Ruby – diff a ruby string or array

diff()ruby

How do I do a diff of two strings or arrays in Ruby?

Best Answer

For arrays, use the minus operator. For example:

>> foo = [1, 2, 3]
=> [1, 2, 3]
>> goo = [2, 3, 4]
=> [2, 3, 4]
>> foo - goo
=> [1]

Here the last line removes everything from foo that is also in goo, leaving just the element 1. I don't know how to do this for two strings, but until somebody who knows posts about it, you could just convert each string to an array, use the minus operator, and then convert the result back.

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Ruby – How to call shell commands from Ruby

This explanation is based on a commented Ruby script from a friend of mine. If you want to improve the script, feel free to update it at the link.

First, note that when Ruby calls out to a shell, it typically calls /bin/sh, not Bash. Some Bash syntax is not supported by /bin/sh on all systems.

Here are ways to execute a shell script:

cmd = "echo 'hi'" # Sample string that can be used

Kernel#` , commonly called backticks – `cmd`

This is like many other languages, including Bash, PHP, and Perl.

Returns the result (i.e. standard output) of the shell command.

Docs: http://ruby-doc.org/core/Kernel.html#method-i-60
```
value = `echo 'hi'`
value = `#{cmd}`
```
Built-in syntax, %x( cmd )

Following the x character is a delimiter, which can be any character. If the delimiter is one of the characters (, [, {, or <, the literal consists of the characters up to the matching closing delimiter, taking account of nested delimiter pairs. For all other delimiters, the literal comprises the characters up to the next occurrence of the delimiter character. String interpolation #{ ... } is allowed.

Returns the result (i.e. standard output) of the shell command, just like the backticks.

Docs: https://docs.ruby-lang.org/en/master/syntax/literals_rdoc.html#label-Percent+Strings
```
value = %x( echo 'hi' )
value = %x[ #{cmd} ]
```
Kernel#system

Executes the given command in a subshell.

Returns true if the command was found and run successfully, false otherwise.

Docs: http://ruby-doc.org/core/Kernel.html#method-i-system
```
wasGood = system( "echo 'hi'" )
wasGood = system( cmd )
```
Kernel#exec

Replaces the current process by running the given external command.

Returns none, the current process is replaced and never continues.

Docs: http://ruby-doc.org/core/Kernel.html#method-i-exec
```
exec( "echo 'hi'" )
exec( cmd ) # Note: this will never be reached because of the line above
```

Here's some extra advice: $?, which is the same as $CHILD_STATUS, accesses the status of the last system executed command if you use the backticks, system() or %x{}. You can then access the exitstatus and pid properties:

$?.exitstatus

For more reading see:

Git – How to view ‘git diff’ output with the preferred diff tool/ viewer

Since Git1.6.3, you can use the git difftool script: see my answer below.

May be this article will help you. Here are the best parts:

There are two different ways to specify an external diff tool.

The first is the method you used, by setting the GIT_EXTERNAL_DIFF variable. However, the variable is supposed to point to the full path of the executable. Moreover, the executable specified by GIT_EXTERNAL_DIFF will be called with a fixed set of 7 arguments:

path old-file old-hex old-mode new-file new-hex new-mode

As most diff tools will require a different order (and only some) of the arguments, you will most likely have to specify a wrapper script instead, which in turn calls the real diff tool.

The second method, which I prefer, is to configure the external diff tool via "git config". Here is what I did:

1) Create a wrapper script "git-diff-wrapper.sh" which contains something like

-->8-(snip)--
#!/bin/sh

# diff is called by git with 7 parameters:
# path old-file old-hex old-mode new-file new-hex new-mode

"<path_to_diff_executable>" "$2" "$5" | cat
--8<-(snap)--

As you can see, only the second ("old-file") and fifth ("new-file") arguments will be passed to the diff tool.

2) Type

$ git config --global diff.external <path_to_wrapper_script>

at the command prompt, replacing with the path to "git-diff-wrapper.sh", so your ~/.gitconfig contains

-->8-(snip)--
[diff]
    external = <path_to_wrapper_script>
--8<-(snap)--

Be sure to use the correct syntax to specify the paths to the wrapper script and diff tool, i.e. use forward slashed instead of backslashes. In my case, I have

[diff]
    external = \"c:/Documents and Settings/sschuber/git-diff-wrapper.sh\"

in .gitconfig and

"d:/Program Files/Beyond Compare 3/BCompare.exe" "$2" "$5" | cat

in the wrapper script. Mind the trailing "cat"!

(I suppose the '| cat' is needed only for some programs which may not return a proper or consistent return status. You might want to try without the trailing cat if your diff tool has explicit return status)

(Diomidis Spinellis adds in the comments:

The cat command is required, because diff(1), by default exits with an error code if the files differ.
Git expects the external diff program to exit with an error code only if an actual error occurred, e.g. if it run out of memory.
By piping the output of git to cat the non-zero error code is masked.
More efficiently, the program could just run exit with and argument of 0.)

That (the article quoted above) is the theory for external tool defined through config file (not through environment variable).
In practice (still for config file definition of external tool), you can refer to:

How do I setup DiffMerge with msysgit / gitk? which illustrates the concrete settings of DiffMerge and WinMerge for MsysGit and gitk
How can I set up an editor to work with Git on Windows? for the definition of Notepad++ as an external editor.

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Related Solutions

Ruby – How to call shell commands from Ruby

Git – How to view ‘git diff’ output with the preferred diff tool/ viewer

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