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To compare two CSV files in VS Code, right-click the first file in Explorer and choose Select for Compare. Right-click the second file and choose Compare with Selected. VS Code opens both files in its diff editor, where you can inspect their text differences.
Compare CSV files from Explorer
- Open the folder containing both CSV files in VS Code.
- In Explorer, right-click the first CSV and choose Select for Compare.
- Right-click the second CSV and choose Compare with Selected.
- Review the differences in the diff editor.
This two-file workflow is documented in VS Code’s Basic editing guide. Menu wording can vary with context; when both files are selected in Explorer, the interface may instead offer Compare Selected, as described in the user interface guide.
Other ways to start a comparison
Use the Command Palette
With the file you want to compare open and active, open the Command Palette and run File: Compare Active File With…. Choose another file in the workspace to open the diff. This is useful when you are already editing one of the CSVs.
Use the terminal
If you know both file paths, run:
code --diff file1.csv file2.csvReplace the example names with the actual paths. The VS Code command-line reference documents --diff (also available as -d) with two file-path arguments. If the code command is not available, use the official platform setup instructions to add the VS Code command-line binary to your system path.
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Choose a diff layout
The diff editor can show changes side by side or inline. Its Automatic layout selects a presentation based on the available editor width, as explained in VS Code’s diff layout documentation. Use the layout that makes the changed lines easiest to scan; the comparison workflow itself is the same.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What the comparison means for CSV data
VS Code’s documented built-in workflow compares file content in a diff editor. The cited documentation does not establish a CSV-aware mode that matches records by a chosen column or treats reordered rows as equivalent. If rows have moved, the diff may show text-level changes rather than a record-by-record comparison based on a business key.
That distinction matters when comparing exports: a file diff answers “which text differs?” It does not, on the basis of the documented workflow, answer “which records differ after matching rows by customer ID?” If you need the latter, use a workflow or tool that explicitly supports key-based record matching rather than assuming the built-in diff will align rows semantically.
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