Text Filters
Text Filters help you to filter out content that's irrelevant for your comparison.You can choose to completely remove content matching a pattern or to replace matching content with generic text or symbols, pointing to the existence of previous content without cluttering the comparison.
Typical use cases are timestamps, memory addresses or identifiers that are often not relevant when comparing data such as log files or generated JSON data.
Using Text Filters
Filters are accessible to any open document via the View > Processing submenu or the Processing toolbar button at the bottom of the document window.
Note that multiple filters can be selected simultaneously.
Creating Custom Filters
In addition to using pre-defined text filters, custom ones can be created for your needs. They are available to all documents and stored in the app settings.
To open the Text Filters window, use either:
From the menu bar, select Window > Text Filters
With a document open, select View > Processing > Edit Filters…
Click the Add button (+) in the toolbar to create a new custom filter. The currently selected filter will be duplicated as a starting point.
Name and Notes
Filter Name and Notes are for you to help you remember the use case for a filter.
Search Pattern and Replacement
The Search Pattern ist the critical part defining what to match. The syntax follows the ICU format and the filters window tries to support you in finding syntax mistakes you may make. There is also a toolbox of common elements accessible next to the pattern field.
Below that, you can choose whether to simply remove the matched content, or to remove it with something else. The menu on the right supports you in using replacement patterns you might have defined in search, and to choose emoji symbols that may be helpful.
Sample Preview
Use the area on the bottom right to enter/paste your own text. This helps you getting the serach pattern right and play with how the replacement will look.
Removing Custom Filters
In case you created filters that you no longer need, follow the steps above to show the Text Filters window. Then select the filter to be removed from the sidebar and hit the delete (-) button from the toolbar.
