KDiff3

KDiff3 is a free tool developed by Joachim Eibl and distributed under the terms of the General Public License (GPL). This tool compares and merges two or three lines of text in a file or directory, shows the difference per line, per character across the total comparison length, and an automated merge facility.

Features:

• Has an integrated editor that provides a solution to merging conflicts
• Highlights changes to comments or spaces
• Provides auto detection network transparency via KIO on KDE
• Supports file encodings and UTF-8
• Supports Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7
• Summarily outputs the discovered differences in prints
• Supports the merging of version control or history and prints
• Supports version control keyword
• Supports line alignments
• Has an intuitive graphical UI
• Supports access to ftp, sftp, fish, smb etc.
• Has the KDE-Konqueror service menu plugin

KDiff3 software accomplishes its auto-detection operation using the BOM byte-order-mark, which with its merge tool and the integrated editor provides a timely solution to possibly arising conflicts occurring during the merge. Also, the tool's user interface is created in such a way that it is easy to use and the user can easily be able to understand prompts. More so, for occasions of manual alignment, this is also supported.

Pinpoints differences between compared files or directories and prints them.

During the comparison and/or merge of directories, the directories are trans-versed as an entire tree while still in operation. Following this, the noted result is shown in per line formats or per character and the user can print this out as a paper copy rather than saving it on the computer depending on the user's choice.

Thus, because of the three-way merge or comparison capability, KDiff3 has a cutting edge over similar utility tools in its handling of complexities and coupled with the support it has for multiple platforms, it becomes a winner and deemed worthy of a download.