Highlight the difference between two strings in PHP

Question

What is the easiest way to highlight the difference between two strings in PHP?

I\'m thinking along the lines of the Stack Overflow edit history page, where new text

Answer 1

I had terrible trouble with the both the PEAR-based and the simpler alternatives shown. So here's a solution that leverages the Unix diff command (obviously, you have to be on a Unix system or have a working Windows diff command for it to work). Choose your favourite temporary directory, and change the exceptions to return codes if you prefer.

/**
 * @brief Find the difference between two strings, lines assumed to be separated by "\n|
 * @param $new string The new string
 * @param $old string The old string
 * @return string Human-readable output as produced by the Unix diff command,
 * or "No changes" if the strings are the same.
 * @throws Exception
 */
public static function diff($new, $old) {
  $tempdir = '/var/somewhere/tmp'; // Your favourite temporary directory
  $oldfile = tempnam($tempdir,'OLD');
  $newfile = tempnam($tempdir,'NEW');
  if (!@file_put_contents($oldfile,$old)) {
    throw new Exception('diff failed to write temporary file: ' . 
         print_r(error_get_last(),true));
  }
  if (!@file_put_contents($newfile,$new)) {
    throw new Exception('diff failed to write temporary file: ' . 
         print_r(error_get_last(),true));
  }
  $answer = array();
  $cmd = "diff $newfile $oldfile";
  exec($cmd, $answer, $retcode);
  unlink($newfile);
  unlink($oldfile);
  if ($retcode != 1) {
    throw new Exception('diff failed with return code ' . $retcode);
  }
  if (empty($answer)) {
    return 'No changes';
  } else {
    return implode("\n", $answer);
  }
}