How to select and apply a diff patch to a specific file in Visual Studio Code using the VSC UI?

Question

I received a diff patch for a project I'm working on and I want to know if there is a simple way in Visual Studio Code, to apply that diff to the file it is referred to?

Visual Studio Code has added some git support in the last few versions.

I don't want to use git command line tools (I won't reject answers but will not accept them as solutions).

For example, I want to know if I can right click on the main source file and select an option, "Apply diff patch" and it opens a file dialog allowing me to select the diff file and apply the changes.

I also have Github Desktop available to use but that doesn't seem to have an "Apply diff" option either.

Thanks in advance.

I have seen this related post:

How do you take a git diff file, and apply it to a local branch that is a copy of the same repository?

When I run the git command I get an error:

directory$ git apply xcrun: error: invalid active developer path (/Library/Developer/CommandLineTools), missing xcrun at: /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/usr/bin/xcrun

Update: The error above went away after installing XCode command line tools (more info here, https://www.studytonight.com/post/solved-mac-os-xcrun-error-invalid-active-developer-path-missing-xcrun). But the apply command still seems to have done nothing.

Update2: It appears that I have to address the different folder structure used in the diff patch. See https://mcmap.net/q/63595/-how-do-you-take-a-git-diff-file-and-apply-it-to-a-local-branch-that-is-a-copy-of-the-same-repository.

Git Patch for Visual Studio Code looks like what I'm looking for. However, here is the error that I see when using it.

Honeybunch

Answer 1

In command-line, you could try patch -p1 < my.patch as described in "Error while applying a patch in git".

But in VSCode, there is no command related to patch, so you would need an extension, like git-patch.

Stonwin

I've seen some examples that do not use the pipe command "<". Is there a reason to use it or not use it? See https://mcmap.net/q/63595/-how-do-you-take-a-git-diff-file-and-apply-it-to-a-local-branch-that-is-a-copy-of-the-same-repository – Honeybunch

Git Patch looks exactly what I was hoping for but it is giving an error but does not show what the error is. I am adding the snapshot of what I see. It probably has to do with the patch having a folder structure. See https://mcmap.net/q/63595/-how-do-you-take-a-git-diff-file-and-apply-it-to-a-local-branch-that-is-a-copy-of-the-same-repository – Honeybunch

@1.21gigawatts I believe both work (man7.org/linux/man-pages/man1/patch.1.html) – Stonwin

@1.21gigawatts Exactly, which is why patch -p1 is safer. – Stonwin

@1.21gigawatts: Side note: < is not a pipe, it's a redirection operator in the shell. | is also a redirection operator and a pipe, so piping is a subset of redirection. < redirects a program's standard input (to come from some file) and > redirects a program's standard output (to go to some file). You can use both of these, e.g., prog <in >out. The | syntax directs a program's output to another program: prog1 | prog2 runs two programs, with the first's output being the second's input. – Soothfast

@Soothfast Agreed. I am just unclear as to why patch would both accept a filename and a file content (through redirection). I suppose it covers all use case. – Stonwin

@VonC: yep, basically the same idea as many other programs: read a, or all, named files, if one or more are named; if none are named, read stdin. (The built in patch on FreeBSD doesn't accept multiple input files: if you use two file names, one is supposed to be the file to be patched, and the second is the patch file. That seems to be pretty standard: the Linux man pages imply the same.) – Soothfast

@1.21gigawatts I am the author of git patch, Let me go through this. – Martamartaban

@ParagDiwan Great, thank you for your participation. I will monitor your GitHub project and update the answer if you release a new version. – Stonwin