GNU Info

Info Node: (ediff)Major Entry Points

(ediff)Major Entry Points


Next: Session Commands Prev: Introduction Up: Top
Enter node , (file) or (file)node

Major Entry Points
******************

   When Ediff starts up, it displays a small control window, which
accepts the Ediff commands and two or three windows displaying the
files to be compared or merged. The control window can be in its own
small frame or it can be part of a bigger frame that displays other
buffers. In any case, it is important that the control window be active
(i.e., be the one receiving the keystrokes) when you use Ediff. You can
switch to other Emacs buffers at will and even edit the files currently
being compared with Ediff and then switch back to Ediff at any time by
activating the appropriate Emacs windows.

   Ediff can be invoked interactively using the following functions,
which can be run either from the minibuffer or from the menu bar.  In
the menu bar, all Ediff's entry points belong to three submenus of the
Tools menu: Compare, Merge, and Apply Patch.

`ediff-files'
`ediff'
     Compare two files.

`ediff-buffers'
     Compare two buffers.

`ediff-files3'
`ediff3'
     Compare three files.

`ediff-buffers3'
     Compare three buffers.

`edirs'
`ediff-directories'
     Compare files common to two directories.

`edirs3'
`ediff-directories3'
     Compare files common to three directories.

`edir-revisions'
`ediff-directory-revisions'
     Compare versions of files in a given directory.  Ediff selects
     only the files that are under version control.

`edir-merge-revisions'
`ediff-merge-directory-revisions'
     Merge versions of files in a given directory.  Ediff selects only
     the files that are under version control.

`edir-merge-revisions-with-ancestor'
`ediff-merge-directory-revisions-with-ancestor'
     Merge versions of files in a given directory using other versions
     as ancestors.  Ediff selects only the files that are under version
     control.

`ediff-windows-wordwise'
     Compare windows word-by-word.

`ediff-windows-linewise'
     Compare windows line-by-line.

`ediff-regions-wordwise'
     Compare regions word-by-word.

`ediff-regions-linewise'
     Compare regions line-by-line.

`ediff-revision'
     Compare versions of the current buffer, if the buffer is visiting
     a file under version control.

`ediff-patch-file'
`epatch'
     Patch a file or multiple files, then compare.  If the patch
     applies to just one file, Ediff will invoke a regular comparison
     session.  If it is a multi-file patch, then a session group
     interface will be used and the user will be able to patch the
     files selectively.  Note: Session Groups, for more details.

     Since the patch might be in a buffer or a file, you will be asked
     which is the case. To avoid this extra prompt, you can invoke this
     command with a prefix argument.  With an odd prefix argument,
     Ediff assumes the patch is in a file; with an even argument, a
     buffer is assumed.

     Note that `ediff-patch-file' will actually use the `patch' utility
     to change the original files on disk.  This is not that dangerous,
     since you will always have the original contents of the file saved
     in another file that has the extension `.orig'.  Furthermore, if
     the file is under version control, then you can always back out to
     one of the previous versions (see the section on Version Countrol
     in Emacs manual).

     `ediff-patch-file' is careful about versions control: if the file
     to be patched is checked in, then Ediff will offer to check it
     out, because failing to do so may result in the loss of the
     changes when the file is checked out the next time.

     If you don't intend to modify the file via the patch and just want
     to see what the patch is all about (and decide later), then
     `ediff-patch-buffer' might be a better choice.

`ediff-patch-buffer'
`epatch-buffer'
     Patch a buffer, then compare.  The buffer being patched and the
     file visited by that buffer (if any) is _not_ modified.  The
     result of the patch appears in some other buffer that has the name
     ending with __patched_.

     This function would refuse to apply a multifile patch to a buffer.
     Use `ediff-patch-file' for that (and when you want the original
     file to be modified by the `patch' utility).

     Since the patch might be in a buffer or a file, you will be asked
     which is the case. To avoid this extra prompt, you can invoke this
     command with a prefix argument.  With an odd prefix argument,
     Ediff assumes the patch is in a file; with an even argument, a
     buffer is assumed.

`ediff-merge-files'
`ediff-merge'
     Merge two files.

`ediff-merge-files-with-ancestor'
`ediff-merge-with-ancestor'
     Like `ediff-merge', but with a third ancestor file.

`ediff-merge-buffers'
     Merge two buffers.

`ediff-merge-buffers-with-ancestor'
     Same but with ancestor.

`edirs-merge'
`ediff-merge-directories'
     Merge files common to two directories.

`edirs-merge-with-ancestor'
`ediff-merge-directories-with-ancestor'
     Same but using files in a third directory as ancestors.   If a
     pair of files doesn't have an ancestor in the ancestor-directory,
     you  will still be able to merge them without the ancestor.

`ediff-merge-revisions'
     Merge two versions of the file visited by the current buffer.

`ediff-merge-revisions-with-ancestor'
     Same but with ancestor.

`ediff-documentation'
     Brings up this manual.

`ediff-show-registry'
`eregistry'
     Brings up Ediff session registry.  This feature enables you to
     quickly find and restart active Ediff sessions.

If you want Ediff to be loaded from the very beginning of your Emacs
session, you should put this line in your `~/.emacs' file:

     (require 'ediff)

Otherwise, Ediff will be loaded automatically when you use one of the
above functions, either directly or through the menus.

   When the above functions are invoked, the user is prompted for all
the necessary information--typically the files or buffers to compare,
merge, or patch.  Ediff tries to be smart about these prompts.  For
instance, in comparing/merging files, it will offer the visible buffers
as defaults.  In prompting for files, if the user enters a directory,
the previously input file name will be appended to that directory.  In
addition, if the variable `ediff-use-last-dir' is not `nil', Ediff will
offer previously entered directories as defaults (which will be
maintained separately for each type of file, A, B, or C).

   All the above functions use the POSIX `diff' or `diff3' programs to
find differences between two files.  They process the `diff' output and
display it in a convenient form.  At present, Ediff understands only
the plain output from diff.  Options such as `-c' are not supported,
nor is the format produced by incompatible file comparison programs
such as the VMS version of `diff'.

   The functions `ediff-files', `ediff-buffers', `ediff-files3',
`ediff-buffers3' first display the coarse, line-based difference
regions, as reported by the `diff' program.  The total number of
difference regions and the current difference number are always
displayed in the mode line of the control window.

   Since `diff' may report fairly large chunks of text as being
different, even though the difference may be localized to just a few
words or even to the white space or line breaks, Ediff further
_refines_ the regions to indicate which exact words differ.  If the
only difference is in the white space and line breaks, Ediff says so.

   On a color display, fine differences are highlighted with color; on a
monochrome display, they are underlined.  Note: Highlighting Difference
Regions, for information on how to customize this.

   The functions `ediff-windows-wordwise', `ediff-windows-linewise',
`ediff-regions-wordwise' and `ediff-regions-linewise' do comparison on
parts of existing Emacs buffers.  Since `ediff-windows-wordwise' and
`ediff-regions-wordwise' are intended for relatively small segments of
buffers, comparison is done on the basis of words rather than lines.
No refinement is necessary in this case.  These commands are recommended
only for relatively small regions (perhaps, up to 100 lines), because
these functions have a relatively slow startup.

   To compare large regions, use `ediff-regions-linewise'.  This
command displays differences much like `ediff-files' and
`ediff-buffers'.

   The functions `ediff-patch-file' and `ediff-patch-buffer' apply a
patch to a file or a buffer and then run Ediff on the appropriate
files/buffers, displaying the difference regions.

   The entry points `ediff-directories', `ediff-merge-directories',
etc., provide a convenient interface for comparing and merging files in
different directories.  The user is presented with Dired-like interface
from which one can run a group of related Ediff sessions.

   For files under version control, `ediff-revision' lets you compare
the file visited by the current buffer to one of its checked-in
versions.  You can also compare two checked-in versions of the visited
file.  Moreover, the functions `ediff-directory-revisions',
`ediff-merge-directory-revisions', etc., let you run a group of related
Ediff sessions by taking a directory and comparing (or merging)
versions of files in that directory.


automatically generated by info2www version 1.2.2.9