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Text Diff Checker
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Text Diff Checker: Find the Difference Between Two Texts

Your text never leaves this browser. Nothing is uploaded. How to check

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0 lines, 0 words, 0 characters
0 lines, 0 words, 0 characters

Paste or type text in both boxes to compare.

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  1. Paste the original text in the Original box.
  2. Paste the changed text in the Changed box.
  3. Read the differences here. They update as you type.

Or .

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What a text diff checker does

A text diff checker compares two texts and shows what changed. You paste an original and a changed version. The tool marks removed text, added text and edited lines. Use it for drafts, contracts, configuration files, logs, translations and any two versions of the same text.

How to compare two texts in three steps

  1. Paste the original text in the Original box and the changed text in the Changed box. You can also drop a text file on a box.
  2. Pick Lines, Words or Characters. The result updates as you type.
  3. Read the result. Press n for the next change and p for the previous one.

A worked example

Paste "The lease runs for 12 months." on the left and "The lease runs for 24 months, with an option to renew." on the right. Pick Words. The tool strikes out 12 and underlines 24. It also underlines the new clause after "months". The summary reads 2 changes, 6 words added and 1 removed, with a similarity of 59 percent. Click "Copy redline" and paste the result into an email. In our tests in Chrome the colors and marks came across. Check how your own app shows them before you send it.

Lines, words or characters?

ModeBest forWhat it marks
LinesCode, logs, configs, listsChanged lines, and the changed words inside them
WordsDrafts, essays, contractsAdded and removed words
CharactersNames, codes, one odd symbolSingle characters. An emoji stays whole.

If your lines are long, the tool suggests Words mode. A paragraph that someone re-wrapped shows up as a changed line in Lines mode. In Words mode, turn on "Ignore amount of whitespace" and the new line breaks no longer count.

Options that remove noise

Most differences you do not care about are small. The options hide them. The original text always stays on screen. The tool only skips these differences when it compares.

  • Ignore case: "Hello" and "hello" are equal.
  • Whitespace: ignore spaces at the start and end of lines, ignore the amount of whitespace, or ignore all of it.
  • Ignore blank lines: empty lines do not count.
  • Line endings: Windows (CRLF), Unix (LF) and old Mac (CR) endings are equal. This is on by default.
  • Clean characters: treat smart quotes as plain quotes, treat special spaces as spaces, and ignore zero-width characters.

Why two texts that look the same are different

Some characters look alike and still differ. Turn on "Show hidden characters" to see them. Then click a change of one to three characters. A small card shows each character with its code.

CulpritCodeWhat happens
Non-breaking spaceU+00A0Looks like a space. Often comes from Word or a web page.
Zero-width spaceU+200BTakes no room on screen. Breaks exact matches.
Smart quotesU+201C, U+201DCurly quotes replace straight quotes.
Long dashU+2013, U+2014Replaces a plain hyphen.
Accent stored in two partsU+0065 U+0301Looks like é but is e plus an accent mark.
Tab or CRLFU+0009, CR LFSpaces and tabs look alike. Windows adds a CR to each line.

Read the result: split, unified or inline

Split puts the two texts side by side, row by row. Unified shows one column, with a minus sign for removed lines and a plus sign for added lines. Inline shows one flowing text with deleted words struck through and added words underlined. Use "Copy redline" to paste the inline result into Word, Google Docs or an email. The colors come with it.

Large texts

The comparing runs in a background thread, so the page stays responsive while it works. In our tests a text of 100,000 lines (about 4 MB) with 1,000 changed lines compared in under a second. Text above 400,000 characters stays in memory, and the box then shows a read-only preview of the first lines. Paste or open a file to replace it. When two large texts are almost completely different, the tool switches to an approximate method. It then shows a note. Every change it shows is real, but the list may not be the shortest possible.

Privacy

The comparing happens in your browser. The tool does not send your text to a server. You can check this yourself. Open your browser's developer tools, go to the Network tab, paste two texts and watch. No request carries your text. The tool remembers your options and your theme choice on your device. It does not save your texts.

What this tool does not do

It compares text only. It does not open Word files, PDFs, spreadsheets or folders. Copy the text out and paste it here. It is not a plagiarism checker. The similarity number counts shared words and nothing else. To compare two JSON files by their data, use the JSON diff tool. You can find more on our free tools page.

Frequently asked questions

Is my text uploaded to a server?

No. The comparing runs in your browser, in a background thread. The page does not send your text anywhere. To check, open the Network tab in your browser tools, paste two texts and watch. No request carries your text. The tool saves only your options and your theme choice on your device.

How do I compare two texts and ignore whitespace?

Open Options, find Whitespace and pick one of three modes. "Ignore leading and trailing" skips spaces at the start and end of each line. "Ignore amount of whitespace" counts a run of spaces or tabs as one space. "Ignore all whitespace" skips every space and tab. The original text stays on screen.

What is the difference between line, word and character compare?

Lines mode marks whole changed lines and the changed words inside them. It suits code, logs and configs. Words mode marks added and removed words. It suits drafts and contracts. Characters mode marks single characters. It suits names, codes and short strings. An emoji or a letter with an accent counts as one character.

Why does the tool show a difference when both texts look the same?

The texts probably differ in a hidden way. Common causes are non-breaking spaces, zero-width characters, smart quotes, a tab instead of spaces, Windows line endings, or an accent stored as two characters. Turn on "Show hidden characters" and click the change. The options under Clean characters can ignore these on purpose.

Can I compare Word documents or PDFs?

Not here. This tool compares plain text. Copy the text out of the document and paste it into the boxes. The tool refuses Word, PDF and image files and tells you so. Open a plain text file with the Open file button or drop it on a box.

How do I copy the changes into Word or Google Docs?

Press Copy redline, then paste into your document. Deleted text is red and struck through, and added text is green and underlined. In our tests, Chrome kept them. Check your own app before you send it. If your browser cannot copy colors, the tool copies plain text with [-removed-] and {+added+} marks. Copy diff gives a unified diff for code review.

How big a text can I compare?

Files up to 50 MB can be opened, with a warning above 25 MB. In our tests, 100,000 lines with 1,000 changed lines compared in under a second. Text above 400,000 characters stays in memory and the box shows a read-only preview of the first lines. Paste or open a file to replace it. A progress bar and a Cancel button appear if a compare takes a while. Very large changes use an approximate method, and the tool says so.

Is this a plagiarism checker?

No. The similarity number is the share of words that appear in both texts, in the same order. It does not search other sources and it does not judge where a text came from. Use it to see how much a draft changed.

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