command line interface to difflib py providing diffs in four formats ndiff lists every line and highlights interline changes context highlights clusters of changes in a beforeafter format unified highlights clusters of changes in an inline format html generates side by side comparison with change highlights
import sys, os, difflib, argparse
from datetime import datetime, timezone

def file_mtime(path):
    t = datetime.fromtimestamp(os.stat(path).st_mtime,
                               timezone.utc)
    return t.astimezone().isoformat()

def main():

    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
    parser.add_argument('-c', action='store_true', default=False,
                        help='Produce a context format diff (default)')
    parser.add_argument('-u', action='store_true', default=False,
                        help='Produce a unified format diff')
    parser.add_argument('-m', action='store_true', default=False,
                        help='Produce HTML side by side diff '
                             '(can use -c and -l in conjunction)')
    parser.add_argument('-n', action='store_true', default=False,
                        help='Produce a ndiff format diff')
    parser.add_argument('-l', '--lines', type=int, default=3,
                        help='Set number of context lines (default 3)')
    parser.add_argument('fromfile')
    parser.add_argument('tofile')
    options = parser.parse_args()

    n = options.lines
    fromfile = options.fromfile
    tofile = options.tofile

    fromdate = file_mtime(fromfile)
    todate = file_mtime(tofile)
    with open(fromfile) as ff:
        fromlines = ff.readlines()
    with open(tofile) as tf:
        tolines = tf.readlines()

    if options.u:
        diff = difflib.unified_diff(fromlines, tolines, fromfile, tofile, fromdate, todate, n=n)
    elif options.n:
        diff = difflib.ndiff(fromlines, tolines)
    elif options.m:
        diff = difflib.HtmlDiff().make_file(fromlines,tolines,fromfile,tofile,context=options.c,numlines=n)
    else:
        diff = difflib.context_diff(fromlines, tolines, fromfile, tofile, fromdate, todate, n=n)

    sys.stdout.writelines(diff)

if __name__ == '__main__':
    main()