DeepDiff 6.2.3 documentation!

Customized Diff

Iterable Compare Func

New in DeepDiff 5.5.0

There are times that we want to guide DeepDiff as to what items to compare with other items. In such cases we can pass a iterable_compare_func that takes a function pointer to compare two items. The function takes three parameters (x, y, level) and should return True if it is a match, False if it is not a match or raise CannotCompare if it is unable to compare the two.

For example take the following objects:

Now let’s define a compare_func that takes 3 parameters: x, y and level.

>>> from deepdiff import DeepDiff
>>> from deepdiff.helper import CannotCompare
>>>
>>> t1 = [
...     {
...         'id': 1,
...         'value': [1]
...     },
...     {
...         'id': 2,
...         'value': [7, 8, 1]
...     },
...     {
...         'id': 3,
...         'value': [7, 8],
...     },
... ]
>>>
>>> t2 = [
...     {
...         'id': 2,
...         'value': [7, 8]
...     },
...     {
...         'id': 3,
...         'value': [7, 8, 1],
...     },
...     {
...         'id': 1,
...         'value': [1]
...     },
... ]
>>>
>>> DeepDiff(t1, t2)
{'values_changed': {"root[0]['id']": {'new_value': 2, 'old_value': 1}, "root[0]['value'][0]": {'new_value': 7, 'old_value': 1}, "root[1]['id']": {'new_value': 3, 'old_value': 2}, "root[2]['id']": {'new_value': 1, 'old_value': 3}, "root[2]['value'][0]": {'new_value': 1, 'old_value': 7}}, 'iterable_item_added': {"root[0]['value'][1]": 8}, 'iterable_item_removed': {"root[2]['value'][1]": 8}}

As you can see the results are different. Now items with the same ids are compared with each other.

>>> def compare_func(x, y, level=None):
...     try:
...         return x['id'] == y['id']
...     except Exception:
...         raise CannotCompare() from None
...
>>> DeepDiff(t1, t2, iterable_compare_func=compare_func)
{'iterable_item_added': {"root[2]['value'][2]": 1}, 'iterable_item_removed': {"root[1]['value'][2]": 1}}

If we set the verbose_level=2, we can see more details.

>>> DeepDiff(t1, t2, iterable_compare_func=compare_func, verbose_level=2)
{'iterable_item_added': {"root[2]['value'][2]": 1}, 'iterable_item_removed': {"root[1]['value'][2]": 1}, 'iterable_item_moved': {'root[0]': {'new_path': 'root[2]', 'value': {'id': 1, 'value': [1]}}, 'root[1]': {'new_path': 'root[0]', 'value': {'id': 2, 'value': [7, 8]}}, 'root[2]': {'new_path': 'root[1]', 'value': {'id': 3, 'value': [7, 8, 1]}}}}

We can also use the level parameter. Levels are explained in the Tree View.

For example you could use the level object to further determine if the 2 objects should be matches or not.

>>> t1 = {
...     'path1': [],
...     'path2': [
...         {
...             'id': 1,
...             'value': [1]
...         },
...         {
...             'id': 2,
...             'value': [7, 8, 1]
...         },
...     ]
... }
>>>
>>> t2 = {
...     'path1': [{'pizza'}],
...     'path2': [
...         {
...             'id': 2,
...             'value': [7, 8, 1]
...         },
...         {
...             'id': 1,
...             'value': [1, 2]
...         },
...     ]
... }
>>>
>>>
>>> def compare_func2(x, y, level):
...     if (not isinstance(x, dict) or not isinstance(y, dict)):
...         raise CannotCompare
...     if(level.path() == "root['path2']"):
...         if (x["id"] == y["id"]):
...             return True
...         return False
...
>>>
>>> DeepDiff(t1, t2, iterable_compare_func=compare_func2)
{'iterable_item_added': {"root['path1'][0]": {'pizza'}, "root['path2'][0]['value'][1]": 2}}

Note

The level parameter of the iterable_compare_func is only used when ignore_order=False which is the default value for ignore_order.

Custom Operators

Whether two objects are different or not are largely depend on the context. For example, apple and banana are the same if you are considering whether they are fruits or not.

In that case, you can pass a custom_operators for the job.

In fact, custom operators give you a lot of power. In the following examples we explore use cases from making DeepDiff report the L2 Distance of items, to only include certain paths in diffing all the way to making DeepDiff stop diffing as soon as the first diff is reported.

To define an custom operator, you just need to inherit a BaseOperator and

  • implement a give_up_diffing method
    • give_up_diffing(level: DiffLevel, diff_instance: DeepDiff) -> boolean

      If it returns True, then we will give up diffing the 2 objects. You may or may not use the diff_instance.custom_report_result within this function to report any diff. If you decide not to report anything, and this function returns True, then the objects are basically skipped in the results.

  • pass regex_paths and types that will be used to decide if the objects are matched to the init method. once the objects are matched, then the give_up_diffing will be run to compare them.

In fact you don’t even have to subclass the base operator.

This is all that is expected from the operator, a match function that takes the level and a give_up_diffing function that takes the level and diff_instance.

def _use_custom_operator(self, level):
    """
    For each level we check all custom operators.
    If any one of them was a match for the level, we run the diff of the operator.
    If the operator returned True, the operator must have decided these objects should not
    be compared anymore. It might have already reported their results.
    In that case the report will appear in the final results of this diff.
    Otherwise basically the 2 objects in the level are being omitted from the results.
    """

    for operator in self.custom_operators:
        if operator.match(level):
            prevent_default = operator.give_up_diffing(level=level, diff_instance=self)
            if prevent_default:
                return True

    return False

Example 1: An operator that mapping L2:distance as diff criteria and reports the distance

>>> import math
>>>
>>> from typing import List
>>> from deepdiff import DeepDiff
>>> from deepdiff.operator import BaseOperator
>>>
>>>
>>> class L2DistanceDifferWithPreventDefault(BaseOperator):
...     def __init__(self, regex_paths: List[str], distance_threshold: float):
...         super().__init__(regex_paths)
...         self.distance_threshold = distance_threshold
...     def _l2_distance(self, c1, c2):
...         return math.sqrt(
...             (c1["x"] - c2["x"]) ** 2 + (c1["y"] - c2["y"]) ** 2
...         )
...     def give_up_diffing(self, level, diff_instance):
...         l2_distance = self._l2_distance(level.t1, level.t2)
...         if l2_distance > self.distance_threshold:
...             diff_instance.custom_report_result('distance_too_far', level, {
...                 "l2_distance": l2_distance
...             })
...         return True
...
>>>
>>> t1 = {
...     "coordinates": [
...         {"x": 5, "y": 5},
...         {"x": 8, "y": 8}
...     ]
... }
>>>
>>> t2 = {
...     "coordinates": [
...         {"x": 6, "y": 6},
...         {"x": 88, "y": 88}
...     ]
... }
>>> DeepDiff(t1, t2, custom_operators=[L2DistanceDifferWithPreventDefault(
...     ["^root\\['coordinates'\\]\\[\\d+\\]$"],
...     1
... )])
{'distance_too_far': {"root['coordinates'][0]": {'l2_distance': 1.4142135623730951}, "root['coordinates'][1]": {'l2_distance': 113.13708498984761}}}

Example 2: If the objects are subclasses of a certain type, only compare them if their list attributes are not equal sets

>>> class CustomClass:
...     def __init__(self, d: dict, l: list):
...         self.dict = d
...         self.dict['list'] = l
...
>>>
>>> custom1 = CustomClass(d=dict(a=1, b=2), l=[1, 2, 3])
>>> custom2 = CustomClass(d=dict(c=3, d=4), l=[1, 2, 3, 2])
>>> custom3 = CustomClass(d=dict(a=1, b=2), l=[1, 2, 3, 4])
>>>
>>>
>>> class ListMatchOperator(BaseOperator):
...     def give_up_diffing(self, level, diff_instance):
...         if set(level.t1.dict['list']) == set(level.t2.dict['list']):
...             return True
...
>>>
>>> DeepDiff(custom1, custom2, custom_operators=[
...     ListMatchOperator(types=[CustomClass])
... ])
{}
>>>
>>>
>>> DeepDiff(custom2, custom3, custom_operators=[
...     ListMatchOperator(types=[CustomClass])
... ])
{'dictionary_item_added': [root.dict['a'], root.dict['b']], 'dictionary_item_removed': [root.dict['c'], root.dict['d']], 'values_changed': {"root.dict['list'][3]": {'new_value': 4, 'old_value': 2}}}
>>>

Example 3: Only diff certain paths

>>> from deepdiff import DeepDiff
>>> class MyOperator:
...     def __init__(self, include_paths):
...         self.include_paths = include_paths
...     def match(self, level) -> bool:
...         return True
...     def give_up_diffing(self, level, diff_instance) -> bool:
...         return level.path() not in self.include_paths
...
>>>
>>> t1 = {'a': [10, 11], 'b': [20, 21], 'c': [30, 31]}
>>> t2 = {'a': [10, 22], 'b': [20, 33], 'c': [30, 44]}
>>>
>>> DeepDiff(t1, t2, custom_operators=[
...     MyOperator(include_paths="root['a'][1]")
... ])
{'values_changed': {"root['a'][1]": {'new_value': 22, 'old_value': 11}}}

Example 4: Give up further diffing once the first diff is found

Sometimes all you care about is that there is a difference between 2 objects and not all the details of what exactly is different. In that case you may want to stop diffing as soon as the first diff is found.

>>> from deepdiff import DeepDiff
>>> class MyOperator:
...     def match(self, level) -> bool:
...         return True
...     def give_up_diffing(self, level, diff_instance) -> bool:
...         return any(diff_instance.tree.values())
...
>>> t1 = [[1, 2], [3, 4], [5, 6]]
>>> t2 = [[1, 3], [3, 5], [5, 7]]
>>>
>>> DeepDiff(t1, t2, custom_operators=[
...     MyOperator()
... ])
{'values_changed': {'root[0][1]': {'new_value': 3, 'old_value': 2}}}

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