Code Compare
Code Compare is a free compare tool designed to compare and merge differing files and folders. Code Compare integrates with all popular source control systems: TFS, SVN, Git, Mercurial, and Perforce.
- Text Comparison and Merging
- Semantic Source Code Comparison
- Structure comparison mode
- Lexical comparison from major programming languages – C#, C++, Visual Basic, JavaScript, Java, XML
- Syntax highlighting for programming languages
- Displaying changes in code structure in Difference Explorer
- Code outlining for collapsing and expanding regions of code
- Folder Сomparison
- The design is lightweight and loads quickly
- Pro version allows for 3-way viewing
- Supports Visual Studio 2010-2015, 2017
- Command line interface
- Recognizes code structure when comparing files
- Search feature only retrieves content inside files, not file names
- Sometimes it may be difficult to line up code blocks on the screen to compare
- Does not allow user to copy code from one block and paste it into the comparison block
- Product is currently in maintenance mode
Code Compare is a very helpful tool for developers who need to compare code files and identify missing, inserted, and modified blocks of code. It also is a powerful tool for merging files. The Free version offers a 2-way view, whereas the Pro version offers a 3-way merge tool with version control resolution and many more features. Although Code Compare’s interface is designed to be simple and lightweight, the engine offers rich functionality. Developers can easily perform text comparison and merging. Source code and other modified text is color-coded. Files are merged with a point-and-click of a mouse. Its native extension for Visual Studio allows for seamless integration and simultaneous development. Code Compare also comes in a standalone version that allows work without annoying pre-installations or other environments, and it supports many languages. Some of the more advanced features include folder hierarchy comparisons, batch file copying between panes and folders, advanced filtering options, and conflict resolution with the click of a mouse. Development teams benefit from its code review support capabilities, including adding and viewing comments, highlighting of code regions with comments, and use of the Review Assistant tool. Overall, this tool isn’t designed to be flashy, but efficient. Developers are able to quickly make detailed comparisons and changes to text, code, folders, and more on the fly.