php-doc-en/reference/xdiff/functions/xdiff-string-diff.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!-- $Revision$ -->
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<refentry xml:id="function.xdiff-string-diff" xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook">
 <refnamediv>
  <refname>xdiff_string_diff</refname>
  <refpurpose>Make unified diff of two strings</refpurpose>
 </refnamediv>
 
 <refsect1 role="description">
  &reftitle.description;
  <methodsynopsis>
   <type>string</type><methodname>xdiff_string_diff</methodname>
   <methodparam><type>string</type><parameter>old_data</parameter></methodparam>
   <methodparam><type>string</type><parameter>new_data</parameter></methodparam>
   <methodparam choice="opt"><type>int</type><parameter>context</parameter><initializer>3</initializer></methodparam>
   <methodparam choice="opt"><type>bool</type><parameter>minimal</parameter><initializer>&false;</initializer></methodparam>
  </methodsynopsis>
  <para>
   Makes an unified diff containing differences between <parameter>old_data</parameter> string and
   <parameter>new_data</parameter> string and returns it. The resulting diff is human-readable. 
   An optional <parameter>context</parameter> parameter specifies how many lines of context should be
   added around each change. Setting <parameter>minimal</parameter> parameter 
   to true will result in outputting the shortest patch file possible (can take a long time). 
  </para>
 </refsect1>

 <refsect1 role="parameters">
  &reftitle.parameters;
  <para>
   <variablelist>
    <varlistentry>
     <term><parameter>old_data</parameter></term>
     <listitem>
      <para>
       First string with data. It acts as "old" data.
      </para>
     </listitem>
    </varlistentry>
    <varlistentry>
     <term><parameter>new_data</parameter></term>
     <listitem>
      <para>
       Second string with data. It acts as "new" data.
      </para>
     </listitem>
    </varlistentry>
    <varlistentry>
     <term><parameter>context</parameter></term>
     <listitem>
      <para>
       Indicates how many lines of context you want to include in the diff
       result.
      </para>
     </listitem>
    </varlistentry>
    <varlistentry>
     <term><parameter>minimal</parameter></term>
     <listitem>
      <para>
       Set this parameter to &true; if you want to minimalize the size of the
       result (can take a long time).
      </para>
     </listitem>
    </varlistentry>
   </variablelist>
  </para>
 </refsect1>

 <refsect1 role="returnvalues">
  &reftitle.returnvalues;
  <para>
   Returns string with resulting diff or &false; if an internal error happened.
  </para>
 </refsect1>

 <refsect1 role="examples">
  &reftitle.examples;
  <para>
   <example>
    <title><function>xdiff_string_diff</function> example</title>
    <para>
     The following code makes unified diff of two articles.
    </para>
    <programlisting role="php">
<![CDATA[
<?php
$old_article = file_get_contents('./old_article.txt');
$new_article = $_REQUEST['article']; /* Let's say that someone pasted a new article to html form */

$diff = xdiff_string_diff($old_article, $new_article, 1);
if (is_string($diff)) {
    echo "Differences between two articles:\n";
    echo $diff;
}

?>
]]>
    </programlisting>
   </example>
  </para>
 </refsect1>

 <refsect1 role="notes">
  &reftitle.notes;
  <note>
   <para>
    This function doesn't work well with binary strings. To make diff of binary
    strings use <function>xdiff_string_bdiff</function>/<function>xdiff_string_rabdiff</function>.
   </para>
  </note>
 </refsect1>

 <refsect1 role="seealso">
  &reftitle.seealso;
  <para>
   <simplelist>
    <member><function>xdiff_string_patch</function></member>
   </simplelist>
  </para>
 </refsect1>
</refentry>

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