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Command Line Tool

Kaleidoscope comes with a command-line tool, called ksdiff, which you can use to open files from the command-line or from a script.

Installation

Before you can use ksdiff, you need to install it from the Integration window. To install ksdiff:

  1. Choose Kaleidoscope > Integration... from the main menu
  2. Go to the "Command Line Tool" section
  3. Follow the instructions

Starting a Comparison with ksdiff

Examples:

If you give ksdiff a set of paths as arguments, it will launch Kaleidoscope if it isn't open yet, and then create a new tab with those documents. If you supply more than 2 files as arguments, Kaleidoscope will open the File Shelf and display all the files.

Waiting Before Exiting

ksdiff -w file1 file2\

If you use ksdiff in a script, it might be preferable to have ksdiff open until the comparison it started closes. This way you can remove temporary files you created after the comparison is done, or do some other action after you're sure the user has seen the comparison. This can be done with the -w or --wait command line switch.

To learn more about the ksdiff command line tool, run ksdiff --help to get an overview of its options:

Kaleidoscope:~ help$ ksdiff --help
usage: ksdiff - send files to Kaleidoscope
  --version                             show version information and exit
  -h, --help                            show this help message and exit

  --supports-capability CAPABILITY      prints YES if CAPABILITY is supported,
                                        otherwise prints NO. the capabilities
                                        this version of ksdiff supports are:
                                        partial-changesets-v1
                                        changesets-v1
                                        diffs-v1
                                        merges-v1

command options:                        
  [--wait, -w | --no-wait]              whether to wait for the document to be
                                        closed in Kaleidoscope before exiting
  [--label LABEL]                       use LABEL as the visible label for the
                                        tab in Kaleidoscope, instead of the
                                        default value, which is inferred from
                                        the arguments passed to ksdiff’s parent
                                        process 

FILE options:
  [--snapshot | --no-snapshot]          whether the file is temporary. this
                                        option will override the heuristics
                                        ksdiff would otherwise use to determine
                                        this state.

commands:
  --partial-changeset                   send part of a changeset
                                        implies --no-wait
    [--UUID UUID]                       use UUID to select which document to
                                        add this changeset item to; follow this
                                        with --mark-changeset-as-closed UUID
                                        to tell Kaleidoscope that no more
                                        changes are expected. if unspecified,
                                        Kaleidoscope will watch the process
                                        calling ksdiff and close the changeset
                                        when it exits.
    [--relative-path PATH]              use PATH to describe the filename and
                                        location for this changeset item within
                                        its root (e.g. a source repository)
    FILE FILE                           the files to diff

  --mark-changeset-as-closed UUID       marks the partial changeset submitted
                                        under the given UUID as being closed

  --changeset                           send a complete changeset
                                        implies --no-wait
    --filelist                          begin a file list (changeset item)
      [--relative-path PATH]            use PATH to describe the filename and
                                        location for this changeset item within
                                        its root (e.g. a source repository)
      FILE FILE                         the files to diff

  --merge                               send a merge
                                        implies --wait
    --output OUTPUT                     use OUTPUT as the destination path for
                                        this merge. creates OUTPUT if it does
                                        not exist.
    [--base BASE]                       use BASE as the base content for this
                                        merge. can improve the quality of the
                                        default selections for some merges.
    FILE FILE                           the files to merge

  [--diff]                              send a diff
                                        implies --no-wait
    FILE [...]                          the files to diff