Eclipse Compare Editor: difference between the 'next difference' and 'next change' buttons?

Question

A simple question today...

In the Eclipse compare editor (right click file - compare with...) what is the difference between the 'next difference' and 'next change' buttons? They seem to do exactly the same thing.

Its bugging me!

Thanks

Answer 1

The Help page for the "compare editor" states:

• A change is a portion of text that has been modified within the line, and
• the difference is a section of file consisting of one or more lines, and can contain many changes.

Differences are marked with blue color, changes with red.

So if each of the differences are only one change within one line each time... then yes, changes and differences will match exactly.