See unsaved changes in vscode

user_7497431 0
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Sometimes when closing vscode, or a tab therein, I get a dialogue asking "Do you want to save the changes you made to filename?" However, the unsaved edits are actually from a previous session that was closed without such a query, probably when turning off the computer, so I can't remember if it was meaningful edits, or maybe just an accidental key-press, like a shortcut gone wrong; and doing undo to revisit the last edits doesn't work either.

My question: How can I see the diff between the saved version of a file, and the version in the editor window? I think it would be nicest just to have a "show diff" option in the dialogue, but for now I'm also happy with a command line diff command.

I'm using ubuntu 20.04.

visual-studio-code
3 Answers

I'm using VSCode version 1.52.1 on MacOS and I had a similar problem that may not be the same problem, but I'm guessing it will work for you as well.

When you're in the Explorer view, in the upper left part of Explorer you have your "Open Editors." If that shows a dot to the left indicating that the buffer has changes in it, you can right click the file name and select "Compare with Saved." This will open another buffer to the side that will show you any unsaved changes.

To get rid of that window (it took me a bit to figure this out I'm sorry to say!), you can click the 'X' to the left of the extra buffer in "Open Editors."

Hope this works for you!

user_77532840

A few bright notes for the keyboard players out there:

  • The command you are asking about has a default shortcut. Unless you've applied a keyboard map extension, the Ctrl+Kd arpeggio opens the very same diff view between the active and saved versions of the current file. The default shortcut to close an editor tab (be it the diff or a file or anything at all) is Ctrl+W.
  • The command, like any command in VSCode, is also accessible via the Ctrl+Shift+P command dropdown (on Linux, F1 opens it too). Start typing e.g. compa sav (it saves your keyboard wear and tear to shorten words to a prefix which is unambiguous enough), and the list will shrink dynamically to just a few commands. Yours is File: Compare Active File with Saved. When it's close to the top enough, navigate the list of commands with the down arrow and execute it with Enter. As a bonus, you may click on the little gear to the right of the command currently highlighted in the list and redefine its shortcut, if you use it very often and prefer a chord shortcut to the default arpeggio one. Sorry, there does not seem to be a shortcut in lieu of the gear click. If there is, please let me know!
  • But if you really, really want to right-click on the filename in the Open Editors view of the Explorer sidebar, you can open that view directly with, you guessed it, a shortcut: Ctrl+Ke. And if you change your mind on a dime right at this moment, or realize that you in fact never had a mouse to do the right-click in the first place, use Shift+F10 to drop down the "right-click menu", properly called the context menu, which you navigate with arrows and execute with Enter (that's kinda a common theme, as you probably noticed). This works mostly anywhere the right-click does.
  • While in the Open Editors view, to switch to an editor file tab, move the selection to the desired file. Press Space to bring the file into view but stay in the Open Editors view, or Enter to bring the file into view and shift the keyboard focus to it. Pressing Ctrl+Shift+E brings focus back to the editor from any view in the Explorer sidebar. The same shortcut moves focus to the Explorer sidebar from the editor.

Happy ♬ k'boarding ♬!

user_11499240

ctrl+shift+P (or command+shift+P on mac) and fuzzy search for "compare changes with saved files"

user_2316640
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