dtolnay/dissimilar

Diff library with semantic cleanup, based on Google's diff-match-patch

Rust

243

146 commits

updated Aug 8, 2026

See the code

README

Dissimilar: diff library with semantic cleanup

github crates.io docs.rs build status

This library is a port of the Diff component of Diff Match Patch to Rust. The diff implementation is based on Myers' diff algorithm but includes some semantic cleanups to increase human readability by factoring out commonalities which are likely to be coincidental.

Diff Match Patch was originally built in 2006 to power Google Docs.

[dependencies]
dissimilar = "1.0"

Interface

Here is the entire API of the Rust implementation. It operates on borrowed strings and the return value of the diff algorithm is a vector of chunks pointing into slices of those input strings.

pub enum Chunk<'a> {
    Equal(&'a str),
    Delete(&'a str),
    Insert(&'a str),
}

pub fn diff(text1: &str, text2: &str) -> Vec<Chunk>;

License

The diff algorithm in this crate was ported to Rust using the Java and C++ implementations found at https://github.com/google/diff-match-patch as reference, and is made available here under the Apache License, Version 2.0 matching the license of the original. This entire project, including some parts unmodified from upstream and the Rust-specific modifications introduced in the course of porting the implementation, are distributed under this Apache license.

Intellectual property that is unique to the Rust implementation is additionally made available to you dually under the MIT license, if you prefer. This applies to all design choices and implementation choices not found in the upstream repo.

Unless you explicitly state otherwise, any contribution intentionally submitted for inclusion in this crate by you, as defined in the Apache-2.0 license, shall be dual Apache and MIT licensed, without any additional terms or conditions.

Project health

Overall

4.7/10

Maintained

0/10

Code review

0/10
OpenSSF Scorecard

crates.io

Latest release

1.0.11 · Mar 15, 2026

Releases this year

1

Significant stargazers

John Nunley

331 followers · starred Jul 2023

Esteban Kuber

645 followers · starred May 2020

oxalica

536 followers · starred Sep 2022

Devin Ragotzy

57 followers · starred Dec 2019

dtolnay/dissimilar

Diff library with semantic cleanup, based on Google's diff-match-patch

Rust

243

146 commits

updated Aug 8, 2026

See the code

README

Dissimilar: diff library with semantic cleanup

github crates.io docs.rs build status

This library is a port of the Diff component of Diff Match Patch to Rust. The diff implementation is based on Myers' diff algorithm but includes some semantic cleanups to increase human readability by factoring out commonalities which are likely to be coincidental.

Diff Match Patch was originally built in 2006 to power Google Docs.

[dependencies]
dissimilar = "1.0"

Interface

Here is the entire API of the Rust implementation. It operates on borrowed strings and the return value of the diff algorithm is a vector of chunks pointing into slices of those input strings.

pub enum Chunk<'a> {
    Equal(&'a str),
    Delete(&'a str),
    Insert(&'a str),
}

pub fn diff(text1: &str, text2: &str) -> Vec<Chunk>;

License

The diff algorithm in this crate was ported to Rust using the Java and C++ implementations found at https://github.com/google/diff-match-patch as reference, and is made available here under the Apache License, Version 2.0 matching the license of the original. This entire project, including some parts unmodified from upstream and the Rust-specific modifications introduced in the course of porting the implementation, are distributed under this Apache license.

Intellectual property that is unique to the Rust implementation is additionally made available to you dually under the MIT license, if you prefer. This applies to all design choices and implementation choices not found in the upstream repo.

Unless you explicitly state otherwise, any contribution intentionally submitted for inclusion in this crate by you, as defined in the Apache-2.0 license, shall be dual Apache and MIT licensed, without any additional terms or conditions.

Project health

Overall

4.7/10

Maintained

0/10

Code review

0/10
OpenSSF Scorecard

crates.io

Latest release

1.0.11 · Mar 15, 2026

Releases this year

1

Significant stargazers

John Nunley

331 followers · starred Jul 2023

Esteban Kuber

645 followers · starred May 2020

oxalica

536 followers · starred Sep 2022

Devin Ragotzy

57 followers · starred Dec 2019