The diff package is the industry standard for generating text differences in pure JavaScript. diff2html takes those differences and renders them into rich, interactive HTML. diff2html-cli provides a command-line interface for the renderer, useful for CI/CD pipelines. git-diff is often used for parsing existing git diff output or wrapping git commands, though it is less universally maintained than diff. Together, these tools cover the entire lifecycle of change detection and presentation.
Building code review tools, migration scripts, or visual regression tests requires reliable diffing and rendering. The JavaScript ecosystem offers several tools for this, but they serve distinct purposes. diff handles the logic of finding changes. diff2html handles the visual presentation. diff2html-cli brings that presentation to the terminal. git-diff often sits in a niche for parsing git-specific output. Let's break down how they work and when to use each.
diff is a pure JavaScript implementation. It does not require git to be installed. It works on strings, arrays, or objects.
// diff: Generate diff in pure JS
import { diffLines } from 'diff';
const oldText = 'line 1\nline 2';
const newText = 'line 1\nline 3';
const changes = diffLines(oldText, newText);
changes.forEach(part => {
console.log(part.added ? 'added' : part.removed ? 'removed' : 'unchanged', part.value);
});
git-diff packages often wrap the system git command or parse git output. This means they depend on the environment having git installed.
// git-diff: Often wraps system git or parses git output
import gitDiff from 'git-diff';
// Usage varies by specific package version, often requires file paths
// This example represents a typical wrapper pattern
const output = await gitDiff({
oldPath: './src/file.js',
newPath: './src/file-new.js'
});
console.log(output); // Returns git-formatted string
Trade-off: diff is portable and works in browsers. git-diff is tied to Node.js environments with git installed but respects .gitignore and binary handling better if wrapping the binary.
diff2html specializes in turning diff data (usually unified diff strings) into HTML. It handles syntax highlighting and line numbers.
// diff2html: Render diff string to HTML
import { Diff2HtmlUI } from 'diff2html';
const diffString = '--- a/file.js\n+++ b/file.js\n@@ -1 +1 @@\n-old\n+new';
const targetElement = document.getElementById('myDiff');
const configuration = { drawFileList: true, matching: 'lines' };
const diff2htmlUi = new Diff2HtmlUI(targetElement, diffString, configuration);
diff2htmlUi.draw();
diff does not render HTML. You would have to build the UI yourself from the change objects it returns.
// diff: No built-in HTML rendering
// You must map the 'changes' array to DOM elements manually
const html = changes.map(part =>
`<div class="${part.added ? 'add' : part.removed ? 'rem' : ''}">${part.value}</div>`
).join('');
git-diff typically returns a string. It does not render HTML either.
// git-diff: Returns raw string, no rendering
// You must pass the output to a renderer like diff2html
const rawDiff = await gitDiff({ oldPath, newPath });
// Pass rawDiff to diff2html for visualization
diff2html-cli allows you to generate HTML files from diffs directly in your terminal. This is useful for CI artifacts.
# diff2html-cli: Generate HTML from stdin or file
cat my-changes.diff | diff2html -i stdin -o file -o my-diff.html
# Or compare two files directly
diff2html -i file -f old.js new.js -o file -o report.html
diff is a library, not a CLI tool. You must write a script to use it.
// diff: No CLI, requires custom script
// node script.js
import { diffLines } from 'diff';
// ... logic to read files and print output
git-diff is also primarily a library, though some versions might expose binaries. It is not a standard reporting tool like diff2html-cli.
// git-diff: Library usage in scripts
// Not typically used as a standalone CLI reporter
diff2html includes a parser. It can take the output from diff or git-diff and render it.
// diff2html: Can parse unified diff strings
import { parse } from 'diff2html';
const diffInput = '--- a.txt\n+++ b.txt\n@@ -1 +1 @@\n-old\n+new';
const jsonOutput = parse(diffInput);
// Returns structured JSON of files and changes
diff outputs a structured array of change objects, not a unified diff string by default (though it can generate patches).
// diff: Create a unified patch string
import { createTwoFilesPatch } from 'diff';
const patch = createTwoFilesPatch('old.txt', 'new.txt', oldText, newText);
console.log(patch); // Unified diff format compatible with diff2html
git-diff outputs git-style unified diffs. This is compatible with diff2html.
// git-diff: Output is usually git-compatible unified diff
// Directly compatible with diff2html input
const gitOutput = await gitDiff({ oldPath, newPath });
// Pass gitOutput directly to diff2html
Use diff to generate the change set and diff2html to show it.
// Browser Integration
import { createTwoFilesPatch } from 'diff';
import { Diff2HtmlUI } from 'diff2html';
const patch = createTwoFilesPatch('a.js', 'b.js', oldCode, newCode);
new Diff2HtmlUI(document.getElementById('diff'), patch, {}).draw();
Use diff2html-cli to create an artifact from a git diff.
# CI Script
git diff HEAD~1 HEAD > changes.diff
diff2html -i file -f changes.diff -o file -o report.html
# Upload report.html as artifact
Use git-diff if you are reading existing git logs or patches.
// Legacy Parsing
import gitDiff from 'git-diff';
// Use only if you need specific git binary flags
const result = await gitDiff({ path: './repo', flags: ['--stat'] });
diff is highly stable and widely used by tools like Jest and Mocha. It is safe for production.
diff2html is actively maintained and regularly updated for security and features.
git-diff packages on npm vary widely in quality. Many are unmaintained or deprecated. Relying on them introduces risk compared to diff.
diff2html-cli tracks the diff2html library and is stable for CLI usage.
| Feature | diff | diff2html | diff2html-cli | git-diff |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Primary Role | Generate diffs | Render HTML | CLI Reporter | Parse/Wrap Git |
| Environment | Browser & Node | Browser & Node | CLI / Node | Node (Git required) |
| Output | JS Objects / Patch | HTML String / UI | HTML File | Git String |
| Dependencies | None | None | Node.js | Git Binary (often) |
| Maintenance | β High | β High | β High | β οΈ Variable |
For most frontend architectures, combine diff and diff2html.
Use diff to calculate changes in your application state or text content. It is dependency-free and works everywhere.
Use diff2html to present those changes to the user. It saves weeks of UI development time.
Use diff2html-cli for automation scripts where you need a quick HTML report without writing Node.js code.
Avoid git-diff unless you have a specific requirement to parse existing git patch files or wrap git commands. The diff package handles text comparison more reliably for general application logic, and diff2html can parse the git output if you really need it.
Choose diff2html when you need to display generated diffs to users in a web interface. It supports multiple output formats, syntax highlighting, and interactive features like collapsing unchanged lines, making it ideal for code review tools.
Choose git-diff only if you specifically need to parse existing git-formatted diff strings or wrap git commands in a legacy system. For new projects, prefer diff for generation and diff2html for parsing and rendering due to better maintenance.
Choose diff2html-cli when you need to generate HTML diff reports from the command line, such as in CI/CD pipelines or automated scripts where a browser environment is not available.
Choose diff when you need to generate differences between two strings or objects directly within your JavaScript code. It is the most robust and actively maintained option for in-browser or Node.js diffing logic without relying on external git binaries.
diff2html generates pretty HTML diffs from git diff or unified diff output.
Supports git and unified diffs
Line by line and Side by side diff
New and old line numbers
Inserted and removed lines
GitHub like visual style
Code syntax highlight
Line similarity matching
Easy code selection
Go to diff2html
highlight.js supported languageshighlight.js supported languageshighlight.js implementation. You can use it without
syntax highlight or by passing your own implementation with the languages you preferhighlight.js supported languageshighlight.js supported languageshighlight.js supported languageshighlight.js supported languageshighlight.js implementation. You can use it without
syntax highlight or by passing your own implementation with the languages you preferDiff2Html can be used in various ways as listed in the distributions section. The two main ways are:
Below you can find more details and examples about each option.
diff2html accepts the text contents of a unified diff or the superset format git diff (https://git-scm.com/docs/git-diff) (not combined or word diff). To provide multiples files as input just concatenate the diffs (just like the output of git diff).
Simple wrapper to ease simple tasks in the browser such as: code highlight and js effects
Create a Diff2HtmlUI instance
constructor(target: HTMLElement, diffInput?: string | DiffFile[]) // diff2html-ui, diff2html-ui-slim
constructor(target: HTMLElement, diffInput?: string | DiffFile[], config: Diff2HtmlUIConfig = {}, hljs?: HighlightJS) // diff2html-ui-base
Generate and inject in the document the Pretty HTML representation of the diff
draw(): void
Enable extra features
synchronisedScroll(): void
fileListToggle(startVisible: boolean): void
highlightCode(): void
stickyFileHeaders(): void
synchronisedScroll: scroll both panes in side-by-side mode: true or false, default is truehighlight: syntax highlight the code on the diff: true or false, default is truefileListToggle: allow the file summary list to be toggled: true or false, default is truefileListStartVisible: choose if the file summary list starts visible: true or false, default is falsefileContentToggle: allow each file contents to be toggled: true or false, default is truestickyFileHeaders: make file headers sticky: true or false, default is true<!-- CSS -->
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/diff2html/bundles/css/diff2html.min.css" />
<!-- Javascripts -->
<script type="text/javascript" src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/diff2html/bundles/js/diff2html-ui.min.js"></script>
const targetElement = document.getElementById('destination-elem-id');
const configuration = { drawFileList: true, matching: 'lines' };
const diff2htmlUi = new Diff2HtmlUI(targetElement, diffString, configuration);
// or
const diff2htmlUi = new Diff2HtmlUI(targetElement, diffJson, configuration);
diff2htmlUi.draw();
NOTE: The highlight.js css should come before the diff2html css
<!-- Stylesheet -->
<link rel="stylesheet" href="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/highlight.js/11.8.0/styles/github.min.css" />
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/diff2html/bundles/css/diff2html.min.css" />
<!-- Javascripts -->
<script type="text/javascript" src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/diff2html/bundles/js/diff2html-ui.min.js"></script>
Pass the option
highlightwith value true or invokediff2htmlUi.highlightCode()afterdiff2htmlUi.draw().
document.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', () => {
const diffString = `diff --git a/sample.js b/sample.js
index 0000001..0ddf2ba
--- a/sample.js
+++ b/sample.js
@@ -1 +1 @@
-console.log("Hello World!")
+console.log("Hello from Diff2Html!")`;
const targetElement = document.getElementById('myDiffElement');
const configuration = { drawFileList: true, matching: 'lines', highlight: true };
const diff2htmlUi = new Diff2HtmlUI(targetElement, diffString, configuration);
diff2htmlUi.draw();
diff2htmlUi.highlightCode();
});
When using the auto color scheme, you will need to specify both the light and dark themes for highlight.js to use.
<link
rel="stylesheet"
href="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/highlight.js/11.8.0/styles/github.min.css"
media="screen and (prefers-color-scheme: light)"
/>
<link
rel="stylesheet"
href="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/highlight.js/11.8.0/styles/github-dark.min.css"
media="screen and (prefers-color-scheme: dark)"
/>
Add the dependencies.
<!-- Javascripts -->
<script type="text/javascript" src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/diff2html/bundles/js/diff2html-ui.min.js"></script>
Invoke the Diff2HtmlUI helper Pass the option
fileListTogglewith value true or invokediff2htmlUi.fileListToggle()afterdiff2htmlUi.draw().
document.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', () => {
const targetElement = document.getElementById('myDiffElement');
var diff2htmlUi = new Diff2HtmlUI(targetElement, lineDiffExample, { drawFileList: true, matching: 'lines' });
diff2htmlUi.draw();
diff2htmlUi.fileListToggle(false);
});
<!doctype html>
<html lang="en-us">
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8" />
<!-- Make sure to load the highlight.js CSS file before the Diff2Html CSS file -->
<link rel="stylesheet" href="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/highlight.js/10.7.1/styles/github.min.css" />
<link
rel="stylesheet"
type="text/css"
href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/diff2html/bundles/css/diff2html.min.css"
/>
<script type="text/javascript" src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/diff2html/bundles/js/diff2html-ui.min.js"></script>
</head>
<script>
const diffString = `diff --git a/sample.js b/sample.js
index 0000001..0ddf2ba
--- a/sample.js
+++ b/sample.js
@@ -1 +1 @@
-console.log("Hello World!")
+console.log("Hello from Diff2Html!")`;
document.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', function () {
var targetElement = document.getElementById('myDiffElement');
var configuration = {
drawFileList: true,
fileListToggle: false,
fileListStartVisible: false,
fileContentToggle: false,
matching: 'lines',
outputFormat: 'side-by-side',
synchronisedScroll: true,
highlight: true,
renderNothingWhenEmpty: false,
};
var diff2htmlUi = new Diff2HtmlUI(targetElement, diffString, configuration);
diff2htmlUi.draw();
diff2htmlUi.highlightCode();
});
</script>
<body>
<div id="myDiffElement"></div>
</body>
</html>
import { Controller } from '@hotwired/stimulus';
import { Diff2HtmlUI, Diff2HtmlUIConfig } from 'diff2html/lib/ui/js/diff2html-ui-slim.js';
// Requires `npm install highlight.js`
import 'highlight.js/styles/github.css';
import 'diff2html/bundles/css/diff2html.min.css';
export default class extends Controller {
connect(): void {
const diff2htmlUi = new Diff2HtmlUI(this.diffElement, this.unifiedDiff, this.diffConfiguration);
diff2htmlUi.draw();
}
get unifiedDiff(): string {
return this.data.get('unifiedDiff') || '';
}
get diffElement(): HTMLElement {
return this.element as HTMLElement;
}
get diffConfiguration(): Diff2HtmlUIConfig {
return {
drawFileList: true,
matching: 'lines',
};
}
}
JSON representation of the diff
function parse(diffInput: string, configuration: Diff2HtmlConfig = {}): DiffFile[];
Pretty HTML representation of the diff
function html(diffInput: string | DiffFile[], configuration: Diff2HtmlConfig = {}): string;
The HTML output accepts a Javascript object with configuration. Possible options:
outputFormat: the format of the output data: 'line-by-line' or 'side-by-side', default is 'line-by-line'drawFileList: show a file list before the diff: true or false, default is truesrcPrefix: add a prefix to all source (before changes) filepaths, default is ''. Should match the prefix used when
generating the diff.dstPrefix: add a prefix to all destination (after changes) filepaths, default is ''. Should match the prefix used
when generating the diffdiffMaxChanges: number of changed lines after which a file diff is deemed as too big and not displayed, default is
undefineddiffMaxLineLength: number of characters in a diff line after which a file diff is deemed as too big and not
displayed, default is undefineddiffTooBigMessage: function allowing to customize the message in case of file diff too big (if diffMaxChanges or
diffMaxLineLength is set). Will be given a file index as a number and should return a string.matching: matching level: 'lines' for matching lines, 'words' for matching lines and words or 'none', default
is nonematchWordsThreshold: similarity threshold for word matching, default is 0.25maxLineLengthHighlight: only perform diff changes highlight if lines are smaller than this, default is 10000diffStyle: show differences level in each line: 'word' or 'char', default is 'word'renderNothingWhenEmpty: render nothing if the diff shows no change in its comparison: true or false, default is
falsematchingMaxComparisons: perform at most this much comparisons for line matching a block of changes, default is
2500maxLineSizeInBlockForComparison: maximum number of characters of the bigger line in a block to apply comparison,
default is 200compiledTemplates: object (Hogan.js template values) with previously
compiled templates to replace parts of the html, default is {}. For example:
{ "tag-file-changed": Hogan.compile("<span class="d2h-tag d2h-changed d2h-changed-tag">MODIFIED</span>") }rawTemplates: object (string values) with raw not compiled templates to replace parts of the html, default is {}.
For example: { "tag-file-changed": "<span class="d2h-tag d2h-changed d2h-changed-tag">MODIFIED</span>" }
For more information regarding the possible templates look into src/templates
highlightLanguages: Map of extension to language name, used for highlighting. This overrides the default language
detection based on file extensions.colorScheme: color scheme to use for the diff, default is light. Possible values are light, dark, and auto
which will use the browser's preferred color scheme.Import the stylesheet and the library code.
To load correctly in the Browser you need to include the stylesheet in the final HTML.
<!-- CSS -->
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/diff2html/bundles/css/diff2html.min.css" />
<!-- Javascripts -->
<script type="text/javascript" src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/diff2html/bundles/js/diff2html.min.js"></script>
It will now be available as a global variable named Diff2Html.
document.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', () => {
var diffHtml = Diff2Html.html('<Unified Diff String>', {
drawFileList: true,
matching: 'lines',
outputFormat: 'side-by-side',
});
document.getElementById('destination-elem-id').innerHTML = diffHtml;
});
const Diff2html = require('diff2html');
const diffJson = Diff2html.parse('<Unified Diff String>');
const diffHtml = Diff2html.html(diffJson, { drawFileList: true });
console.log(diffHtml);
import * as Diff2Html from 'diff2html';
import { Component, OnInit } from '@angular/core';
export class AppDiffComponent implements OnInit {
outputHtml: string;
constructor() {
this.init();
}
ngOnInit() {}
init() {
let strInput =
'--- a/server/vendor/golang.org/x/sys/unix/zsyscall_linux_mipsle.go\n+++ b/server/vendor/golang.org/x/sys/unix/zsyscall_linux_mipsle.go\n@@ -1035,6 +1035,17 @@ func Prctl(option int, arg2 uintptr, arg3 uintptr, arg4 uintptr, arg5 uintptr) (\n \n // THIS FILE IS GENERATED BY THE COMMAND AT THE TOP; DO NOT EDIT\n \n+func Pselect(nfd int, r *FdSet, w *FdSet, e *FdSet, timeout *Timespec, sigmask *Sigset_t) (n int, err error) {\n+\tr0, _, e1 := Syscall6(SYS_PSELECT6, uintptr(nfd), uintptr(unsafe.Pointer(r)), uintptr(unsafe.Pointer(w)), uintptr(unsafe.Pointer(e)), uintptr(unsafe.Pointer(timeout)), uintptr(unsafe.Pointer(sigmask)))\n+\tn = int(r0)\n+\tif e1 != 0 {\n+\t\terr = errnoErr(e1)\n+\t}\n+\treturn\n+}\n+\n+// THIS FILE IS GENERATED BY THE COMMAND AT THE TOP; DO NOT EDIT\n+\n func read(fd int, p []byte) (n int, err error) {\n \tvar _p0 unsafe.Pointer\n \tif len(p) > 0 {\n';
let outputHtml = Diff2Html.html(strInput, { drawFileList: true, matching: 'lines' });
this.outputHtml = outputHtml;
}
}
<!doctype html>
<html>
<head>
<title>diff2html</title>
</head>
<body>
<div [innerHtml]="outputHtml"></div>
</body>
</html>
.angular-cli.json - Add styles"styles": [
"diff2html.min.css"
]
<template>
<div v-html="prettyHtml" />
</template>
<script>
import * as Diff2Html from 'diff2html';
import 'diff2html/bundles/css/diff2html.min.css';
export default {
data() {
return {
diffs:
'--- a/server/vendor/golang.org/x/sys/unix/zsyscall_linux_mipsle.go\n+++ b/server/vendor/golang.org/x/sys/unix/zsyscall_linux_mipsle.go\n@@ -1035,6 +1035,17 @@ func Prctl(option int, arg2 uintptr, arg3 uintptr, arg4 uintptr, arg5 uintptr) (\n \n // THIS FILE IS GENERATED BY THE COMMAND AT THE TOP; DO NOT EDIT\n \n+func Pselect(nfd int, r *FdSet, w *FdSet, e *FdSet, timeout *Timespec, sigmask *Sigset_t) (n int, err error) {\n+\tr0, _, e1 := Syscall6(SYS_PSELECT6, uintptr(nfd), uintptr(unsafe.Pointer(r)), uintptr(unsafe.Pointer(w)), uintptr(unsafe.Pointer(e)), uintptr(unsafe.Pointer(timeout)), uintptr(unsafe.Pointer(sigmask)))\n+\tn = int(r0)\n+\tif e1 != 0 {\n+\t\terr = errnoErr(e1)\n+\t}\n+\treturn\n+}\n+\n+// THIS FILE IS GENERATED BY THE COMMAND AT THE TOP; DO NOT EDIT\n+\n func read(fd int, p []byte) (n int, err error) {\n \tvar _p0 unsafe.Pointer\n \tif len(p) > 0 {\n',
};
},
computed: {
prettyHtml() {
return Diff2Html.html(this.diffs, {
drawFileList: true,
matching: 'lines',
outputFormat: 'side-by-side',
});
},
},
};
</script>
{"matching": "none"} when invoking diff2htmlThis is a developer friendly project, all the contributions are welcome. To contribute just send a pull request with
your changes following the guidelines described in CONTRIBUTING.md. I will try to review them as soon as possible.
Thanks goes to these wonderful people (emoji key):
This project follows the all-contributors specification. Contributions of any kind welcome!
Copyright 2014-present Rodrigo Fernandes. Released under the terms of the MIT license.
This project is inspired in pretty-diff by Scott GonzΓ‘lez.