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A markup language used by Python's Sphinx documentation generator. Standard for Python project documentation.
David Goodger designed reStructuredText (rST) in 2001 as part of the Python Docutils project, creating a lightweight markup language that balances readability in plain text with the ability to produce richly structured output. rST became the standard documentation format for the Python ecosystem through its adoption by Sphinx, the documentation generator that powers docs.python.org and thousands of other Python project documentation sites. The markup uses intuitive conventions — underlined headings, indented blocks, and inline markers like double backticks for code — while providing advanced features including cross-references, footnotes, citations, tables, admonitions, and a powerful directive system for extending functionality. Sphinx extends rST with autodoc directives that extract documentation from Python docstrings, intersphinx for cross-project linking, and numerous output builders targeting HTML, PDF (via LaTeX), ePub, and man pages.
Beyond Python, rST is used by the Linux kernel documentation, OpenStack, and various scientific computing projects. The format supports semantic roles that enable domain-specific markup — for example, :func:`name` creates a hyperlinked reference to a function definition. Read the Docs, the popular documentation hosting platform, was built around Sphinx and rST workflows.
While Markdown has gained broader popularity for general-purpose documentation, rST's superior handling of complex document structures, cross-references, and extensibility keep it the preferred choice for large-scale technical documentation projects that require precise formatting control and multi-format output.
reStructuredText's directive and cross-reference systems mean that changes to headings, labels, and includes can break documentation builds across an entire project. Comparing rST files catches modified heading levels that restructure the table of contents, altered cross-reference targets that produce broken links, changed directive options that affect rendering, and updated toctree entries that hide or reorder documentation sections.
Technical writers reviewing documentation PRs need side-by-side diffs to verify that structural changes produce the intended Sphinx output.
UtraDiff compares reStructuredText files with syntax highlighting for section headings, directives like .. code-block:: and .. toctree::, inline markup, role references, and cross-reference targets. Side-by-side view separates prose content edits from structural directive changes, making documentation reorganization clearly visible.
The whitespace-ignore toggle filters indentation changes within directive content blocks. Alt+arrow navigation jumps between changed sections, supporting Python and Sphinx documentation review workflows efficiently.
Supported extensions: .rst