Diff output from two commands quickly in vim
Question: I have two hosts that should be running the same version of squid. To verify
that this was indeed true, I ran `squid -v` on each of the hosts and collected
the output from them.

Is there a quick way in vim to compare these text blobs and print the diff? I
was able to do this in python, but was wondering if someone could show me a
few tricks in vim.

    
    
    host1 # squid3 -v 
    Squid Cache: Version 3.3.8
    Ubuntu
    configure options:  '--build=x86_64-linux-gnu' '--prefix=/usr' '--includedir=${prefix}/include' '--mandir=${prefix}/share/man' '--infodir=${prefix}/share/info' '--sysconfdir=/etc' '--localstatedir=/var' '--libexecdir=${prefix}/lib/squid3' '--srcdir=.' '--disable-maintainer-mode' '--disable-dependency-tracking' '--disable-silent-rules' '--datadir=/usr/share/squid3' '--sysconfdir=/etc/squid3' '--mandir=/usr/share/man' '--enable-inline' '--enable-async-io=8' '--enable-storeio=ufs,aufs,diskd,rock' '--enable-removal-policies=lru,heap' '--enable-delay-pools' '--enable-cache-digests' '--enable-underscores' '--enable-icap-client' '--enable-follow-x-forwarded-for' '--enable-auth-basic=DB,fake,getpwnam,LDAP,MSNT,MSNT-multi-domain,NCSA,NIS,PAM,POP3,RADIUS,SASL,SMB' '--enable-auth-digest=file,LDAP' '--enable-auth-negotiate=kerberos,wrapper' '--enable-auth-ntlm=fake,smb_lm' '--enable-external-acl-helpers=file_userip,kerberos_ldap_group,LDAP_group,session,SQL_session,unix_group,wbinfo_group' '--enable-url-rewrite-helpers=fake' '--enable-eui' '--enable-esi' '--enable-icmp' '--enable-zph-qos' '--enable-ecap' '--disable-translation' '--with-swapdir=/var/spool/squid3' '--with-logdir=/var/log/squid3' '--with-pidfile=/var/run/squid3.pid' '--with-filedescriptors=65536' '--with-large-files' '--with-default-user=proxy' '--enable-ssl' '--with-open-ssl=/etc/ssl/openssl.cnf' '--enable-linux-netfilter' 'build_alias=x86_64-linux-gnu' 'CFLAGS=-g -O2 -fPIE -fstack-protector --param=ssp-buffer-size=4 -Wformat -Werror=format-security -Wall' 'LDFLAGS=-Wl,-Bsymbolic-functions -fPIE -pie -Wl,-z,relro -Wl,-z,now' 'CPPFLAGS=-D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2' 'CXXFLAGS=-g -O2 -fPIE -fstack-protector --param=ssp-buffer-size=4 -Wformat -Werror=format-security'
    
    host2 # squid3 -v 
    Squid Cache: Version 3.3.8
    Ubuntu
    configure options:  '--build=x86_64-linux-gnu' '--prefix=/usr' '--includedir=${prefix}/include' '--mandir=${prefix}/share/man' '--infodir=${prefix}/share/info' '--sysconfdir=/etc' '--localstatedir=/var' '--libexecdir=${prefix}/lib/squid3' '--srcdir=.' '--disable-maintainer-mode' '--disable-dependency-tracking' '--disable-silent-rules' '--datadir=/usr/share/squid3' '--sysconfdir=/etc/squid3' '--mandir=/usr/share/man' '--enable-inline' '--enable-async-io=8' '--enable-storeio=ufs,aufs,diskd,rock' '--enable-removal-policies=lru,heap' '--enable-delay-pools' '--enable-cache-digests' '--enable-underscores' '--enable-icap-client' '--enable-follow-x-forwarded-for' '--enable-auth-basic=DB,fake,getpwnam,LDAP,MSNT,MSNT-multi-domain,NCSA,NIS,PAM,POP3,RADIUS,SASL,SMB' '--enable-auth-digest=file,LDAP' '--enable-auth-negotiate=kerberos,wrapper' '--enable-auth-ntlm=fake,smb_lm' '--enable-external-acl-helpers=file_userip,kerberos_ldap_group,LDAP_group,session,SQL_session,unix_group,wbinfo_group' '--enable-url-rewrite-helpers=fake' '--enable-eui' '--enable-esi' '--enable-icmp' '--enable-zph-qos' '--enable-ecap' '--disable-translation' '--with-swapdir=/var/spool/squid3' '--with-logdir=/var/log/squid3' '--with-pidfile=/var/run/squid3.pid' '--with-filedescriptors=65536' '--with-large-files' '--with-default-user=proxy' '--enable-linux-netfilter' 'build_alias=x86_64-linux-gnu' 'CFLAGS=-g -O2 -fPIE -fstack-protector --param=ssp-buffer-size=4 -Wformat -Werror=format-security -Wall' 'LDFLAGS=-Wl,-Bsymbolic-functions -fPIE -pie -Wl,-z,relro -Wl,-z,now' 'CPPFLAGS=-D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2' 'CXXFLAGS=-g -O2 -fPIE -fstack-protector --param=ssp-buffer-size=4 -Wformat -Werror=format-security'
    

I assigned the output from each host to two variables in python and computed
the diff as below:

    
    
    >>> import re
    >>> re.findall("('\S+')", x)
    >>> x='''configure options:  '--build=x86_64-linux-gnu' '--prefix=/usr' '--includedir=${prefix}/include' '--mandir=${prefix}/share/man' '--infodir=${prefix}/share/info' '--sysconfdir=/etc' '--localstatedir=/var' '--libexecdir=${prefix}/lib/squid3' '--srcdir=.' '--disable-maintainer-mode' '--disable-dependency-tracking' '--disable-silent-rules' '--datadir=/usr/share/squid3' '--sysconfdir=/etc/squid3' '--mandir=/usr/share/man' '--enable-inline' '--enable-async-io=8' '--enable-storeio=ufs,aufs,diskd,rock' '--enable-removal-policies=lru,heap' '--enable-delay-pools' '--enable-cache-digests' '--enable-underscores' '--enable-icap-client' '--enable-follow-x-forwarded-for' '--enable-auth-basic=DB,fake,getpwnam,LDAP,MSNT,MSNT-multi-domain,NCSA,NIS,PAM,POP3,RADIUS,SASL,SMB' '--enable-auth-digest=file,LDAP' '--enable-auth-negotiate=kerberos,wrapper' '--enable-auth-ntlm=fake,smb_lm' '--enable-external-acl-helpers=file_userip,kerberos_ldap_group,LDAP_group,session,SQL_session,unix_group,wbinfo_group' '--enable-url-rewrite-helpers=fake' '--enable-eui' '--enable-esi' '--enable-icmp' '--enable-zph-qos' '--enable-ecap' '--disable-translation' '--with-swapdir=/var/spool/squid3' '--with-logdir=/var/log/squid3' '--with-pidfile=/var/run/squid3.pid' '--with-filedescriptors=65536' '--with-large-files' '--with-default-user=proxy' '--enable-ssl' '--with-open-ssl=/etc/ssl/openssl.cnf' '--enable-linux-netfilter' 'build_alias=x86_64-linux-gnu' 'CFLAGS=-g -O2 -fPIE -fstack-protector --param=ssp-buffer-size=4 -Wformat -Werror=format-security -Wall' 'LDFLAGS=-Wl,-Bsymbolic-functions -fPIE -pie -Wl,-z,relro -Wl,-z,now' 'CPPFLAGS=-D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2' 'CXXFLAGS=-g -O2 -fPIE -fstack-protector --param=ssp-buffer-size=4 -Wformat -Werror=format-security'
    '''
    # Similarly, assign output from host2 to x1 
    
    >>> s1 = set(re.findall("('\S+')", x))
    >>> s2 = set(re.findall("('\S+')", x1))
    
    >>> s1-s2
    set(["'--enable-ssl'", "'--with-open-ssl=/etc/ssl/openssl.cnf'"])
    


Answer: To compare the 2 results you need to get each output in a file on the same
machine (`squid3 -v >> yourFile` and a basic file transfer should do the
trick).

Once you have your two files open them in vim `vim file1 file2`. This will
load both files in vim buffers.

Then you'll need to have two split windows to compare your files: If you are
currently on the `file1` buffer use `:vsplit file2` to open the second buffer
in a vertical split window.

Then you can enter diff mode with `:windo diffthis` and leave it with
`:diffoff`.

As stated by @romanarmy in the comments of your question
[vimcast](http://vimcasts.org/episodes/comparing-buffers-with-vimdiff/) is an
excellent resource to learn more about Vim.

