About
Discover distinctions between two lists or texts by comparing each line using this text tool. With this tool, you can identify both similarities and differences between the two. It's particularly useful when comparing the old and new versions of your text document.
Indicators
Indicators are color-coded as follows:
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■ Green (Inserted) - indicates that the line exists in Column B but not in Column A.
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■ Red (Deleted) - indicates that the line exists in Column A but not in Column B.
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■ Yellow (Different) - indicates that both lines exist in Column A and Column B, but the content is different.
Please note that the different indicator (yellow) is not available in the "Display Inline" comparison mode.
Attribution
Difference Checker uses difflib.js and diffview.js to compare lines and display changes.
Compare two text versions line by line. Review additions, deletions, and changed passages before replacing a document.
How to use
Put the original text in column A and the revision in column B, then compare. Read surrounding lines as context rather than checking only colored fragments.
Example
Changing one line from “Meeting at 10” to “Meeting at 11” highlights the revision between the two versions.
FAQ
Does a highlighted change prove a meaningful difference?
Not always. Spaces, capitalization, and line breaks can create changes too. Inspect the actual wording before deciding.
A practical task
For a meaningful revision review, place the earlier version consistently on the left and the later version on the right. An added sentence then has a clear direction. Reversing the columns changes the interpretation of additions and deletions.
Another useful question
Why do many lines change after pasting?
Different line wrapping or line endings can create broad differences. Compare equivalent plain text sources and check formatting differences separately from wording changes.
Details for interpreting the result
| Detail | Explanation |
|---|---|
| Line endings | A line break can use LF or CRLF. They look similar in an editor but contain different characters. Byte comparisons and checksums depend on the exact representation, including a final line break. |
| Whitespace characters | An ordinary space, a tab, a nonbreaking space, and a zero width space are different characters. They can look similar or invisible. Choose the exact kind of cleanup instead of treating all blank looking input as equivalent. |
| Case sensitivity | Case sensitive matching distinguishes capital and lowercase letters. Ignoring case merges some of those distinctions, but it does not turn different spellings or word forms into the same term. |
| Order and sorting | Reversing changes the existing order from end to start. Sorting calculates a new order from values. A reversed list is only sorted if its previous arrangement and the chosen ordering rule happen to make that true. |
