Yes, I thought about that, but I have not been inclined toward the use of Cpan modules. For one, I lose portability. Also, in the past whenever I looked into using one (can't remember which ones now) I always got discouraged by the lack of simple documentation, and instruction on how to implement. All I could ever find was scraps of this and that.
: Though I must say, the Cpan page on diff is the best I've seen.