Code Comparison Options

Last modified: June 17, 2020

This topic provides information about native code comparison options.

General, Code Compare, Options Dialog Box

Use the Options window to adjust the main settings of Code Compare to your needs. To open it, choose Options from the Tools menu.

The General page of the Code Compare node contains the following options:

Show result choice dialog only when more than one file has been modified

This option means that the Result choice dialog will be shown only in case several files have been modified.

Activate application from command line

This option brings the application window to front after opening a comparison from the command line.

Prevent Code Compare closing

This option defines the rules of Code Compare closing.

Show dialog on closing

This option defines the rules of the Choose Closing Behavior Dialog Box display.

The Visual Studio add-in menu also contains the following settings:

Font size

Specifies the document font size. In the standalone version, font size can be changed in the text editor settings.

Colors, Code Compare, Options Dialog Box

Use the Options window to set up colors to highlight different text blocks. To open it, choose Options from the Tools menu.

The Colors page of the Code Compare node contains the following options:

You can select a color for any type of a different block using the colored Modified blocks, Inserted blocks and Missing blocks buttons.

Moved blocks shadowing

This option sets shadowing of moved blocks.

Alpha channel

This field sets up transparency of the coloring.

Please note that these options will be applied after Visual Studio restart.

File, Code Compare, Options Dialog Box

Use the Options window to configure your file comparison. To open it, choose Options from the Tools menu.

The File page of the Code Compare node contains the following options:

Ignore whitespaces

This option allows you to ignore differences in whitespaces.

Ignore comments

This option omits comments from comparison in compared files.

Ignore line breaks

This option allows you to ignore differences in line breaks.

Ignore case

This option allows you to ignore character case in words. Select this check box to enable this option or leave deselected to take symbol case into account.

Compare content

This drop down list allows you to select a comparison mode: Line by line, Symbol by symbol or Word by word. Please refer to the Code Compare Commands article for more information.

Similar Lines Detection

This option allows you to turn on the ability to detect similar lines in the document.

Enable structural code comparison

This option enables structure comparison.

Speed and Quality

This slider allows you to set balance between comparison quality and comparison speed.

Enable scroll synchronization

This option enables scroll synchronization.

Use Outlining

This option enables code outlining.

Smart Collapse after file opening/refresh

This option collapses code blocks containing no changes.

Folder Comparison Options

This topic provides information about Code Compare folder options.

Filters, Folder, Code Compare, Options Dialog Box

Use the Options window to configure folder filtering options. To open it, choose Options from the Tools menu.

The Filters page in the Folder node contains the following options:

Compare system/hidden files

This option enables comparison of system/hidden files.

Exclude files bigger than

This option allows skipping files that are bigger than the specified size.

Include file filter (separated by ‘;’)

This option allows you to include file types to comparison. For example, you can use the following filters: “.;.cs;.vb”.

Exclude file filter (separated by ‘;’)

This option allows you to exclude certain file types from comparison list. For example, you can use the following filters “.~;.exe”.

Exclude folder filter (separated by ‘;’)

This option allows you to exclude some folders from comparison list. For example, you can use the following filters “bin;obj;resources”.

Note

These options will be applied for all future comparisons. For the open comparisons, the options will be applied only after refresh.

Comparison, Folder, Code Compare, Options Dialog Box

Use the Options window to configure folder comparison options. To open it, choose Options from the Tools menu.

The Comparison page in the Folder node contains the following options:

Never compare files with equal size and timestamp

With this option enabled, files with the same size and timestamp will be treated as equal.

The following two options are presented as radio buttons. You can enable only one of them at a time:

Binary comparison

Files are compared byte-by-byte, ignoring encoding and line breaks.

Rules-based comparison

Select this option to be able choose rules, which will be used when comparing files. This is the default option.There are three rules, all of which are disabled by default:

Ignore case

Character case will be ignored during comparison.

Ignore whitespaces

Files will be compared with spaces ignored.

Ignore empty lines

Empty lines will not be taken into account during comparison.