Contents

Comparing two files

The text comparison is the heart of it. Both files stand side by side, line for line — and whatever differs has a coloured background. Within a changed line, what has changed is marked character by character as well: you see not just that the line differs but where.

Screenshot 07: File comparison: both sides next to each other with differences highlighted in colour, header with the file names, filter bar and footer with the statistics — Fig. 07 — File comparison: both sides next to each other with differences highlighted in colour, header with the file names, filter bar and footer with the statistics

3.1 Reading the colours

Five colours, five meanings:

RemovedThe line exists only on the first side.

InsertedThe line exists only on the second side.

ChangedThe line exists on both sides but its content differs — the deviation is highlighted character by character within the text.

MovedSame content, different place. The margin note names the target line: “→ moved to line 128” or “← moved from line 42”.

Formatting onlyThe difference concerns only whitespace, line endings or capitalisation — depending on the filters switched on (chapter 5).

ℹ️ Why “moved” deserves a colour of its own

When a whole paragraph moves elsewhere, an ordinary comparison reports it as removed plus inserted — twice red and green for something that is unchanged in substance. MergeQaiPro detects such moves and colours them turquoise. That way you see at a glance what is genuinely new and what has merely been reordered.

3.2 Jumping from difference to difference

In long files, searching by hand would be tedious. Above the comparison there are therefore ◀ Previous and Next ▶; both are available as shortcuts too. The view scrolls to the next block and highlights it — both sides always scroll in step, so you can never “scroll apart”.

Ctrl + ↓next difference

Ctrl + ↑previous difference

If the files are identical, the bar reports “Files are identical”; if nothing remains after filtering, it says “No differences” and next to it how many places were classed as “formatting only”.

3.3 The footer

At the bottom you find the tally of the comparison — and on the right, where the caret currently is:

Item	Meaning
“12 removals”	lines present only on the left
“8 insertions”	lines present only on the right
“5 changes”	lines present on both sides but with different content
“3 moved”	lines that merely changed place
“7 formatting only”	places the filters consider equal
“Line 42 of 380 · column 17”	position of the caret

3.4 Making the invisible visible

Some differences are simply invisible: a tab instead of four spaces, a space at the end of a line, a line ending in Windows rather than Unix format. The Invisibles filter reveals them — space as ·, tab as → and the line ending as ¶ (CRLF), ↵ (LF) or ⏎ (CR). This shows exactly the places the whitespace and line-ending filters act upon.

Screenshot 08: The “Invisibles” filter switched on: spaces as ·, tabs as → and line endings as ¶ / ↵ — Fig. 08 — The “Invisibles” filter switched on: spaces as ·, tabs as → and line endings as ¶ / ↵

💡 Syntax highlighting by file extension

The Syntax switch colours keywords, strings and comments according to the file extension. It makes finding your way through source code considerably faster — the diff colours are unaffected and still sit on top.