jsandersuk/string-diffs

Locates and highlights differences between two strings

String difference calculator

This package compares two strings and highlights any text that has been removed or inserted., _(*1)

Basic usage

To generate a "diff" between two strings you need to create an instance of the Calculator and provide it with a stylist - a class that deals with styling the removed and inserted text in order to highlight it to the end-user., _(*2)

The example below is designed to output diffs to a console/terminal. See Styling output for information on how to change the output style., _(*3)

$stylist = new JSandersUK\StringDiffs\Stylists\ConsoleStylist();
$calculator = new JSandersUK\StringDiffs\Calculator($stylist);

$styledDifferenceText = $calculator->diff($old, $new);
print $styledDifferenceText;

Styling output

The removed and inserted text in a diff is styled before being returned in order to highlight the differences to the end-user., _(*4)

You will need to choose the relevant "stylist" class to match the environment where you will be displaying the diff., _(*5)

Outputting to a console/terminal

When printing a diff to a console you can use the ConsoleStylist which uses ANSI escape sequences to colour the removed and inserted text., _(*6)

By default removed text is output as white on red and inserted text white on green. Colours can be configured by passing custom values to the constructor of the class., _(*7)

Basic usage

$stylist = new JSandersUK\StringDiffs\Stylists\ConsoleStylist();

Usage with custom colours

The package makes use of the bramus/ansi-php package to colour the text and expects its constants to set colours., _(*8)

NOTE the difference between foreground and background constants - COLOR_FG_WHITE vs COLOR_BG_WHITE; "FG" (foreground) and "BG" (background), _(*9)

$stylist = new JSandersUK\StringDiffs\Stylists\ConsoleStylist(
    Bramus\Ansi\ControlSequences\EscapeSequences\Enums\SGR::COLOR_FG_WHITE,
    Bramus\Ansi\ControlSequences\EscapeSequences\Enums\SGR::COLOR_BG_RED,
    Bramus\Ansi\ControlSequences\EscapeSequences\Enums\SGR::COLOR_FG_WHITE,
    Bramus\Ansi\ControlSequences\EscapeSequences\Enums\SGR::COLOR_BG_GREEN
);

Outputting to HTML

When printing a diff to a browesr you can use the HtmlStylist which wraps removed an inserted text in HTML elements with class applied., _(*10)

By default text is wrapped in a SPAN and removed text has a class of removed-text applied and inserted text inserted-text. The HTML element to wrap text and the two classes can be configured by passing custom values to the constructor of the class., _(*11)

Basic usage

$stylist = new JSandersUK\StringDiffs\Stylists\HtmlStylist();;

Usage with HTML classes and element

$stylist = new JSandersUK\StringDiffs\Stylists\HtmlStylist(
    'old-text',
    'new-text',
    'div'
);