Diff

Text and data diffing: line, word, character, object, and array diffs with unified output

Package: @robinpath/diff | Category: Utility | Type: Utility

Authentication

No authentication required. All functions are available immediately.

Use Cases

Use the diff module when you need to:

• Diff two strings line by line -- Use diff.lines to perform this operation
• Diff two strings character by character -- Use diff.chars to perform this operation
• Diff two strings word by word -- Use diff.words to perform this operation
• Diff two objects -- Use diff.objects to perform this operation
• Diff two arrays -- Use diff.arrays to perform this operation

Quick Reference

Function	Description	Returns
lines	Diff two strings line by line	Array of {type, value}
chars	Diff two strings character by character	Array of {type, value}
words	Diff two strings word by word	Array of {type, value}
objects	Diff two objects	Array of {path, type, oldValue?, newValue?}
arrays	Diff two arrays	{added, removed, common}
patch	Apply a line diff to produce the new string	Patched string
unified	Generate unified diff format (like git diff)	Unified diff string
isEqual	Deep equality check	True if deeply equal
stats	Get diff statistics from a diff result	{additions, deletions, unchanged}

Functions

lines

Diff two strings line by line

Module: diff | Returns: array -- Array of {type, value}

diff.lines $old $new

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
a	string	Yes	Original text
b	string	Yes	Modified text

---

chars

Diff two strings character by character

Module: diff | Returns: array -- Array of {type, value}

diff.chars "cat" "car"

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
a	string	Yes	Original
b	string	Yes	Modified

---

words

Diff two strings word by word

Module: diff | Returns: array -- Array of {type, value}

diff.words $old $new

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
a	string	Yes	Original
b	string	Yes	Modified

---

objects

Diff two objects

Module: diff | Returns: array -- Array of {path, type, oldValue?, newValue?}

diff.objects $obj1 $obj2

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
a	object	Yes	Original object
b	object	Yes	Modified object

---

arrays

Diff two arrays

Module: diff | Returns: object -- {added, removed, common}

diff.arrays $arr1 $arr2

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
a	array	Yes	Original array
b	array	Yes	Modified array

---

patch

Apply a line diff to produce the new string

Module: diff | Returns: string -- Patched string

diff.patch $lineDiff

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
diff	array	Yes	Diff result from lines()

---

unified

Generate unified diff format (like git diff)

Module: diff | Returns: string -- Unified diff string

diff.unified $old $new

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
a	string	Yes	Original text
b	string	Yes	Modified text

---

isEqual

Deep equality check

Module: diff | Returns: boolean -- True if deeply equal

diff.isEqual $a $b

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
a	any	Yes	First value
b	any	Yes	Second value

---

stats

Get diff statistics from a diff result

Module: diff | Returns: object -- {additions, deletions, unchanged}

diff.stats $lineDiff

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
diff	array	Yes	Diff result

---

Error Handling

All functions throw on failure. Common errors:

Error	Cause
(standard errors)	Check function parameters and authentication

@desc "Lines and validate result"
do
  set $result as diff.lines $old $new
  if $result != null
    print "Success"
  else
    print "No result"
  end
enddo

Recipes

1. Multi-step Diff workflow

Chain multiple diff operations together.

@desc "Lines, chars, and more"
do
  set $r_lines as diff.lines $old $new
  set $r_chars as diff.chars "cat" "car"
  set $r_words as diff.words $old $new
  print "All operations complete"
enddo

2. Safe lines with validation

Check results before proceeding.

@desc "Lines and validate result"
do
  set $result as diff.lines $old $new
  if $result != null
    print "Success: " + $result
  else
    print "Operation returned no data"
  end
enddo

Related Modules

• json -- JSON module for complementary functionality