Can I replace internal diff in Total Commander with a custom tool?

Question

Since I don't really like Total Commander's internal diff Compare Contents used in Compare by content and Synchronize Dirs → Compare left & right, I want to use something else like WinMerge or KDiff3.

Is this possible to launch an external program with the paths to the marked files in the left & right pane? That would solve Compare by content. Any other way to solve it? Can I control Synchronize Dirs so it does the same when I compare file content there?

Any other suggestions to easily make diffs in Total Commander with external diff program?

Solution 1

There are many ways to do this (here I'm using BeyondCompare as an example, it's the best I've found in this category, but the solution also works well with WinMerge):

A) Edit wincmd.ini under %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\GHISLER\ by default, and add something like this:

[Configuration]
CompareTool=C:\Program Files\Shareware\FileCmp\BeyondCmp\BCompare.exe

Now all comparisons are made using this app instead of the internal tool.

---

B) Using TotalCmd's StartMenu (command "Change start menu..."), add these commands:

Title:

BC (Compare left-vs-right directories)

Command: %YourPath%\BeyondCmp\BCompare.exe

Parameters: %X%p %X%t

---

Title:

BC (Compare current file under cursor vs same file in the other panel)

Command: %YourPath%\BeyondCmp\BCompare.exe

Parameters: "%X%p%x%n" "%X%t%x%n"

---

Title:

BC (Compare current file in left vs current file in right)

Command: %YourPath%\BeyondCmp\BCompare.exe

Parameters: "%X%p%n" "%X%t%m"

Solution 2

I came accross this question because I wanted to use Visual Studio Code as external diff tool.

Since VS Code isn't primarly a diff tool one can't just invoke the exe-file with two filenames as parameters. Instead the option --diff or just -d has to be specified.

This is important when editing the WINCMD.INI. The line Comparetool has to take the path to code.exe and the diff-option:

[Configuration]
Comparetool="C:\Program Files\Microsoft VS Code\Code.exe" --diff
...

Comments

[MartinThé]

What is the effect of %X and %x?

[TheNewbie]

%x Interprets the following parameters after this parameter again as source/target Example: %X%P %x%P sends left and source path to the called program

[izy]

As of TC 9 you can use %C1 %C2 for better emulating the way the internal compare tool works: %C1 Like the first parameter of "Compare by content" - %C2 Like the second parameter of "Compare by content"

[Reman]

Thank you very much. Does anyone know what would be the Parameters if I select two different files in the same panel (p.e. 2 files in the right panel)?

[Gravity]

Hint: Under Configuration menu, there is a submenu called "Change ini file directly"