch file VS_FileCompare.cmd is named "Compare2Files VS", you can select the two files, right-click and select Send To --> Compare2Files VS to invoke the compare as shown below:

4. After a few seconds (depending on the launch time of Visual Studio), the results will be shown in Visual Studio:

HINT: If you like the SendTo folder approach, there is more you can do - for example you can open a command shell directly via SendTo and it starts with the right path (the path where the selected file resides). Look here fo find out how to do that. You can even combine it with the script to gain elevated rights, with only a little extra effort.

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MSDN References:

• Usage of diff window
  
• Visual Studio's Diff parameter

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^*) Footnote: Because vsPath (the path to DEVENV.exe) differs depending on your version of Visual Studio, I am describing how you can find it out (Windows 10):

1. In the Windows start menu , locate the Visual Studio icon
2. Right-click to bring up the context menu. Select More > Open File Location.
   Windows Explorer opens with the Visual Studio shortcut highlighted.
3. Right-Click on the Visual Studio and select Properties
4. In the properties dialog, you can find the path in "Target:"

Answer 3

You can try VSCommands extension from Visual Studio Gallery. Latest release allows you to select two file and compare them:

Answer 4

(Command Window) (CTRL+ALT+A) Tools.DiffFiles File1 File2

Answer 5

I have always been a fan of WinMerge which is an open source project. You can plug it into Visual Studio fairly easily.

http://blog.paulbouwer.com/2010/01/31/replace-diffmerge-tool-in-visual-studio-team-system-with-winmerge/

will show you how to do this

Answer 6

There is also a Visual Studio extension called CompareFiles, which does nothing else but adding the "Compare Files" entry to the solution explorer context menu. It invokes the built-in Visual Studio diff tool.

Just in case that someone (like me) doesn't want to install an all-in-one extension like VSCommands...

Answer 7

In Visual Studio 2012, 2013, 2015, you can also do it with Web Essentials, just right click the files and from context menu > Web Essential >> Diff selected files:

Edit: It's now available as a separate extension

Answer 8

If you have VS installed, you could also call

"%VS110COMNTOOLS%..\IDE\vsdiffmerge.exe" "File1" "File2"

or for VS 2013

"%VS120COMNTOOLS%..\IDE\vsdiffmerge.exe" "File1" "File2"

Source: http://roadtoalm.com/2013/10/22/use-visual-studio-as-your-diff-and-merging-tool-for-local-files/

Answer 9

UPDATED: For VS 2019 File Differ Plugin Allow to compare files in distinct proyects

You can install it from here:

OLD: For VS 2017 Install https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=vs-publisher-457497.FileComparer2017

The problem is that you can't compare files in diferent proyects, but you can copy the files in the same project to compare...

Answer 10

VS Extension: File Differ by Mads Kristensen

Answer 11

In Visual Studio Code you can:

• Go to the Explorer
• Right click the first file you want to compare
• Select Select for compare
• Right click on the second file you want to compare
• Select Compare with '[NAME OF THE PREVIOUSLY SELECTED FILE]'

Answer 12

I had this problem as well. No TFS, but I found this article helpful.

Specifically, step 1b.

Open a Visual Studio command prompt and navigate to the Common7/IDE folder and type

tf diff /configure

Answer 13

In Visual Studio the Diff can be called using Command Window and then Tools.DiffFiles command

1. Open Command Window by hotkeys Ctrl + W, A or by menu View -> Other Windows -> Command Window
2. Enter command Tools.DiffFiles "FirstFile.cs" "SecondFile.cs"

Answer 14

File Comparer VS Extension by Akhil Mittal. Excellent lightweight tool that gets the job done.

Answer 15

To compare any two files and merge it to one file Here are the following steps you can follow if you have visual studio(Any version) installed.

Step 1: Open Visual studio command prompt. If you do not find visual studio command prompt then choose visual studio tools

Start -> Visual studio command prompt

Step 2: Enter the command vsdiffmerge.exe

Ignore the switch /m if you need just comparison.

Syntax 1:
vsdiffmerge <file1> <file2> <file1> <outputfile> /t /m

Syntax 2:
vsdiffmerge <basefilename> <CompareFilename> <basefilename> <OutputFilename> /t /m

Example 1:
vsdiffmerge test1.js test2.js test1.js output.js /t /m
Example 2:
vsdiffmerge.exe "C:\Users\livingston\Downloads\wa\wa\Files\pre\Test.js" "C:\Users\livingston\Downloads\wa\wa\Files\Prod\Test.js" "C:\Users\livingston\Downloads\wa\wa\Files\pre\Test.js" "C:\Users\livingston\Downloads\wa\wa\Files\output\samp.js" /t /m

Step 3: Merge the files

Please note that if file name does not exists in the location, it will not open the comparer.

Also you can beautify the file before you do the comparison. In visual studio Ctrl + K + D.

There are lot of beautifier sites available online.

Answer 16

Visual Studio code is great for this - open a folder, right click both files and compare.

Answer 17

Basically you can't.

Version 1.52.1 none of the above worked.

Answer 18

I believe this to be one of the better extension for Visual Studio 2012, it's called Code Compare and can be found here.

Answer 19

If you are working with TFS connected then right click on file which you need to compare (through source control explorer) and it presents you a window like this -

Now change path of source file in 'Souce Path:' and you get comparision through VS comparision tool.

Similarly you can compare folder also which compares all files of a folder at once.