React Compare

A React component for comparing strings and arrays with precise word-level and item-level highlighting of differences.

Live Storybook Demo

You can explore and interact with all features of this component in the live Storybook:

👉 Live Storybook Demo

The Storybook provides interactive examples for all comparison scenarios. You can adjust the inputs and props using the controls panel to see how the component behaves with different data. This is the best way to preview, test, and understand the capabilities of react-version-compare without writing any code.

Features

• 🎯 Precise Highlighting: Only highlights the actual differences, not entire lines
• 📝 String Comparison: Word-level diff for text content
• 📋 Array Comparison: Item-level diff for arrays of strings
• 📄 Contentful Rich Text: Compare Contentful documents with text or structure modes
• 🎨 Clean Visual Design: Clear red/green highlighting for changes
• 📱 Responsive: Works on desktop and mobile devices
• ⚡ TypeScript Support: Full TypeScript definitions included
• 🎛️ Multiple Views: Side-by-side or inline comparison modes

Installation

npm install @crashbytes/react-version-compare

yarn add @crashbytes/react-version-compare

Basic Usage

String Comparison

import React from 'react';
import Compare from '@crashbytes/react-version-compare';
import '@crashbytes/react-version-compare/dist/styles.css';

const App = () => {
  const original = 'I am Captain Kirk, Captain of the USS Enterprise.';
  const modified = 'I am Captain Picard, Captain of the USS Enterprise.';

  return (
    <Compare 
      original={original}
      modified={modified}
    />
  );
};

Result: Only "Kirk" (in red) and "Picard" (in green) will be highlighted.

Array Comparison

const originalArray = [
  'First item',
  'Second item', 
  'Third item'
];

const modifiedArray = [
  'First item',
  'Modified second item',
  'Third item'
];

<Compare 
  original={originalArray}
  modified={modifiedArray}
/>

Contentful Rich Text Comparison

The component now supports comparing Contentful Rich Text documents with two different modes:

import { Compare } from '@crashbytes/react-version-compare';
import { Document } from '@contentful/rich-text-types';

// Text mode - extracts plain text for comparison
<Compare 
  original={contentfulDoc1}
  modified={contentfulDoc2}
  compareMode="text"
  viewMode="side-by-side"
/>

// Structure mode - compares document structure
<Compare 
  original={contentfulDoc1}
  modified={contentfulDoc2}
  compareMode="structure"
  viewMode="side-by-side"
/>

Structure Mode preserves the semantic meaning of the document by comparing:

• Headings (with levels)
• Paragraphs
• Lists and list items
• Block quotes
• And other rich text elements

Text Mode extracts plain text content and performs word-level comparison, similar to string comparison.

API Reference

Props

Prop	Type	Default	Description
original	string | string[] | Document	required	The original content
modified	string | string[] | Document	required	The modified content
viewMode	'side-by-side' | 'inline'	'side-by-side'	How to display the comparison
className	string	''	Custom CSS class name
caseSensitive	boolean	true	Whether comparison is case sensitive
compareMode	'text' | 'structure'	'text'	Comparison mode for Contentful documents

Examples

Precise Word-Level Highlighting

// Example 1: Minimal changes
const original = 'I am Captain Kirk, Captain of the USS Enterprise.';
const modified = 'I am Captain Picard, Captain of the USS Enterprise.';
// Only "Kirk" → "Picard" highlighted

// Example 2: Multiple changes  
const original = 'I am Captain Kirk, Captain of the USS Enterprise.';
const modified = 'I am Commander Benjamin Sisko, Commander of Deep Space 9.';
// Highlights: "Captain Kirk, Captain of the USS Enterprise" → "Commander Benjamin Sisko, Commander of Deep Space 9"

Array Comparison

const original = ['Item A', 'Item B', 'Item C'];
const modified = ['Item A', 'Modified Item B', 'Item C', 'Item D'];

<Compare original={original} modified={modified} />

Inline View

<Compare 
  original="Original text"
  modified="Modified text"
  viewMode="inline"
/>

Styling

The component uses CSS classes that you can customize:

.diff-removed {
  /* Styling for removed content (red) */
}

.diff-added {
  /* Styling for added content (green) */
}

.diff-unchanged {
  /* Styling for unchanged content */
}

Use Cases

• Document revisions: Compare different versions of text
• Code reviews: Highlight changes in code snippets
• Content management: Show edits in articles or posts
• Data comparison: Compare lists or arrays of items
• Translation work: Compare original and translated text
• Contentful CMS: Compare rich text content versions and track editorial changes
• Documentation: Track changes in structured content with semantic meaning

How It Works

• String comparison: Uses word-level diffing to identify precise changes
• Array comparison: Compares items by position and content
• Contentful comparison: Extracts plain text or compares structural elements
• Smart highlighting: Only highlights actual differences, not entire lines
• Type safety: Ensures both inputs are the same type (strings, arrays, or Contentful documents)

License

Apache License 2.0 - see the LICENSE file for details.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

Support

If you encounter any issues or have questions, please open an issue on GitHub.

Changelog

See CHANGELOG.md for release history.

Versioning

To bump the version, use npm version:

npm version patch   # or 'minor' or 'major'

This will update package.json, create a git tag, and (optionally) commit the change.