Dwdiff Shows Changes Word for Word
Version 1.3 of dwdiff, a free front-end for the Unix diff program has just been released and is now licensed under the GPLv3.
The command line program checks texts for changes word for word, whereas the legacy Unix tool diff takes a line-oriented approach. The user can define what dwdiff sees as whitespace between words. This distinguishes the program from wdiff, which also uses a word for word approach. Apart from this, dwdiff lets users set delimiter characters which the program also treats as words if they are not surrounded by blanks.
Version 1.3 has one new option that outputs a couple of lines a context on either side of a change. Another option displays the line numbers of the two compared files. At the same time, the GPLv3 replaces the Open Software License 2.0.
The dwdiff homepage has the source code of the program, Debian/Ubuntu packages and an RPM archive available for downloading. There are also ports for OpenBSD and FreeBSD and an ebuild script for Gentoo Linux.
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.

News
-
Linux Hits an Important Milestone
If you pay attention to the news in the Linux-sphere, you've probably heard that the open source operating system recently crashed through a ceiling no one thought possible.
-
Plasma Bigscreen Returns
A developer discovered that the Plasma Bigscreen feature had been sitting untouched, so he decided to do something about it.
-
CachyOS Now Lets Users Choose Their Shell
Imagine getting the opportunity to select which shell you want during the installation of your favorite Linux distribution. That's now a thing.
-
Wayland 1.24 Released with Fixes and New Features
Wayland continues to move forward, while X11 slowly vanishes into the shadows, and the latest release includes plenty of improvements.
-
Bugs Found in sudo
Two critical flaws allow users to gain access to root privileges.
-
Fedora Continues 32-Bit Support
In a move that should come as a relief to some portions of the Linux community, Fedora will continue supporting 32-bit architecture.
-
Linux Kernel 6.17 Drops bcachefs
After a clash over some late fixes and disagreements between bcachefs's lead developer and Linus Torvalds, bachefs is out.
-
ONLYOFFICE v9 Embraces AI
Like nearly all office suites on the market (except LibreOffice), ONLYOFFICE has decided to go the AI route.
-
Two Local Privilege Escalation Flaws Discovered in Linux
Qualys researchers have discovered two local privilege escalation vulnerabilities that allow hackers to gain root privileges on major Linux distributions.
-
New TUXEDO InfinityBook Pro Powered by AMD Ryzen AI 300
The TUXEDO InfinityBook Pro 14 Gen10 offers serious power that is ready for your business, development, or entertainment needs.