---
title: "Diff Checker – Compare Two Texts Online – Display"
description: "Paste two versions of a text to see what changed, line by line and word by word. Free, runs in your browser, and gives you a link when you want to send it."
---

# Diff checker

Paste two versions of a text to see what changed. The diff marks removed and added lines, and the changed words inside each line.

Open the tool: https://display.dev/tools/text-diff

## How to use the Diff checker

1. Paste the first version into Original and the new version into Changed. You can also drop a text file on each box. To see how the tool works, select Load an example.
2. Read the changes below the boxes. The diff marks removed lines in red and added lines in green. In a changed line, the tool marks the words that changed.
3. Select Lines to see only the changed lines, without word marks.
4. To send the changes to someone for review, select Get a link. Display publishes the diff as a page.

### Get a link without the browser

Agents can publish the same file through the anonymous endpoint that the Get a link button uses. The response holds a preview URL, a single-use claim URL and the expiry date.

```bash
curl -X POST https://api.display.dev/v1/public/artifacts -F file=@page.html
```

## Limits

- The tool compares up to 5 MB of text in each box.
- The tool compares the text line by line. It does not read Markdown or HTML formatting, so a changed tag shows as changed text.
- When the two texts have more than 2,000 changed lines, the tool shows the changed part as one block. A note on the page tells you this.
- The tool does not ignore white space. A changed indent shows as a change.
- Get a link publishes the diff, not the two files. Anyone with the URL can open it for 30 days. Search engines do not index it.

## Diff checker questions

**Q: Does the diff checker send my text to Display?**

No. The tool compares the texts in your browser. Display receives the diff page only when you select Get a link.

**Q: Which files can I compare?**

Any plain-text file, such as .txt, .md, .html, .json, .csv or source code. The tool does not read Word or PDF files.

**Q: How does the tool find changed words?**

The tool pairs each removed line with the added line in the same place. When most of the line stayed the same, it marks the words that changed.

**Q: How long does the link work?**

30 days. Open the claim link and sign in to keep the page in your Display organization. After you claim it, you can make it open only for people at your company.

## Related tools

- [Markdown viewer](https://display.dev/tools/markdown-viewer.md): Read a .md file as a formatted document, with tables and code.
- [HTML viewer](https://display.dev/tools/html-viewer.md): See an HTML file as a page at phone, tablet and desktop widths.
- [All free tools](https://display.dev/tools.md)