Sub line level merge tool?

Question

Are there any interactive merge tools that, when they get a merge conflict on a given line, go back and try to do a char-at-a-time merge of the conflicting lines?

I'm thinking of cases where you get a merge conflict between a changed line of code and the same line getting indented.

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BTW: I'm using Beyond Compare called from TortoiseSVN

Answer 1

While this isn't exactly what you are looking for, I have found that using a different diff tool (like Kdiff) will point this out to you much more easily. (They highlight character differences. I have not tried merging in this fashion)

After using this for a while now, I can no longer stand using the built-in diff for Visual Studio.

Some resources for configuring this:

http://www.ytechie.com/2008/12/advantages-of-a-3rd-party-diffcompare-tool.html

http://blogs.msdn.com/jmanning/articles/535573.aspx

Answer 2

patch -l

ignores whitespace.

I don't think a more general sub line level merge is a good idea for code unless it is interactive; if a line you've touched has changed there's a good chance something will break.