]> git.ipfire.org Git - thirdparty/vim.git/commit
patch 9.1.1557: not possible to anchor specific lines in difff mode v9.1.1557
authorYee Cheng Chin <ychin.git@gmail.com>
Wed, 16 Jul 2025 18:36:54 +0000 (20:36 +0200)
committerChristian Brabandt <cb@256bit.org>
Wed, 16 Jul 2025 18:40:32 +0000 (20:40 +0200)
commit0d9160e11ce4b921adff1e5621dd989ce96fb0f3
tree15c86aa896577ee296890653b5893b6c298ef3cb
parent393d398247440f7045acf703cd179ad0da148318
patch 9.1.1557: not possible to anchor specific lines in difff mode

Problem:  not possible to anchor specific lines in difff mode
Solution: Add support for the anchoring lines in diff mode using the
          'diffanchor' option (Yee Cheng Chin).

Adds support for anchoring specific lines to each other while viewing a
diff. While lines are anchored, they are guaranteed to be aligned to
each other in a diff view, allowing the user to control and inform the
diff algorithm what the desired alignment is. Internally, this is done
by splitting up the buffer at each anchor and run the diff algorithm on
each split section separately, and then merge the results back for a
logically consistent diff result.

To do this, add a new "diffanchors" option that takes a list of
`{address}`, and a new "diffopt" option value "anchor". Each address
specified will be an anchor, and the user can choose to use any type of
address, including marks, line numbers, or pattern search. Anchors are
sorted by line number in each file, and it's possible to have multiple
anchors on the same line (this is useful when doing multi-buffer diff).
Update documentation to provide examples.

This is similar to Git diff's `--anchored` flag. Other diff tools like
Meld/Araxis Merge also have similar features (called "synchronization
points" or "synchronization links"). We are not using Git/Xdiff's
`--anchored` implementation here because it has a very limited API
(it requires usage of the Patience algorithm, and can only anchor
unique lines that are the same across both files).

Because the user could anchor anywhere, diff anchors could result in
adjacent diff blocks (one block is directly touching another without a
gap), if there is a change right above the anchor point. We don't want
to merge these diff blocks because we want to line up the change at the
anchor. Adjacent diff blocks were first allowed when linematch was
added, but the existing code had a lot of branched paths where
line-matched diff blocks were handled differently. As a part of this
change, refactor them to have a more unified code path that is
generalized enough to handle adjacent diff blocks correctly and without
needing to carve in exceptions all over the place.

closes: #17615

Signed-off-by: Yee Cheng Chin <ychin.git@gmail.com>
Signed-off-by: Christian Brabandt <cb@256bit.org>
54 files changed:
runtime/doc/diff.txt
runtime/doc/options.txt
runtime/doc/quickref.txt
runtime/doc/tags
runtime/doc/version9.txt
runtime/optwin.vim
runtime/syntax/vim.vim
src/buffer.c
src/diff.c
src/drawline.c
src/errors.h
src/ex_docmd.c
src/mouse.c
src/move.c
src/option.c
src/option.h
src/optiondefs.h
src/optionstr.c
src/po/vim.pot
src/proto/diff.pro
src/proto/ex_docmd.pro
src/proto/optionstr.pro
src/structs.h
src/testdir/dumps/Test_diff_anchors_00.dump [new file with mode: 0644]
src/testdir/dumps/Test_diff_anchors_01.dump [new file with mode: 0644]
src/testdir/dumps/Test_diff_anchors_02.dump [new file with mode: 0644]
src/testdir/dumps/Test_diff_anchors_03.dump [new file with mode: 0644]
src/testdir/dumps/Test_diff_anchors_04.dump [new file with mode: 0644]
src/testdir/dumps/Test_diff_anchors_05.dump [new file with mode: 0644]
src/testdir/dumps/Test_diff_anchors_06.dump [new file with mode: 0644]
src/testdir/dumps/Test_diff_anchors_07.dump [new file with mode: 0644]
src/testdir/dumps/Test_diff_anchors_scrollbind_topline_01.dump [new file with mode: 0644]
src/testdir/dumps/Test_diff_anchors_scrollbind_topline_02.dump [new file with mode: 0644]
src/testdir/dumps/Test_diff_anchors_scrollbind_topline_03.dump [new file with mode: 0644]
src/testdir/dumps/Test_diff_anchors_scrollbind_topline_04.dump [new file with mode: 0644]
src/testdir/dumps/Test_diff_anchors_scrollbind_topline_05.dump [new file with mode: 0644]
src/testdir/dumps/Test_diff_anchors_scrollbind_topline_06.dump [new file with mode: 0644]
src/testdir/dumps/Test_diff_anchors_scrollbind_topline_07.dump [new file with mode: 0644]
src/testdir/dumps/Test_diff_anchors_scrollbind_topline_08.dump [new file with mode: 0644]
src/testdir/dumps/Test_diff_anchors_scrollbind_topline_09.dump [new file with mode: 0644]
src/testdir/dumps/Test_diff_anchors_scrollbind_topline_10.dump [new file with mode: 0644]
src/testdir/dumps/Test_diff_anchors_scrollbind_topline_11.dump [new file with mode: 0644]
src/testdir/dumps/Test_diff_anchors_scrollbind_topline_12.dump [new file with mode: 0644]
src/testdir/dumps/Test_diff_anchors_scrollbind_topline_13.dump [new file with mode: 0644]
src/testdir/dumps/Test_diff_anchors_scrollbind_topline_14.dump [new file with mode: 0644]
src/testdir/dumps/Test_diff_anchors_scrollbind_topline_15.dump [new file with mode: 0644]
src/testdir/dumps/Test_diff_anchors_scrollbind_topline_16.dump [new file with mode: 0644]
src/testdir/dumps/Test_diff_anchors_scrollbind_topline_17.dump [new file with mode: 0644]
src/testdir/dumps/Test_linematch_3diffs1.dump
src/testdir/dumps/Test_linematch_diff1.dump
src/testdir/test_diffmode.vim
src/testdir/test_options.vim
src/testdir/util/gen_opt_test.vim
src/version.c