How to Use PanDiff: A Comprehensive Guide

Are you looking for an effective way to compare documents in various formats? Look no further! With PanDiff, you can create prose diffs for any document format supported by Pandoc. In this guide, we will walk you through the installation and usage of PanDiff, as well as troubleshooting tips to help you along the way.

Features of PanDiff

• Prose diffs for any document format supported by Pandoc
• Supported output formats:
  • CriticMarkup
  • HTML
  • PDF via LaTeX
  • Word docx with Track Changes
• Respects document structure, preventing broken markup like wdiff

Installation Instructions

Before using PanDiff, ensure you have Pandoc and npm installed. You can install PanDiff by running the following command:

npm install -g pandiff

Usage Instructions

To compare two documents with PanDiff, use the following command:

pandiff testold.md testnew.md

Here’s an analogy to help you understand how this works: Imagine you are an editor who is comparing two versions of a manuscript. One is the old version (testold.md), and the other is the new version (testnew.md). PanDiff acts as your trusty magnifying glass, highlighting and making clear all the changes made between the two documents, just like marked edits and notes in a traditional manuscript review.

Available Options

PanDiff comes with various options to customize your experience:

pandiff [OPTIONS] FILE1 FILE2
    --bibliography=FILE
    --csl=FILE
    --columns=NUMBER
    --extract-media=PATH
    -F, --filter=STRING
    -f, --from=FORMAT
    -h, --help
    --highlight-style=STRING
    --lua-filter=FILE
    --mathjax=BOOL
    --mathml=BOOL
    -o, --output=FILE
    --pdf-engine=STRING
    --reference-dic=FILE
    --reference-links
    --resource-path=PATH
    -s, --standalone
    -t, --to=FORMAT
    -v, --version
    --wrap=STRING

Git Integration

To integrate PanDiff with Git, run the following commands:

git config --global difftool.pandiff.cmd pandiff $LOCAL $REMOTE
git config --global alias.pandiff difftool -t pandiff -y

Now you can use git pandiff wherever you would typically use git diff.

Generating Outputs

To generate HTML, PDF, or Word output, you can use the following commands:

pandiff old.md new.md -s -o diff.html

pandiff old.md new.md -o diff.pdf

pandiff old.md new.md -o diff.docx

Troubleshooting Ideas

If you encounter issues while using PanDiff, consider these troubleshooting ideas:

• Ensure both input files exist and are formatted correctly.
• Check that you have the required permissions for the files you are working with.
• Make sure that Pandoc and npm are installed correctly on your system.
• If a command fails, double-check the syntax and available options.

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Conclusion

At fxis.ai, we believe that such advancements are crucial for the future of AI, as they enable more comprehensive and effective solutions. Our team is continually exploring new methodologies to push the envelope in artificial intelligence, ensuring that our clients benefit from the latest technological innovations.