General ⇒ Capabilities of "latexdiff"
Capabilities of "latexdiff"
Hello all,
I am novice with LaTeX and one of my friend want to me that i install "latexdiff" to work with him. I don't know "latexdiff" and i don't understand very well what i can make with it.
Can you explain to me some comment about this?
PS: "latexdiff" exists on Windows or only on Linux? (It seems that is just on Linux.)
I am novice with LaTeX and one of my friend want to me that i install "latexdiff" to work with him. I don't know "latexdiff" and i don't understand very well what i can make with it.
Can you explain to me some comment about this?
PS: "latexdiff" exists on Windows or only on Linux? (It seems that is just on Linux.)
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- localghost
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Capabilities of "latexdiff"
It is a Perl script. More can be found out by reading the latexdiff manual. After installation by the package manager of your TeX distribution you have also instant access via command line.
Strawberry Perl is a free Perl interpreter for Wind0ws.
Thorsten
Code: Select all
texdoc latexdiff
Thorsten
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¹ System: TeX Live 2025 (vanilla), TeXworks 0.6.10
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Capabilities of "latexdiff"
thanks for your help !
i was on this website :
http://www.peteryu.ca/tutorials/publishing/latexdiff
and i have installed "strawberry Perl" and "Miktex" for windows. These two tool are installed now on my computer.
Now, if i open a "command windows" and i put in DOS :
(with "a.tex" my old latex document and "b.tex" the new)
it should be works ? (i have a file "differences.tex" that is created but i haven't not a correct result: the file is empty)
ps: i have already strawberry perl
i was on this website :
http://www.peteryu.ca/tutorials/publishing/latexdiff
and i have installed "strawberry Perl" and "Miktex" for windows. These two tool are installed now on my computer.
Now, if i open a "command windows" and i put in DOS :
Code: Select all
latexdiff-so a.tex b.tex > differences.tex
it should be works ? (i have a file "differences.tex" that is created but i haven't not a correct result: the file is empty)
ps: i have already strawberry perl
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Re: Capabilities of "latexdiff"
now all is OK thanks !
it was a problem in the path and in one extension
cheers
it was a problem in the path and in one extension

cheers
Re: Capabilities of "latexdiff"
I'm having the same problem: "the file [differences.tex created] is empty".
21did21 said that "it was a problem in the path and in one extension". Which path and which extension? How to solve this?
21did21 said that "it was a problem in the path and in one extension". Which path and which extension? How to solve this?
- Stefan Kottwitz
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- Joined: Mon Mar 10, 2008 9:44 pm
Capabilities of "latexdiff"
Hi xCx,
welcome to the forum!
Perhaps provide complete information about your specific case. Such as files you compared by
Stefan
welcome to the forum!
Perhaps provide complete information about your specific case. Such as files you compared by
latexdiff
. You can add attachments to forum posts for showing the files.Stefan
LaTeX.org admin
Re: Capabilities of "latexdiff"
Hi Stefan, thank you for replying.
I have just downloaded the StrawberryPerl that is on c:/perl and downloaded latexdiff (as explained in sharelatex[*]) that now have been copied to c:/perl/bin/latexdiff).
The two documents old.tex and new.tex compile very well separately.
latexdiff old.tex new.tex > diff.tex
creates an empty diff.tex in the folder c:/users/me/documents
Any idea why?
[*] https://www.sharelatex.com/blog/2013/02 ... ments.html
I have just downloaded the StrawberryPerl that is on c:/perl and downloaded latexdiff (as explained in sharelatex[*]) that now have been copied to c:/perl/bin/latexdiff).
The two documents old.tex and new.tex compile very well separately.
latexdiff old.tex new.tex > diff.tex
creates an empty diff.tex in the folder c:/users/me/documents
Any idea why?
[*] https://www.sharelatex.com/blog/2013/02 ... ments.html
- Stefan Kottwitz
- Site Admin
- Posts: 10324
- Joined: Mon Mar 10, 2008 9:44 pm
Re: Capabilities of "latexdiff"
No idea yet. Do you get any error message? Are the files actually different? Can the files be found by the command latexdiff? How does it look like, when you execute it?
Stefan
Stefan
LaTeX.org admin
Re: Capabilities of "latexdiff"
Oh, I found what the problem was!
21did21 was right when they said there was a problem with the path: I never used the command line before so I figured out I had to go into the folder the two .tex were.
Using the "cd NameFolder" to get to where they are and from there running "latexdiff old.tex new.tex > diff.tex" all was well.
Sorry for the noob question.
21did21 was right when they said there was a problem with the path: I never used the command line before so I figured out I had to go into the folder the two .tex were.
Using the "cd NameFolder" to get to where they are and from there running "latexdiff old.tex new.tex > diff.tex" all was well.
Sorry for the noob question.

- Stefan Kottwitz
- Site Admin
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Re: Capabilities of "latexdiff"
No problem. Thanks for confirming the solution and for clarifying the explanation! It may help further readers who come in via google.
Stefan
Stefan
LaTeX.org admin