How to ignore SVN folders in WinMerge?

Question

I'm trying to recursively compare two Subversion working copy folders using WinMerge.

Unfortunately, WinMerge displays lots of differencing files inside of the subversion control folders (.svn or _svn).

Is it possible to somehow exclude the subversion folders from the comparison? Or is there another (free) diff-tool which is able to do this?

Solution 1

Try making a Filefilter

WinMerge handles this just fine. You want to create and use a Filter. Under Tools | Filters... | Filefilters, create a new filter or modify an existing one.

It will look like this:

## Ignore Java class and jar files
f: \.class$
f: \.jar$

## Ignore subversion housekeeping directories
d: \\.svn$
d: \\._svn$

Save it, then when selecting items to merge, select the filter you defined from the Select Files or Folders dialog box. Bonus points: It will save this and use it as a default for future merges.

Solution 2

Try Builtin File Filter

WinMerge (Version 2.12.4) already includes a filter to exclude source control files and directories, and it's called Exclude Source Control.

It works for Subversion, CVS, Git, Bazaar and Mercurial, and it doesn't require you to create a filter, you just have to apply it during the comparison.

Solution 3

Uncomment some lines in builtin filefilter

WinMerge (Version 2.12.4) already includes a filter but (at least in my installation) the filters for Subversion, Git and Bazaar were commented out.

Navigate here: Tools | Filters | Filefilters | Exclude Source Control (double click to edit)

Edit the lines to look like this:

d: \\.svn$ ## Subversion working copy
d: \\_svn$  ## Subversion working copy ASP.NET Hack
d: \\cvs$   ## CVS control directory
d: \\.git$ ## Git directory
d: \\.bzr$ ## Bazaar branch
d: \\.hg$ ## Mercurial repository

Comments

[M4N]

Thanks a lot! I discovered that there is even a predefined filter to exclude source control files and folders.

[chiccodoro]

Hi Martin, you might want to accept 4h24d's answer as well since it is simpler than this and appropriate and thus has been voted better so far.

[Mahes]

thanks for the information. i would like to avoid selecting everytime i compare. is there anyway we can make it apply "Exclude Source control" files by default?

[Liam]

I wasn't getting this option in a fresh install when I selected 2 folders and clicked 'Compare'. To enable it I had to select one folder, click 'Compare...' which shows a dialog with some options for filters. Here I selected the second folder and the 'Exclude Source Control' filter, and it worked. The filter is saved, so new if I just select 2 folders and click 'Compare' the filter is applied without the dialog.

[Werner Henze]

Better filter "\\\.svn$" (predefined filter) so you match '.' and not <any character> before 'svn'.

[Werner Henze]

Better filter "\\\.svn$" (predefined filter) so you match '.' and not <any character> before 'svn'.