vimdiff - Edit two or Three versions of a file with Vim and show differences

Vimdiff starts Vim on two (or three) files. Each file gets its own window. The differences between the files are highlighted. This is a nice way to inspect changes and to move changes from one version to another version of the same file.

First you need to make sure you have installed vim editor:

# apt-get install vim-full

This will complete the installation

Using vimdiff

vimdiff syntax:

vimdiff [options] file1 file2 [file3]

gvimdiff

You may also use gvimdiff or vim -g. The GUI is started then.You may also use viewdiff or gviewdiff. Vim starts in readonly mode then.*r* may be prepended for restricted mode

vimdiff examples

If you want to open files use the following command:

vimdiff file1 file2

or:

vim -d file1 file2

If you want to open vertical splits for your files use the following command:

vimdiff -O file1 file2

If you want to open horizontal splits for your files use the following command:

vimdiff -o file1 file2

If you want to open files in perticular directory use the following command.Vim first append the file name of the first argument to the directory name to find the file:

vimdiff file1 file2 [file3 [file4]]

or:

vim -d file1 file2 [file3 [file4]]

Keyboard Shortcuts:

do - Get changes from other window into the current window.
dp - Put the changes from current window into the other window.
]c - Jump to the next change.
[c - Jump to the previous change.
Ctrl W + Ctrl W - Switch to the other split window.
:diffupdate - diff update
:syntax off - syntax off
zo - open folded text
zc - close folded text

You can also use tkdiff, meld and xfdiff4 as an alternative