Is there a file diff tool that allows for exceptions?

Question

We currently use Beyond Compare 3.0 and I am quite pleased with it. However, it would be great if I could easily specify an exclusion for a specific one-time case. This is needed when I am doing a code review of some refactoring. For instance:

Old code

doSomething(ConstantsInterface.FOOBAR);

New code:

doSomething(BetterEnumeration.FOOBAR);

In this case, I have hundreds of changes that I am reviewing that are essentially all the same exact change and I just want to see the exceptions. It would be great if I could easily specify an exception that indicates these two cases are equal. I know of a way to do it in the grammar, but it is tedious and cumbersome in the case where there are ten or so exceptions.

Any other tips?

Answer 1

1) Write one line regex to switch them all back.

2) Diff, see any exceptions

3) Run reverse of regex in step 1

Done in 5 minutes

Answer 2

Beyond Compare's Pro edition supports ignoring renamed identifiers. It's covered in the help here, and there's a video demonstration of it here. It's not limited to just identifiers either; it can handle things like i=i+1 => i++. If you have a recent version installed you can just right click on the difference and select "Replacement..." to get started.