File Comparing Tools Review and Feedback

Beyond Compare allows you to quickly and easily compare your files and folders. By using simple, powerful commands you can focus on the differences you’re interested in and ignore those you’re not. You can then merge the changes, synchronize your files, and generate reports for your records.

You can compare entire drives and folders at high speed, checking just sizes and modified times. Or, thoroughly verify every file with byte-by-byte comparisons. FTP sites and zip files are integrated seamlessly, so you can update your website with the touch of a button. Once you’ve found pecific files you’re interested in, Beyond Compare can intelligently pick the best way to compare and display them. Text files can be viewed and edited with syntax highlighting and comparison rules tweaked specifically for documents, source code, and HTML. Data files, executables, binary data, and images all have dedicated viewers as well, so you always have a clear view of the changes.

Specialized Viewers

Beyond Compare includes built-in comparison viewers for a variety of data types. Compare .csv data or HTML tables in a Data Compare session,
or images in a Picture Compare session.

3-way Merge Pro edition only

Introduced in version 3, Beyond Compare’s new merge view allows you to combine changes from two versions of a file into a single output. Its intelligent approach allows you to quickly accept most changes while carefully examining conflicts. Color coding and section highlighting allow you to accept, reject, or combine changes, simply and easily. And, you can change any line in the output with the built-in syntax-highlighting editor. By using Beyond Compare’s powerful file type support and ability to favor changes from one file, you can trivially accept many changes without even seeing them.

You can use Beyond Compare directly from most version control systems, giving you all of the powerful comparing and merging support you need when you need it most. Integrated source control commands are also available, allowing you to check in and check out files without interrupting your work.

Synchronize Folders

Beyond Compare’s intuitive Folder Sync interface lets you reconcile differences in your data automatically. You can efficiently update your laptop, backup your computer, or manage your website, and Beyond Compare will handle all the details. You can copy to and from disks, FTP servers, and zip files, all using the same interface. Anything you don’t want affected can be easily filtered out, and all of the powerful comparison techniques are available, making the backup as fast or robust as you need.

You can automate repetitive tasks using a flexible scripting language, and any script can be called from the command line, allowing you to schedule your syncs for when it’s most convenient.

Compare two folders feature allows to find and synchronize changes that were made in two folders.

Report can be created once you compared two files or folders. It contains detailed comparison information.

Document audit allows to accept or decline changes that were made in plain text files .

Ignore words. Starting version 5.0 Compare Suite can ignore certain keywords or strings while comparison.

Syntax highlighting. Compare Suite can now highlight syntax for some popular formats, such as .pas, .php, .htm and other.

Multimedia and graphics comparison. Compare Suite can compare information from multimedia and graphic formats.

Command line allows to automate comparison and integrate Compare Suite with other software products, Compare Suite can be a part of quality assurance script set.

Server-side comparison. Provide your employees with ability to compare documents on-line.

• File comparison and merging
• Binary and image file comparison
• Three-way comparison and automatic merging
• Integrated folder hierarchy comparison and synchronization
• Direct access to FTP sites and configuration management systems
• Report generation
• Print support, Automation and other advanced features

• File comparison
• Folder comparison
• Image Comparison
• Reports
• File conversion: supported
• Diverse comparison methods
• Three-way comparison Yes
• Text navigation
• Report functionality
• Merge functionality
• Integration with version control systems Yes
• Folder comparison
• Folder hierarchy synchronization Yes
• Custom file filters
• Byte-by-byte comparison

WinMerge is highly useful for determining what has changed between project versions, and then merging changes between versions. WinMerge can be used as an external differencing/merging tool or as a standalone application.

Features

In addition, WinMerge has many helpful supporting features that make comparing, synchronising, and merging as easy and useful as possible:

General

• Supports Microsoft Windows 98/2000/XP/2003/Vista/2008
• Handles Windows, Unix and Mac text file formats
• Unicode support
• Tabbed interface

File Compare

• Visual differencing and merging of text files
• Flexible editor with syntax highlighting, line numbers and
• word-wrap
• Highlights differences inside lines
• Difference pane shows current difference in two vertical

Panes

• Location pane shows map of files compared
• Moved lines detection

Folder Compare

• Regular Expression based file filters allow excluding and
• including items
• Fast compare using file sizes and dates
• Compares one folder or includes all subfolders

Version Control

• Creates patch files
• Resolve conflict files
• Rudimentary Visual SourceSafe and Rational ClearCase integration

Other

• Shell Integration (supports 64-bit Windows versions)
• Archive file support using 7-Zip
• Plugin support
• Localizable interface
• Online manual and installed HTML Help manual

You can use the cmp command to show the offsets and line numbers where two files differ. cmp can also show all the characters that differ between the two files, side by side.

You can use the diff3 command to show differences among three files. When two people have made independent changes to a common original, diff3 can report the differences between the original and the two changed versions, and can produce a merged file that contains both persons’ changes together with warnings about conflicts.

You can use the sdiff command to merge two files interactively.