Colorize Diff Output With colordiff

Wrap diff so additions and removals stand out.

LinuxdifftextTerminalLow risk
Run colordiff file1.txt file2.txt to see a colored diff.

01Command

Command
$ colordiff file1.txt file2.txt

02What it does

colordiff passes its arguments to diff and colourises the result, with themes configurable in ~/.colordiffrc. It is a tiny replacement for piping diff through sed when you want colour in scripts.

03Risk

RiskLow risk
Requirementssudo apt install colordiff
!Warning: It only wraps diff; use icdiff or delta when you need side-by-side or word-level highlighting.

04Undo

✓No undo needed — this command does not change persistent state.

05Sources

  • Debian package: colordiff
    Debian · vendor-doc · 2026-09-20
    Evidence: Debian packages colordiff, a wrapper around diff that colorizes its output.
  • colordiff
    Official project · vendor-doc · 2026-09-20
    Evidence: Debian packages colordiff, a wrapper around diff that colorizes its output.

Last verified: 2026-09-22 · Category: Developer

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