To ignore white space in file comparisons

About this task

You can specify that Diff Merge ignore any differences that occur in white space when it compares files. For example, white space might be a space character or a tab character.

Procedure

  1. Click Edit > Properties. The Properties window opens.
  2. Set or clear Ignore white space in comparison.
    • To ignore differences in white space, set the option.

      When comparing and merging files, extra white space characters in text lines are ignored: leading and trailing white space is ignored altogether; internal runs of white space characters are treated like a single space character.

      The Status bar displays Ignore white space while that property is set.

    • To consider differences found in white space, clear it.
    If Ignore white space in comparison is set, the text in the merge panel title shows White space changes taken from contributor #, where # is the number that identifies the contributor.
  3. On Windows systems, if you set Ignore white space in comparison and you are merging, the Take white space changes from field is active. Select a contributor from which white space changes are taken.

    The contributor is used to fill in the non-changed areas of the merge output file. If you do not specify a contributor, the base contributor is used.

  4. Set or clear Save as preference to change whether to save the Ignore white space in comparison setting as a preference or use the setting for this session only.