Options on the command line overwrite stored options (from
diffoniq.ini).
usage: diffoniq [options] path1 path2
The two paths can be files, directories or archives, in any combination. A path containing wildcard characters opens a directory listing filtered by that pattern.
Options are written with - or /. Every switch can
carry an explicit + (on) or - (off) suffix —
e.g. /n- turns line numbers off, /g s- re-enables
size comparison. Single-letter switches can be bundled after one dash
(-bx). For compatibility with version 1.x command lines, a value
may also be attached directly to the switch letter: /t4,
/od and /gs- are equivalent to -t 4,
/o d and /g s-.
/c | Case insensitive compare |
/b | Ignore trailing blanks |
/x | Expand tabs before comparing |
/s | Ignore spaces and tabs |
/a | Display whole file (opposite of F7 Hide Matching Areas) |
/n | Display line numbers |
-t 4 | Tab size (1–19) |
-m 1 | Number of common margin lines |
/o n|s|e|d | Sort by [n]ame, [s]ize, [e]xtension
or [d]ate (t is accepted as a synonym for date) |
/g s | Ignore size |
/g t | Ignore date and time |
/g u | Ignore subdirectories |
/g i | Ignore single files |
/read-only | Open this comparison read-only:
editing, saving and
Synchronize stay locked for this run, and the
title bar shows [Read-only]. Intended for use as another
program’s diff viewer (see below). The switch applies to the one
invocation only — it is never stored in
diffoniq.ini. |
/read-only-left/read-only-right |
Lock one side only; the other stays editable. The title names the
locked side. Giving both is the same as /read-only. |
/no-backup/backup |
Decide for this run whether
saving keeps a .BAK copy
of the original, regardless of the setting in
Options > Settings. Like the read-only switches this
applies to the one invocation only and is never stored in
diffoniq.ini — useful when a host compares into a
version-controlled working tree, where the extra file would show up as
untracked. |
/sync | Headless folder synchronization (mirror/update) |
/report | Headless
comparison report (HTML, text or JSON) written
to --out <file> |
/benchmark | Headless performance benchmark of the compare engine |
--version, -V | Show the program version and exit |
--help, -h | Point to this help topic and exit |
Headless still means windowed: the shell does not wait
for /sync or /report on its own — use
start "" /wait or
Start-Process -Wait (recipes in
Scripting and AI Assistants); the output file
appears only when it is complete.
Three switches of the 1.x console version — /f,
/i and -w — no longer exist. They are ignored
rather than reported as an error, so an old command line still opens its
comparison. Anything else unknown is rejected with a message box and exit code
3 — never silently.
Ready-made configuration lines for Git, TortoiseGit/TortoiseSVN, Total Commander, WinSCP and the common IDEs are collected under Using Diffoniq from Other Programs.
Started with two paths, Diffoniq opens the comparison straight away and runs until you close the window — which is exactly what version-control clients and file managers expect from an external diff viewer. Every call is its own window, so comparing several files one after another works. An unlicensed copy does not interrupt the calling program with an evaluation reminder in this mode.
Add /read-only whenever the calling program hands over
temporary copies — git difftool and the Tortoise
clients extract the compared revision to a temp file and delete it as soon as
Diffoniq closes. Without the switch you could edit and save such a side, and
your changes would disappear with the temp file. With it, both sides are
locked.
Often only one side is temporary. Comparing against the working tree,
git difftool passes the extracted revision as the left path and your
real working file as the right one — there,
/read-only-left protects the temp copy while you can still edit and
save your working file. A file manager such as Total Commander, by contrast,
passes two real files: leave the switch away.