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How to Integrate the File Comparison Tool with Git

The file comparison tool can be integrated with Git clients. It requires that you configure your .gitconfig file and then you can simply start the tool from the command line.

To integrate the Compare Files tool with your Git client, follow this procedure:

Use one of the following methods to instruct your Git client to use the Oxygen Compare Files tool:
- Manual Configuration - Locate your Git user-specific configuration file (.gitconfig) and edit it with a text editor (for example, in Windows, the .gitconfig file is most likely located in your user home directory). Add (or replace) the following lines:
```
[diff]
    tool = oxygendiff
[merge]
    tool = oxygendiff
[difftool "oxygendiff"]
    cmd = '[pathToOxygenInstallDir]/diffFiles.exe' -ext $REMOTE $LOCAL $LOCAL
[mergetool "oxygendiff"]
    cmd = '[pathToOxygenInstallDir]/diffFiles.exe' -ext $LOCAL $REMOTE $BASE $MERGED
    trustExitCode = true
[difftool]
    prompt = false
```
  Note: For macOS, the cmd lines would start with something like: sh "/Applications/Oxygen XML Editor/diffFiles.sh". For Linux, the cmd lines would start with something like: sh "/Oxygen XML Editor/diffFiles.sh".
  Tip: On Redhat 7, the following command would work, where the whole command is quoted and then inside that, the path to diffFiles.sh is quoted:
```
[difftool "oxygendiff"]
   cmd = '"/home/user/Oxygen XML Editor 21/diffFiles.sh"' -ext $REMOTE $LOCAL $LOCAL
[mergetool "oxygendiff"]
   cmd = '"/home/user/Oxygen XML Editor 21/diffFiles.sh"' -ext $LOCAL $REMOTE $BASE 
        $MERGED trustExitCode = true
```
- Command Line Configuration - To automatically configure the .gitconfig file, you can run the following commands from a command line:
```
git config --global diff.tool oxygendiff
git config --global difftool.oxygendiff.cmd '[Oxygen install dir]/diffFiles.exe -ext
$REMOTE $LOCAL $LOCAL'
git config --global merge.tool oxygendiff
git config --global mergetool.oxygendiff.cmd '[Oxygen install dir]/diffFiles.exe
-ext $LOCAL $REMOTE $BASE $MERGED'
git config --global mergetool.oxygendiff.trustExitCode true
```
  Note: For macOS, the Oxygen file comparison tool would be specified in the second and fourth commands with something like: sh "/Applications/Oxygen XML Editor/diffFiles.sh". For Linux, it would be something like: sh "/Oxygen XML Editor/diffFiles.sh".
To start the Compare Files tool and see a comparison of changes for a particular file, run the following command from a command line:
```
git difftool [PathToFile]
```
Tip: If the file you want to compare has conflicts, you can start the Compare Files tool as a merge conflict resolution tool by running the following command:
```
git mergetool [PathToFile]
```

For more information about the Git difftool syntax, see https://git-scm.com/docs/git-difftool.

For more information about the Git mergetool syntax, see https://git-scm.com/docs/git-mergetool.