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Comparison of generalized diff libraries for Python

It is often said there are more generalized diff libraries for Python than stars in the Milky Way. Here I compare them all.

Did I miss one or do you have suggestions for other criteria? Feel free to open an issue!

What do I mean by "generalized diff"?

While regular UNIX diff is well-suited to comparing files / strings of characters, there are libraries for most programming languages that allow comparing structured data like JSON or that language's JSON equivalent (in Python: dicts, lists and primitives, called "JSON-ish" from here on), producing patches written in terms of that structure rather than in terms of lines and characters. That's what I mean by "generalized diff". I guess other terms would be "data diff", "structure diff", "structured data diff", "JSON diff", or something along those lines.

Comparison

{%- for library in libraries %} {%- endfor %}
Name / URL Supported data structures Diff/patch output formats Can apply patches Diffing time complexity
{{ library.name }}
    {%- for data_structure in library.supported_data_structures %}
  • {{ data_structure }}
    • {%- endfor %}
    {%- for patch_output_format in library.patch_output_formats %}
  • {{ patch_output_format }}
    • {%- endfor %}
{% if library.can_apply_patches is true %}✔{% elif library.can_apply_patches is false %}❌{% else %}{{ library.can_apply_patches }}{% endif %} {{ library.diffing_time_complexity }}

Excluded

These projects have names that might suggest they'd fit the bill, but were excluded from the comparison for the stated reasons:

{% for library in excluded_libraries -%}

  • [{{ library.name }}]({{ library.pypi_url }}): {{ library.reason|wordwrap(77)|indent(2) }} {% endfor %}
⚡