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Beyond Compare

Navigation: Commands Reference

Text Compare Commands

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Following is a description of the Text Compare commands, in addition to the common commands.  Most of these commands are available as toolbar buttons.

Choose Tools | Options (Beyond Compare | Settings on macOS) and switch to the Toolbars, etc. page to define your own keyboard shortcuts, and hide or expose commands on the menus and toolbars.

The Session menu

Save Session

Saves the current session.

Save Session As

Saves the current session under a new name.

Session Settings

Opens the Text Compare Session Settings dialog.

Locked

Locks or unlocks the current session.


Clear Session

Replaces the current view with an empty Text Compare.

Swap Sides

Exchanges the left and right files.

Reload Files

Reloads the displayed files, prompting to save first if necessary.

Recompare Files

Recompares the displayed files, preserving edits, but not undo operations.

Text Compare Report

Produces the Text Compare report.

Text Compare Info

Displays comparison statistics.


Compare Files Using

Opens the displayed files in a new session using a different class of file view.

Merge Files

Opens a new Text Merge session based on the currently loaded files.


Compare Parent Folders

Opens a new Folder Compare session based on the parent folders of the currently loaded files.

The File menu

Open File

Opens an existing file into the selected pane.


Open File on File System *

Opens an existing local file into the selected pane.


Open File Using Profile *

Opens an existing file into the selected pane using a profile.


Open Clipboard

Loads the Clipboard contents into the selected pane.


Open With

Opens the selected pane's file in one of the external Open With applications.


Open With |

 Associated Application

Opens the selected pane's file with its associated application.

Open With |

 Text Edit

Opens the selected pane's file with the built-in text editor.

Open With |

 Text Patch

Opens the selected pane's file with the built-in patch view.

Save File

Saves the modified file from the selected pane.


Save File As

Saves the file from the selected pane with a new name.


Save File on File System As *

Saves the file from the selected pane with a new name on the file system.


Save File Using Profile As *

Saves the file from the selected pane with a new name using a profile.


Explorer

Displays the file manager's context menu for the file in the selected pane.


Check In

These commands appear if a source control provider has been configured and the file is under source control.


Check Out


Undo Check Out

The Edit menu

Undo

Undoes the previous action.

Redo

Redoes the previously undone action.


Align With

Allows you to select one or more lines and then click a line on the other side to force them to be side-by-side.


Isolate

Realigns comparison so that selected lines are by themselves.


Replacement

Adds item to the replacement list based on the current difference.

Copy to Right / Copy to Left *

Copies selected lines or current section to indicated side.


Copy to Other Side

Copies selected lines or current section to opposite side.  The caption and icon appear as Copy to Right or Copy to Left depending on the current side.

Copy Line to Right / Copy Line to Left *

Copies current line to indicated side.


Copy Line to Other Side

Copies current line to other side.  The caption and icon appear as Copy Line to Right or Copy Line to Left depending on the current side.


Increase Indent

Increases indentation of the selected lines.


Decrease Indent

Decreases indentation of the selected lines.


Cut / Copy / Paste / Delete

Standard editing commands.


Delete Line *

Deletes the current line.


Delete to Start of Line *

Deletes text from the current position to the beginning of the line.


Delete to End of Line *

Deletes text from the current position to the end of the line.


Delete Word *

Deletes the word at the current position.


Delete to Start of Word *

Deletes from the current position to the beginning of the word.


Delete to End of Word *

Deletes from the current position to the end of the word.


Insert Line Before *

Inserts a new blank line before the current line.


Insert Line After *

Inserts a new blank line after the current line.


Select All

Selects all visible lines in the current pane.


Select Section

Selects all lines in the current section.


Compare Selection to Clipboard

Compares the selected text with the contents of the clipboard in a new view.


Convert File |

 Trim Trailing Whitespace

Strips off spaces and tab characters at end of lines.


Convert File |

 Leading Spaces to Tabs

Replaces spaces at the beginning of lines with the appropriate number of tab characters (based on current tab stop setting).


Convert File |

 Tabs To Spaces

Replaces all tab characters with the appropriate number of space characters (based on current tab stop setting).


Convert File |

 Line Endings

Changes the line ending style on all lines.

Full Edit

Toggles between full character mode editing (selected) and Beyond Compare 2-like line mode (cleared) in the main file panes.

The Search menu


Next Difference

Goes to the next difference text.


Previous Difference

Goes to the previous difference text.

Next Difference Section

Goes to the next difference section.

Previous Difference Section

Goes to the previous difference section.

Next Difference Files

Opens the parent folder session's next pair of files with differences.  (Child sessions only.)

Previous Difference Files

Opens the parent folder session's previous pair of files with differences.  (Child sessions only.)

Copy File to Right and Open Next Difference

Copies the entire left-side file to the right and opens the folder session's next different files.  (Child sessions only.)

Copy File to Left and Open Next Difference

Copies the entire right-side file to the left and opens the folder session's next different files.  (Child sessions only.)


Next Replacement

Goes to the next replacement text.


Previous Replacement

Goes to the previous replacement text.


Next Edit

Positions at the next edited line beyond the cursor.


Previous Edit

Goes to the previous edited line before the cursor.

Find

Searches for matching text.

Replace

Replaces matching text.

Find Next

Finds next occurrence of search string.

Find Previous

Finds previous occurrence of search string.

Go To

Positions at specified line and column.


Toggle Bookmark

Places a numbered marker on the current line of the comparison, numbered from 0 to 9.


Go To Bookmark

Repositions at the specified bookmark.


Clear Bookmarks

Removes all bookmarks from the comparison.

The View menu

Show All

Shows all lines, with or without differences.

Show Differences

Shows only lines with differences.

Show Same

Shows only lines without differences.

Show None *

Hides all lines.

Show Context

Shows lines surrounding differences.  The number of context lines can be set in Text View Options.

Ignore Unimportant Differences

Treats unimportant differences as same.

Ignored

Suppresses differences in selected lines or current section.

Visible Whitespace

Shows or hides visible spaces and tabs.

Line Numbers

Shows or hides line numbers.

Syntax Highlighting

Shows or hides syntax highlighting.

Display Font *

Selects the font to use in editor panes.

Increase Display Font Size *

Increases editor font size.

Decrease Display Font Size *

Decreases editor font size.

Reset Display Font Size *

Resets editor font size.

Side-by-side Layout

Arranges editor panes left and right of each other.

Over-under Layout

Arranges editor panes above and below each other.

Webpages

Shows or hides web browser panels that display the current files as webpages.

Thumbnail

Shows or hides the thumbnail summary of changes at left of view.

Text Details

Shows or hides the text details panel at bottom of view.

Hex Details

Shows or hides the hexadecimal details panel at bottom of view.

Alignment Details

Shows or hides the alignment details panel at bottom of view.

Ruler

Shows or hides the line details ruler.

File Info

Shows or hides file information panels at the top of editor panes.


Toolbar

Shows or hides the toolbar.

* Hidden by default.