Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!samsung!xylogics!transfer!crackers!jjmhome!smds!rh From: rh@smds.UUCP (Richard Harter) Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions Subject: Re: Looking for "diff"-like code to find differences between two files Summary: Binary and text comparison Message-ID: <210@smds.UUCP> Date: 18 Oct 90 03:20:27 GMT References: <1990Oct15.035844.162@midway.uchicago.edu> Organization: SMDS Inc., Concord, MA Lines: 39 In article <1990Oct15.035844.162@midway.uchicago.edu>, gft_robert@gsbacd.uchicago.edu writes: ----- "I'm working on a project on the Mac in which we need to compare the text of two files. We need to do this on a character-by-character basis, not merely line-by-line, because we need to go back and indicate which words/chars were deleted and added... We were looking at the GNU diff routine, but from looking at the source it seems that this may only output info on a line-by-line basis (we don't have the man pages and haven't built it yet, so I don't know for sure). While the resulting app may end up running under A/UX, basically it will be a Macintosh app. I'm posting this to the unix groups in the hope that there may be a unix tool which we can adapt to our purposes. Of course if someone has some sample code which is not made for unix, that would be fine too." If you are mostly interested in document comparison on the MAC I can recommend Docucomp from Advanced Software Inc. 1095 E. Duane Ave #100 Sunnyvale CA 94086 It does a character/word diff on two files, displays them side by side, and marks differences with different fonts (deleted words are crossed out.) This may be exactly what you are looking for. If you must have a UNIX solution and can't find anything more appropriate SMDS does have a character difference program. It was designed to be used in conjunction with binary file version control -- the output is a specification of the number of bytes inserted and deleted at each change point. Contact us if all else fails. However I suspect that docucomp does what you want. -- Richard Harter, Software Maintenance and Development Systems, Inc. Net address: jjmhome!smds!rh Phone: 508-369-7398 US Mail: SMDS Inc., PO Box 555, Concord MA 01742 This sentence no verb. This sentence short. This signature done.