Switch between diffchar and the default diff method without restarting vimdiff

[drrossum]

This is exactly my question, but the answer is outdated:
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/28407691/vim-disable-plugin-by-default-diffchar

In vim8, I put this plugin in the ~/.vim/.../opt/ folder. Then, how do I enable the plugin when I'm looking at the two files in vimdiff?

[rickhowe]

How about using packadd command to load the plugin? Or you could locate the plugin in .../start/ folder. g:DiffExpr is not used now.

[drrossum]

I put the plugin in the opt folder, start vimdiff on two files, type packadd. I now still see the normal (non-diffchar) diff result.

What what command do I issue now to see the diffchar diffs?

[rickhowe]

If you locate the plugin in opt folder, it is not loaded at vim startup. You can use -c 'packadd diffchar' option or add 'packadd diffchar' in your vimrc. If possible, it might be better to locate them in start folder so that it is automatically loaded at sartup

[drrossum]

Starting vimdiff with -c 'packadd diffchar.vim' on the command line works. Thank you!

Out of curiosity: would you know a way to load and activate the plugin after vimdiff has started? I mean, without quitting vimdiff and starting vimdiff again using the CLI option above? It would be a very useful feature to be able to toggle!

[rickhowe]

You can use diffthis and diffoff commands on any windows, Check to see :help diff.

[drrossum]

The feature I'm interested in is maybe better described as: "switch between diffchar and the default diff method without restarting vimdiff".

I updated the title to hopefully be more descriptive

[rickhowe]

I see you want to toggle diff mode windows between with and without diffchar plugin. This is a kind of a private option, but if you set 1 to g:NoDiffChar variable, the plugin does nothing. Try to set 0 or 1 to the variable after or before diffthis and diffoff.

[drrossum]

cool! I'll use a function to do this:

let g:NoDiffChar=1
function! DiffToggle()
    let g:NoDiffChar = g:NoDiffChar? 0: 1
    diffoff | diffthis
endfunction

[rickhowe]

Hi, is it possible close this issue?