Help in comparing 2 RTF files of the same format

[Sam137]

I have two RTF format files which are of same format as attached. I want to compare each and every line and if i found any mismatch betweeen these 2 files I want to report in an text file in a very meaningful way.

20c Rep.RTF

[BrewManNH]

You might want to look at this program, as it does a very good job at doing that.

[sleepydvdr]

I don't know if you want to write something in AutoIt for the challenge or if you just need a tool to get this one job done. Below is a freeware that can do exactly what you want.

http://www.prestosoft.com/edp_examdiff.asp

[Sam137]

These tools are not going to be helpful in my case.

I have 2 folders - New and Old Environements

In each folders I will have atleast 50 + files.

So my requirement is i need to go to the OLD folder and search for the same file name in the NEW folder and compare the 2 files and is any differences found I should report in an text format.

[Unsigned]

What about iterating through the directory files and comparing with `fc`?

If they are the same, you will see:

C:\>fc dir1\file1.ext dir2\file1.ext
 
Comparing files dir1\file1.ext and dir2\file1.ext
FC: no differences encountered

Otherwise:

C:\>fc dir1\file2.ext dir2\file2.ext
 
Comparing files dir1\file2.ext and dir2\file2.ext
***** dir1\file2.ext
foo
***** dir2\file2.ext
bar
*****

Just filter out identical matches and pipe the rest to your output file.

Edited September 30, 2011 by Unsigned

[Sam137]

I dont this this will work for my requirement or not. I want to the reporting to be my custom format in a text file saved in a location which i specify.

[Melba23]

Sam137,

This will compare 2 files line-by-line and tell you when they are different:

#include <File.au3>
#include <Array.au3>

Global $a1_Lines, $a2_Lines

_FileReadToArray("File_1.rtf", $a1_Lines)
_FileReadToArray("File_2.rtf", $a2_Lines)

For $i = 1 To $a1_Lines[0]
    If $a1_Lines[$i] <> $a2_Lines[$i] Then
        ConsoleWrite("Difference in line " & $i & @CRLF & "1: " & $a1_Lines[$i] & @CRLF & "2: " & $a2_Lines[$i] & @CRLF)
    EndIf
Next

That was trivial - but I am intrigued by the need to report this in "a very meaningful way" as this might be more difficult. Could you give us an example of different lines and how you want to report the differences?

M23

Edit: To make sense - I hope!

Edited September 30, 2011 by Melba23

[Unsigned]

Alternatively, Melba23's code could be written as a UDF (assuming this would be preferable given the need for constant re-use.)

Note that this is not a good general method for dif comparison, and is only useful when both files follow a strict format with the same number of lines. (One extra line in one file will cause any subsequent lines to be reported as non-matching.) However, from what you've said, this seems to be what you're dealing with.

#include <File.au3>
#include <Array.au3>
 
Func _ReportFileDif($f1, $f2, $reportfile)
    Local $l1, $l2, $wf
 
    _FileReadToArray($f1, $l1)
    _FileReadToArray($f2, $l2)
    $wf = FileOpen($reportfile, 1)
 
    For $i = 1 To $l1[0]
        If $l1[$i] <> $l2[$i] Then FileWriteLine($wf, "Difference in line " & $i & @CRLF & "File1: " & $l1[$i] & @CRLF & "File2: " & $l2[$i] & @CRLF)
    Next
 
    FileClose($wf)
EndFunc

Edited September 30, 2011 by Unsigned