Prediction and ranking of co-change candidates for clones

Code clones are identical or similar code fragments scattered in a code-base. A group of code fragments that are similar to one another form a clone group. Clones in a particular group often need to be changed together (i.e., co-changed) consistently. However, all clones in a group might not require consistent changes, because some clone fragments might evolve independently. Thus, while changing a particular clone fragment, it is important for a programmer to know which other clone fragments in the same group should be consistently co-changed with that particular clone fragment.