Text diff
Text toolsHow do these texts differ?
See additions and removals, line by line or word by word.
What you enter stays on your device while you use this tool. Opening a shared link sends the settings in its address to HowToolbox to prepare the page.
Not saved in the link or anywhere else.
Copy produces a unified diff with all literal changes, including ignored differences. Line endings become LF.
Up to 12,000 characters per text. Long comparisons may be simplified. Text stays in this tab and never enters a link.
Lines
1 added · 1 removed
All changes shown. Unchanged text is omitted below.
Changed text
− three
+ four
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See additions and removals, line by line or word by word.
How to use
- Paste the original and revised texts.
- Choose lines or words, then optionally ignore case or whitespace.
- Read the removed and added sections, or copy the unified diff.
How it works
A text comparison finds material removed from the original and added to the revision. Line mode counts changed lines; word mode compares groups separated by whitespace. Replacing “red” with “blue” counts as one removal and one addition.
Ignoring case treats “Hello” and “hello” as equal. Ignoring whitespace ignores leading and trailing spacing and repeated spacing within lines, or spacing around words. Line mode also treats different line-ending styles and a missing final line break as equal.
A unified diff is a plain-text patch: minus marks removals and plus marks additions, with a header identifying the old and new line ranges (Git diff-format documentation). Copying includes all literal changes regardless of the display options, with line endings normalized to LF.
Each text is limited to 12,000 characters. When many edits would take too long to match, the tool shows larger removed and added blocks and says “Diff simplified”. Counts may then be higher than the smallest possible edit. Text stays in this tab and is never saved in a link.
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Frequently asked questions
Does a simplified diff miss any changes?
No. It includes the changed material in larger blocks, but may count unchanged words or lines within those blocks as removed and added.
Why does the copied patch include more changes?
The patch always compares the literal texts so that it can reproduce the revision. Display options only affect the on-screen comparison. The patch includes all lines in one section and uses LF line endings.
Can I compare private text?
The comparison runs in your browser. Text is neither uploaded nor stored in a URL, and closing or reloading the tab clears your edits.
Can I ignore changes in capitalization?
Yes. Turn on the option to ignore letter case for the displayed comparison. The copied patch still includes literal changes.
Can I compare Word or PDF files directly?
No. Paste the text from each document. The comparison does not check fonts, images or page layout.
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