gh-154661: Reorganize difflib documentation#154662
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- Put common information in an intro section at the beginning, rather than in a duplicate doc entry for `SequenceMatcher` - Merge the two doc entries for `Differ` - Document timing as a CPython implementation detail - Group examples together
Documentation build overview
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hugovk
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Jul 25, 2026
| Junk heuristic | ||
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| :mod:`!difflib` uses a :dfn:`junk` heuristic: Some items are deemed to be |
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| :mod:`!difflib` uses a :dfn:`junk` heuristic: Some items are deemed to be | |
| :mod:`!difflib` uses a :dfn:`junk` heuristic: some items are deemed to be |
| ----------------------------- | ||
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| The algorithm used in :class:`SequenceMatcher` predates, and is a little | ||
| fancier than, an algorithm published in the late 1980's by Ratcliff and |
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| fancier than, an algorithm published in the late 1980's by Ratcliff and | |
| fancier than, an algorithm published in the late 1980s by Ratcliff and |
| The basic Ratcliff-Obershelp algorithm is cubic time in the worst | ||
| case and quadratic time in the expected case. | ||
| :mod:`difflib`'s algorithm is quadratic time for the worst case and has | ||
| expected-case behavior dependent in a complicated way on how many elements |
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| expected-case behavior dependent in a complicated way on how many elements | |
| expected-case behavior dependent on a complicated way on how many elements |
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| because they synch up anywhere possible, sometimes at accidental matches | ||
| 100 pages apart. | ||
| Restricting synch points to contiguous matches preserves some notion of |
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We use "sync" everywhere else, and avoids mispronunciation as "sinch" (which I have heard):
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| because they synch up anywhere possible, sometimes at accidental matches | |
| 100 pages apart. | |
| Restricting synch points to contiguous matches preserves some notion of | |
| because they sync up anywhere possible, sometimes at accidental matches | |
| 100 pages apart. | |
| Restricting sync points to contiguous matches preserves some notion of |
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| be ignored. Read the description of the | ||
| :meth:`~SequenceMatcher.find_longest_match` method's *isjunk* |
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Perhaps? (and may need an escape)
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| be ignored. Read the description of the | |
| :meth:`~SequenceMatcher.find_longest_match` method's *isjunk* | |
| be ignored. Read the description of | |
| :meth:`~SequenceMatcher.find_longest_match`'s *isjunk* |
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| :meth:`~io.IOBase.readlines` method of file-like objects. The delta | ||
| generated also consists of newline-terminated strings, ready to be |
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| :meth:`~io.IOBase.readlines` method of file-like objects. The delta | |
| generated also consists of newline-terminated strings, ready to be | |
| :meth:`~io.IOBase.readlines` method of file-like objects. The generated | |
| delta also consists of newline-terminated strings, ready to be |
hugovk
added
needs backport to 3.13
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And let's backport (if trivial). |
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SequenceMatcherDiffer