| :mod:`difflib` --- Helpers for computing deltas | |
| =============================================== | |
| .. module:: difflib | |
| :synopsis: Helpers for computing differences between objects. | |
| .. moduleauthor:: Tim Peters <tim_one@users.sourceforge.net> | |
| .. sectionauthor:: Tim Peters <tim_one@users.sourceforge.net> | |
| .. Markup by Fred L. Drake, Jr. <fdrake@acm.org> | |
| .. testsetup:: | |
| import sys | |
| from difflib import * | |
| .. versionadded:: 2.1 | |
| This module provides classes and functions for comparing sequences. It | |
| can be used for example, for comparing files, and can produce difference | |
| information in various formats, including HTML and context and unified | |
| diffs. For comparing directories and files, see also, the :mod:`filecmp` module. | |
| .. class:: SequenceMatcher | |
| This is a flexible class for comparing pairs of sequences of any type, so long | |
| as the sequence elements are :term:`hashable`. The basic algorithm predates, and is a | |
| little fancier than, an algorithm published in the late 1980's by Ratcliff and | |
| Obershelp under the hyperbolic name "gestalt pattern matching." The idea is to | |
| find the longest contiguous matching subsequence that contains no "junk" | |
| elements (the Ratcliff and Obershelp algorithm doesn't address junk). The same | |
| idea is then applied recursively to the pieces of the sequences to the left and | |
| to the right of the matching subsequence. This does not yield minimal edit | |
| sequences, but does tend to yield matches that "look right" to people. | |
| **Timing:** The basic Ratcliff-Obershelp algorithm is cubic time in the worst | |
| case and quadratic time in the expected case. :class:`SequenceMatcher` is | |
| quadratic time for the worst case and has expected-case behavior dependent in a | |
| complicated way on how many elements the sequences have in common; best case | |
| time is linear. | |
| **Automatic junk heuristic:** :class:`SequenceMatcher` supports a heuristic that | |
| automatically treats certain sequence items as junk. The heuristic counts how many | |
| times each individual item appears in the sequence. If an item's duplicates (after | |
| the first one) account for more than 1% of the sequence and the sequence is at least | |
| 200 items long, this item is marked as "popular" and is treated as junk for | |
| the purpose of sequence matching. This heuristic can be turned off by setting | |
| the ``autojunk`` argument to ``False`` when creating the :class:`SequenceMatcher`. | |
| .. versionadded:: 2.7.1 | |
| The *autojunk* parameter. | |
| .. class:: Differ | |
| This is a class for comparing sequences of lines of text, and producing | |
| human-readable differences or deltas. Differ uses :class:`SequenceMatcher` | |
| both to compare sequences of lines, and to compare sequences of characters | |
| within similar (near-matching) lines. | |
| Each line of a :class:`Differ` delta begins with a two-letter code: | |
| +----------+-------------------------------------------+ | |
| | Code | Meaning | | |
| +==========+===========================================+ | |
| | ``'- '`` | line unique to sequence 1 | | |
| +----------+-------------------------------------------+ | |
| | ``'+ '`` | line unique to sequence 2 | | |
| +----------+-------------------------------------------+ | |
| | ``' '`` | line common to both sequences | | |
| +----------+-------------------------------------------+ | |
| | ``'? '`` | line not present in either input sequence | | |
| +----------+-------------------------------------------+ | |
| Lines beginning with '``?``' attempt to guide the eye to intraline differences, | |
| and were not present in either input sequence. These lines can be confusing if | |
| the sequences contain tab characters. | |
| .. class:: HtmlDiff | |
| This class can be used to create an HTML table (or a complete HTML file | |
| containing the table) showing a side by side, line by line comparison of text | |
| with inter-line and intra-line change highlights. The table can be generated in | |
| either full or contextual difference mode. | |
| The constructor for this class is: | |
| .. function:: __init__(tabsize=8, wrapcolumn=None, linejunk=None, charjunk=IS_CHARACTER_JUNK) | |
| Initializes instance of :class:`HtmlDiff`. | |
| *tabsize* is an optional keyword argument to specify tab stop spacing and | |
| defaults to ``8``. | |
| *wrapcolumn* is an optional keyword to specify column number where lines are | |
| broken and wrapped, defaults to ``None`` where lines are not wrapped. | |
| *linejunk* and *charjunk* are optional keyword arguments passed into :func:`ndiff` | |
| (used by :class:`HtmlDiff` to generate the side by side HTML differences). See | |
| :func:`ndiff` documentation for argument default values and descriptions. | |
| The following methods are public: | |
| .. function:: make_file(fromlines, tolines [, fromdesc][, todesc][, context][, numlines]) | |
| Compares *fromlines* and *tolines* (lists of strings) and returns a string which | |
| is a complete HTML file containing a table showing line by line differences with | |
| inter-line and intra-line changes highlighted. | |
| *fromdesc* and *todesc* are optional keyword arguments to specify from/to file | |
| column header strings (both default to an empty string). | |
| *context* and *numlines* are both optional keyword arguments. Set *context* to | |
| ``True`` when contextual differences are to be shown, else the default is | |
| ``False`` to show the full files. *numlines* defaults to ``5``. When *context* | |
| is ``True`` *numlines* controls the number of context lines which surround the | |
| difference highlights. When *context* is ``False`` *numlines* controls the | |
| number of lines which are shown before a difference highlight when using the | |
| "next" hyperlinks (setting to zero would cause the "next" hyperlinks to place | |
| the next difference highlight at the top of the browser without any leading | |
| context). | |
| .. function:: make_table(fromlines, tolines [, fromdesc][, todesc][, context][, numlines]) | |
| Compares *fromlines* and *tolines* (lists of strings) and returns a string which | |
| is a complete HTML table showing line by line differences with inter-line and | |
| intra-line changes highlighted. | |
| The arguments for this method are the same as those for the :meth:`make_file` | |
| method. | |
| :file:`Tools/scripts/diff.py` is a command-line front-end to this class and | |
| contains a good example of its use. | |
| .. versionadded:: 2.4 | |
| .. function:: context_diff(a, b[, fromfile][, tofile][, fromfiledate][, tofiledate][, n][, lineterm]) | |
| Compare *a* and *b* (lists of strings); return a delta (a :term:`generator` | |
| generating the delta lines) in context diff format. | |
| Context diffs are a compact way of showing just the lines that have changed plus | |
| a few lines of context. The changes are shown in a before/after style. The | |
| number of context lines is set by *n* which defaults to three. | |
| By default, the diff control lines (those with ``***`` or ``---``) are created | |
| with a trailing newline. This is helpful so that inputs created from | |
| :func:`file.readlines` result in diffs that are suitable for use with | |
| :func:`file.writelines` since both the inputs and outputs have trailing | |
| newlines. | |
| For inputs that do not have trailing newlines, set the *lineterm* argument to | |
| ``""`` so that the output will be uniformly newline free. | |
| The context diff format normally has a header for filenames and modification | |
| times. Any or all of these may be specified using strings for *fromfile*, | |
| *tofile*, *fromfiledate*, and *tofiledate*. The modification times are normally | |
| expressed in the ISO 8601 format. If not specified, the | |
| strings default to blanks. | |
| >>> s1 = ['bacon\n', 'eggs\n', 'ham\n', 'guido\n'] | |
| >>> s2 = ['python\n', 'eggy\n', 'hamster\n', 'guido\n'] | |
| >>> for line in context_diff(s1, s2, fromfile='before.py', tofile='after.py'): | |
| ... sys.stdout.write(line) # doctest: +NORMALIZE_WHITESPACE | |
| *** before.py | |
| --- after.py | |
| *************** | |
| *** 1,4 **** | |
| ! bacon | |
| ! eggs | |
| ! ham | |
| guido | |
| --- 1,4 ---- | |
| ! python | |
| ! eggy | |
| ! hamster | |
| guido | |
| See :ref:`difflib-interface` for a more detailed example. | |
| .. versionadded:: 2.3 | |
| .. function:: get_close_matches(word, possibilities[, n][, cutoff]) | |
| Return a list of the best "good enough" matches. *word* is a sequence for which | |
| close matches are desired (typically a string), and *possibilities* is a list of | |
| sequences against which to match *word* (typically a list of strings). | |
| Optional argument *n* (default ``3``) is the maximum number of close matches to | |
| return; *n* must be greater than ``0``. | |
| Optional argument *cutoff* (default ``0.6``) is a float in the range [0, 1]. | |
| Possibilities that don't score at least that similar to *word* are ignored. | |
| The best (no more than *n*) matches among the possibilities are returned in a | |
| list, sorted by similarity score, most similar first. | |
| >>> get_close_matches('appel', ['ape', 'apple', 'peach', 'puppy']) | |
| ['apple', 'ape'] | |
| >>> import keyword | |
| >>> get_close_matches('wheel', keyword.kwlist) | |
| ['while'] | |
| >>> get_close_matches('apple', keyword.kwlist) | |
| [] | |
| >>> get_close_matches('accept', keyword.kwlist) | |
| ['except'] | |
| .. function:: ndiff(a, b[, linejunk][, charjunk]) | |
| Compare *a* and *b* (lists of strings); return a :class:`Differ`\ -style | |
| delta (a :term:`generator` generating the delta lines). | |
| Optional keyword parameters *linejunk* and *charjunk* are for filter functions | |
| (or ``None``): | |
| *linejunk*: A function that accepts a single string argument, and returns true | |
| if the string is junk, or false if not. The default is (``None``), starting with | |
| Python 2.3. Before then, the default was the module-level function | |
| :func:`IS_LINE_JUNK`, which filters out lines without visible characters, except | |
| for at most one pound character (``'#'``). As of Python 2.3, the underlying | |
| :class:`SequenceMatcher` class does a dynamic analysis of which lines are so | |
| frequent as to constitute noise, and this usually works better than the pre-2.3 | |
| default. | |
| *charjunk*: A function that accepts a character (a string of length 1), and | |
| returns if the character is junk, or false if not. The default is module-level | |
| function :func:`IS_CHARACTER_JUNK`, which filters out whitespace characters (a | |
| blank or tab; note: bad idea to include newline in this!). | |
| :file:`Tools/scripts/ndiff.py` is a command-line front-end to this function. | |
| >>> diff = ndiff('one\ntwo\nthree\n'.splitlines(1), | |
| ... 'ore\ntree\nemu\n'.splitlines(1)) | |
| >>> print ''.join(diff), | |
| - one | |
| ? ^ | |
| + ore | |
| ? ^ | |
| - two | |
| - three | |
| ? - | |
| + tree | |
| + emu | |
| .. function:: restore(sequence, which) | |
| Return one of the two sequences that generated a delta. | |
| Given a *sequence* produced by :meth:`Differ.compare` or :func:`ndiff`, extract | |
| lines originating from file 1 or 2 (parameter *which*), stripping off line | |
| prefixes. | |
| Example: | |
| >>> diff = ndiff('one\ntwo\nthree\n'.splitlines(1), | |
| ... 'ore\ntree\nemu\n'.splitlines(1)) | |
| >>> diff = list(diff) # materialize the generated delta into a list | |
| >>> print ''.join(restore(diff, 1)), | |
| one | |
| two | |
| three | |
| >>> print ''.join(restore(diff, 2)), | |
| ore | |
| tree | |
| emu | |
| .. function:: unified_diff(a, b[, fromfile][, tofile][, fromfiledate][, tofiledate][, n][, lineterm]) | |
| Compare *a* and *b* (lists of strings); return a delta (a :term:`generator` | |
| generating the delta lines) in unified diff format. | |
| Unified diffs are a compact way of showing just the lines that have changed plus | |
| a few lines of context. The changes are shown in an inline style (instead of | |
| separate before/after blocks). The number of context lines is set by *n* which | |
| defaults to three. | |
| By default, the diff control lines (those with ``---``, ``+++``, or ``@@``) are | |
| created with a trailing newline. This is helpful so that inputs created from | |
| :func:`file.readlines` result in diffs that are suitable for use with | |
| :func:`file.writelines` since both the inputs and outputs have trailing | |
| newlines. | |
| For inputs that do not have trailing newlines, set the *lineterm* argument to | |
| ``""`` so that the output will be uniformly newline free. | |
| The context diff format normally has a header for filenames and modification | |
| times. Any or all of these may be specified using strings for *fromfile*, | |
| *tofile*, *fromfiledate*, and *tofiledate*. The modification times are normally | |
| expressed in the ISO 8601 format. If not specified, the | |
| strings default to blanks. | |
| >>> s1 = ['bacon\n', 'eggs\n', 'ham\n', 'guido\n'] | |
| >>> s2 = ['python\n', 'eggy\n', 'hamster\n', 'guido\n'] | |
| >>> for line in unified_diff(s1, s2, fromfile='before.py', tofile='after.py'): | |
| ... sys.stdout.write(line) # doctest: +NORMALIZE_WHITESPACE | |
| --- before.py | |
| +++ after.py | |
| @@ -1,4 +1,4 @@ | |
| -bacon | |
| -eggs | |
| -ham | |
| +python | |
| +eggy | |
| +hamster | |
| guido | |
| See :ref:`difflib-interface` for a more detailed example. | |
| .. versionadded:: 2.3 | |
| .. function:: IS_LINE_JUNK(line) | |
| Return true for ignorable lines. The line *line* is ignorable if *line* is | |
| blank or contains a single ``'#'``, otherwise it is not ignorable. Used as a | |
| default for parameter *linejunk* in :func:`ndiff` before Python 2.3. | |
| .. function:: IS_CHARACTER_JUNK(ch) | |
| Return true for ignorable characters. The character *ch* is ignorable if *ch* | |
| is a space or tab, otherwise it is not ignorable. Used as a default for | |
| parameter *charjunk* in :func:`ndiff`. | |
| .. seealso:: | |
| `Pattern Matching: The Gestalt Approach <http://www.drdobbs.com/database/pattern-matching-the-gestalt-approach/184407970>`_ | |
| Discussion of a similar algorithm by John W. Ratcliff and D. E. Metzener. This | |
| was published in `Dr. Dobb's Journal <http://www.drdobbs.com/>`_ in July, 1988. | |
| .. _sequence-matcher: | |
| SequenceMatcher Objects | |
| ----------------------- | |
| The :class:`SequenceMatcher` class has this constructor: | |
| .. class:: SequenceMatcher(isjunk=None, a='', b='', autojunk=True) | |
| Optional argument *isjunk* must be ``None`` (the default) or a one-argument | |
| function that takes a sequence element and returns true if and only if the | |
| element is "junk" and should be ignored. Passing ``None`` for *isjunk* is | |
| equivalent to passing ``lambda x: 0``; in other words, no elements are ignored. | |
| For example, pass:: | |
| lambda x: x in " \t" | |
| if you're comparing lines as sequences of characters, and don't want to synch up | |
| on blanks or hard tabs. | |
| The optional arguments *a* and *b* are sequences to be compared; both default to | |
| empty strings. The elements of both sequences must be :term:`hashable`. | |
| The optional argument *autojunk* can be used to disable the automatic junk | |
| heuristic. | |
| .. versionadded:: 2.7.1 | |
| The *autojunk* parameter. | |
| :class:`SequenceMatcher` objects have the following methods: | |
| .. method:: set_seqs(a, b) | |
| Set the two sequences to be compared. | |
| :class:`SequenceMatcher` computes and caches detailed information about the | |
| second sequence, so if you want to compare one sequence against many | |
| sequences, use :meth:`set_seq2` to set the commonly used sequence once and | |
| call :meth:`set_seq1` repeatedly, once for each of the other sequences. | |
| .. method:: set_seq1(a) | |
| Set the first sequence to be compared. The second sequence to be compared | |
| is not changed. | |
| .. method:: set_seq2(b) | |
| Set the second sequence to be compared. The first sequence to be compared | |
| is not changed. | |
| .. method:: find_longest_match(alo, ahi, blo, bhi) | |
| Find longest matching block in ``a[alo:ahi]`` and ``b[blo:bhi]``. | |
| If *isjunk* was omitted or ``None``, :meth:`find_longest_match` returns | |
| ``(i, j, k)`` such that ``a[i:i+k]`` is equal to ``b[j:j+k]``, where ``alo | |
| <= i <= i+k <= ahi`` and ``blo <= j <= j+k <= bhi``. For all ``(i', j', | |
| k')`` meeting those conditions, the additional conditions ``k >= k'``, ``i | |
| <= i'``, and if ``i == i'``, ``j <= j'`` are also met. In other words, of | |
| all maximal matching blocks, return one that starts earliest in *a*, and | |
| of all those maximal matching blocks that start earliest in *a*, return | |
| the one that starts earliest in *b*. | |
| >>> s = SequenceMatcher(None, " abcd", "abcd abcd") | |
| >>> s.find_longest_match(0, 5, 0, 9) | |
| Match(a=0, b=4, size=5) | |
| If *isjunk* was provided, first the longest matching block is determined | |
| as above, but with the additional restriction that no junk element appears | |
| in the block. Then that block is extended as far as possible by matching | |
| (only) junk elements on both sides. So the resulting block never matches | |
| on junk except as identical junk happens to be adjacent to an interesting | |
| match. | |
| Here's the same example as before, but considering blanks to be junk. That | |
| prevents ``' abcd'`` from matching the ``' abcd'`` at the tail end of the | |
| second sequence directly. Instead only the ``'abcd'`` can match, and | |
| matches the leftmost ``'abcd'`` in the second sequence: | |
| >>> s = SequenceMatcher(lambda x: x==" ", " abcd", "abcd abcd") | |
| >>> s.find_longest_match(0, 5, 0, 9) | |
| Match(a=1, b=0, size=4) | |
| If no blocks match, this returns ``(alo, blo, 0)``. | |
| .. versionchanged:: 2.6 | |
| This method returns a :term:`named tuple` ``Match(a, b, size)``. | |
| .. method:: get_matching_blocks() | |
| Return list of triples describing matching subsequences. Each triple is of | |
| the form ``(i, j, n)``, and means that ``a[i:i+n] == b[j:j+n]``. The | |
| triples are monotonically increasing in *i* and *j*. | |
| The last triple is a dummy, and has the value ``(len(a), len(b), 0)``. It | |
| is the only triple with ``n == 0``. If ``(i, j, n)`` and ``(i', j', n')`` | |
| are adjacent triples in the list, and the second is not the last triple in | |
| the list, then ``i+n != i'`` or ``j+n != j'``; in other words, adjacent | |
| triples always describe non-adjacent equal blocks. | |
| .. XXX Explain why a dummy is used! | |
| .. versionchanged:: 2.5 | |
| The guarantee that adjacent triples always describe non-adjacent blocks | |
| was implemented. | |
| .. doctest:: | |
| >>> s = SequenceMatcher(None, "abxcd", "abcd") | |
| >>> s.get_matching_blocks() | |
| [Match(a=0, b=0, size=2), Match(a=3, b=2, size=2), Match(a=5, b=4, size=0)] | |
| .. method:: get_opcodes() | |
| Return list of 5-tuples describing how to turn *a* into *b*. Each tuple is | |
| of the form ``(tag, i1, i2, j1, j2)``. The first tuple has ``i1 == j1 == | |
| 0``, and remaining tuples have *i1* equal to the *i2* from the preceding | |
| tuple, and, likewise, *j1* equal to the previous *j2*. | |
| The *tag* values are strings, with these meanings: | |
| +---------------+---------------------------------------------+ | |
| | Value | Meaning | | |
| +===============+=============================================+ | |
| | ``'replace'`` | ``a[i1:i2]`` should be replaced by | | |
| | | ``b[j1:j2]``. | | |
| +---------------+---------------------------------------------+ | |
| | ``'delete'`` | ``a[i1:i2]`` should be deleted. Note that | | |
| | | ``j1 == j2`` in this case. | | |
| +---------------+---------------------------------------------+ | |
| | ``'insert'`` | ``b[j1:j2]`` should be inserted at | | |
| | | ``a[i1:i1]``. Note that ``i1 == i2`` in | | |
| | | this case. | | |
| +---------------+---------------------------------------------+ | |
| | ``'equal'`` | ``a[i1:i2] == b[j1:j2]`` (the sub-sequences | | |
| | | are equal). | | |
| +---------------+---------------------------------------------+ | |
| For example: | |
| >>> a = "qabxcd" | |
| >>> b = "abycdf" | |
| >>> s = SequenceMatcher(None, a, b) | |
| >>> for tag, i1, i2, j1, j2 in s.get_opcodes(): | |
| ... print ("%7s a[%d:%d] (%s) b[%d:%d] (%s)" % | |
| ... (tag, i1, i2, a[i1:i2], j1, j2, b[j1:j2])) | |
| delete a[0:1] (q) b[0:0] () | |
| equal a[1:3] (ab) b[0:2] (ab) | |
| replace a[3:4] (x) b[2:3] (y) | |
| equal a[4:6] (cd) b[3:5] (cd) | |
| insert a[6:6] () b[5:6] (f) | |
| .. method:: get_grouped_opcodes([n]) | |
| Return a :term:`generator` of groups with up to *n* lines of context. | |
| Starting with the groups returned by :meth:`get_opcodes`, this method | |
| splits out smaller change clusters and eliminates intervening ranges which | |
| have no changes. | |
| The groups are returned in the same format as :meth:`get_opcodes`. | |
| .. versionadded:: 2.3 | |
| .. method:: ratio() | |
| Return a measure of the sequences' similarity as a float in the range [0, | |
| 1]. | |
| Where T is the total number of elements in both sequences, and M is the | |
| number of matches, this is 2.0\*M / T. Note that this is ``1.0`` if the | |
| sequences are identical, and ``0.0`` if they have nothing in common. | |
| This is expensive to compute if :meth:`get_matching_blocks` or | |
| :meth:`get_opcodes` hasn't already been called, in which case you may want | |
| to try :meth:`quick_ratio` or :meth:`real_quick_ratio` first to get an | |
| upper bound. | |
| .. method:: quick_ratio() | |
| Return an upper bound on :meth:`ratio` relatively quickly. | |
| .. method:: real_quick_ratio() | |
| Return an upper bound on :meth:`ratio` very quickly. | |
| The three methods that return the ratio of matching to total characters can give | |
| different results due to differing levels of approximation, although | |
| :meth:`quick_ratio` and :meth:`real_quick_ratio` are always at least as large as | |
| :meth:`ratio`: | |
| >>> s = SequenceMatcher(None, "abcd", "bcde") | |
| >>> s.ratio() | |
| 0.75 | |
| >>> s.quick_ratio() | |
| 0.75 | |
| >>> s.real_quick_ratio() | |
| 1.0 | |
| .. _sequencematcher-examples: | |
| SequenceMatcher Examples | |
| ------------------------ | |
| This example compares two strings, considering blanks to be "junk:" | |
| >>> s = SequenceMatcher(lambda x: x == " ", | |
| ... "private Thread currentThread;", | |
| ... "private volatile Thread currentThread;") | |
| :meth:`ratio` returns a float in [0, 1], measuring the similarity of the | |
| sequences. As a rule of thumb, a :meth:`ratio` value over 0.6 means the | |
| sequences are close matches: | |
| >>> print round(s.ratio(), 3) | |
| 0.866 | |
| If you're only interested in where the sequences match, | |
| :meth:`get_matching_blocks` is handy: | |
| >>> for block in s.get_matching_blocks(): | |
| ... print "a[%d] and b[%d] match for %d elements" % block | |
| a[0] and b[0] match for 8 elements | |
| a[8] and b[17] match for 21 elements | |
| a[29] and b[38] match for 0 elements | |
| Note that the last tuple returned by :meth:`get_matching_blocks` is always a | |
| dummy, ``(len(a), len(b), 0)``, and this is the only case in which the last | |
| tuple element (number of elements matched) is ``0``. | |
| If you want to know how to change the first sequence into the second, use | |
| :meth:`get_opcodes`: | |
| >>> for opcode in s.get_opcodes(): | |
| ... print "%6s a[%d:%d] b[%d:%d]" % opcode | |
| equal a[0:8] b[0:8] | |
| insert a[8:8] b[8:17] | |
| equal a[8:29] b[17:38] | |
| .. seealso:: | |
| * The :func:`get_close_matches` function in this module which shows how | |
| simple code building on :class:`SequenceMatcher` can be used to do useful | |
| work. | |
| * `Simple version control recipe | |
| <https://code.activestate.com/recipes/576729/>`_ for a small application | |
| built with :class:`SequenceMatcher`. | |
| .. _differ-objects: | |
| Differ Objects | |
| -------------- | |
| Note that :class:`Differ`\ -generated deltas make no claim to be **minimal** | |
| diffs. To the contrary, minimal diffs are often counter-intuitive, because they | |
| synch up anywhere possible, sometimes accidental matches 100 pages apart. | |
| Restricting synch points to contiguous matches preserves some notion of | |
| locality, at the occasional cost of producing a longer diff. | |
| The :class:`Differ` class has this constructor: | |
| .. class:: Differ([linejunk[, charjunk]]) | |
| Optional keyword parameters *linejunk* and *charjunk* are for filter functions | |
| (or ``None``): | |
| *linejunk*: A function that accepts a single string argument, and returns true | |
| if the string is junk. The default is ``None``, meaning that no line is | |
| considered junk. | |
| *charjunk*: A function that accepts a single character argument (a string of | |
| length 1), and returns true if the character is junk. The default is ``None``, | |
| meaning that no character is considered junk. | |
| :class:`Differ` objects are used (deltas generated) via a single method: | |
| .. method:: Differ.compare(a, b) | |
| Compare two sequences of lines, and generate the delta (a sequence of lines). | |
| Each sequence must contain individual single-line strings ending with | |
| newlines. Such sequences can be obtained from the | |
| :meth:`~file.readlines` method of file-like objects. The delta | |
| generated also consists of newline-terminated strings, ready to be | |
| printed as-is via the :meth:`~file.writelines` method of a | |
| file-like object. | |
| .. _differ-examples: | |
| Differ Example | |
| -------------- | |
| This example compares two texts. First we set up the texts, sequences of | |
| individual single-line strings ending with newlines (such sequences can also be | |
| obtained from the :meth:`~file.readlines` method of file-like objects): | |
| >>> text1 = ''' 1. Beautiful is better than ugly. | |
| ... 2. Explicit is better than implicit. | |
| ... 3. Simple is better than complex. | |
| ... 4. Complex is better than complicated. | |
| ... '''.splitlines(1) | |
| >>> len(text1) | |
| 4 | |
| >>> text1[0][-1] | |
| '\n' | |
| >>> text2 = ''' 1. Beautiful is better than ugly. | |
| ... 3. Simple is better than complex. | |
| ... 4. Complicated is better than complex. | |
| ... 5. Flat is better than nested. | |
| ... '''.splitlines(1) | |
| Next we instantiate a Differ object: | |
| >>> d = Differ() | |
| Note that when instantiating a :class:`Differ` object we may pass functions to | |
| filter out line and character "junk." See the :meth:`Differ` constructor for | |
| details. | |
| Finally, we compare the two: | |
| >>> result = list(d.compare(text1, text2)) | |
| ``result`` is a list of strings, so let's pretty-print it: | |
| >>> from pprint import pprint | |
| >>> pprint(result) | |
| [' 1. Beautiful is better than ugly.\n', | |
| '- 2. Explicit is better than implicit.\n', | |
| '- 3. Simple is better than complex.\n', | |
| '+ 3. Simple is better than complex.\n', | |
| '? ++\n', | |
| '- 4. Complex is better than complicated.\n', | |
| '? ^ ---- ^\n', | |
| '+ 4. Complicated is better than complex.\n', | |
| '? ++++ ^ ^\n', | |
| '+ 5. Flat is better than nested.\n'] | |
| As a single multi-line string it looks like this: | |
| >>> import sys | |
| >>> sys.stdout.writelines(result) | |
| 1. Beautiful is better than ugly. | |
| - 2. Explicit is better than implicit. | |
| - 3. Simple is better than complex. | |
| + 3. Simple is better than complex. | |
| ? ++ | |
| - 4. Complex is better than complicated. | |
| ? ^ ---- ^ | |
| + 4. Complicated is better than complex. | |
| ? ++++ ^ ^ | |
| + 5. Flat is better than nested. | |
| .. _difflib-interface: | |
| A command-line interface to difflib | |
| ----------------------------------- | |
| This example shows how to use difflib to create a ``diff``-like utility. | |
| It is also contained in the Python source distribution, as | |
| :file:`Tools/scripts/diff.py`. | |
| .. testcode:: | |
| """ Command line interface to difflib.py providing diffs in four formats: | |
| * ndiff: lists every line and highlights interline changes. | |
| * context: highlights clusters of changes in a before/after format. | |
| * unified: highlights clusters of changes in an inline format. | |
| * html: generates side by side comparison with change highlights. | |
| """ | |
| import sys, os, time, difflib, optparse | |
| def main(): | |
| # Configure the option parser | |
| usage = "usage: %prog [options] fromfile tofile" | |
| parser = optparse.OptionParser(usage) | |
| parser.add_option("-c", action="store_true", default=False, | |
| help='Produce a context format diff (default)') | |
| parser.add_option("-u", action="store_true", default=False, | |
| help='Produce a unified format diff') | |
| hlp = 'Produce HTML side by side diff (can use -c and -l in conjunction)' | |
| parser.add_option("-m", action="store_true", default=False, help=hlp) | |
| parser.add_option("-n", action="store_true", default=False, | |
| help='Produce a ndiff format diff') | |
| parser.add_option("-l", "--lines", type="int", default=3, | |
| help='Set number of context lines (default 3)') | |
| (options, args) = parser.parse_args() | |
| if len(args) == 0: | |
| parser.print_help() | |
| sys.exit(1) | |
| if len(args) != 2: | |
| parser.error("need to specify both a fromfile and tofile") | |
| n = options.lines | |
| fromfile, tofile = args # as specified in the usage string | |
| # we're passing these as arguments to the diff function | |
| fromdate = time.ctime(os.stat(fromfile).st_mtime) | |
| todate = time.ctime(os.stat(tofile).st_mtime) | |
| fromlines = open(fromfile, 'U').readlines() | |
| tolines = open(tofile, 'U').readlines() | |
| if options.u: | |
| diff = difflib.unified_diff(fromlines, tolines, fromfile, tofile, | |
| fromdate, todate, n=n) | |
| elif options.n: | |
| diff = difflib.ndiff(fromlines, tolines) | |
| elif options.m: | |
| diff = difflib.HtmlDiff().make_file(fromlines, tolines, fromfile, | |
| tofile, context=options.c, | |
| numlines=n) | |
| else: | |
| diff = difflib.context_diff(fromlines, tolines, fromfile, tofile, | |
| fromdate, todate, n=n) | |
| # we're using writelines because diff is a generator | |
| sys.stdout.writelines(diff) | |
| if __name__ == '__main__': | |
| main() |