Get started with data comparison

It is important to know where a user's data is stored, and how it is being used. With file comparison, a person can quickly obtain all relevant information regarding a file, detect if any changes have been made to its overall data, and highlight any differences between two or more files.

File comparison, for those unaware with the term, is a computing term for the automatic comparing of data between files in a file system. The comparisons are displayed to the user, and can be used to accomplish tasks for revision control and in networks and file systems. File comparison abilities are usually found in word processors and text editors.

Specific examples of file comparison utilities include Microsoft File Compare, a MS-DOS 3.30 (and subsequent versions of Microsoft Windows) based program that highlights differences between the two files, and FileMerge, a Mac OS (operating system) X developer tool that implements graphic-based file comparison applications.

There are several free software comparison tools that are currently available for users to download off of the internet. All of these tools are considered "freeware" and can be found with a search engine query:

CFDiff tools can analyze changes made between two revisions of the same file or folder, and is used to analyze HTML and MS-Word documents, as well as program source files. CFDiff is Cold Fusion compatible, and provide similar, but not necessarily compatible, functionality to what is provided by traditional Unix "diff" utilities.

ExamDiff is a Windows tool for visual-file comparison that toggles between the first and second files, detects any changes in file information, and prompts the user to compare files again once the process is complete. Among its various features, ExamDiff is an excellent tool to compare Excel spreadsheets as well as to compare Excel columns.

Compare Suite is one of the most popular tool which professionals prefer to use for testing automation and comparison of office documents. Compare Suite supports most popular file formats, such as PDF, Word and Excel, more over, it's less expensive in comparison to ExamDiff.

GNU Diffutils allows users to utilize the "diff" command (among other utilities) to show differences between two files, or a similar corresponding file in two directories.

KDiff3 is a platform-independent graphics-text difference analyzer that can accommodate up to 3 input files, can analyze characters individually, compare and merge directories, and implements a text merging tool and editor. This tool can work on Windows, Macintosh (OS X) and Linux.

WinMerge is a useful tool that runs on Microsoft Windows, and is able to detect and determine what changes have been made between project versions, then implement further merge changes between each subsequent version. WinMerge can efficiently handle DOS, UNIX and MAC text file formats.

xxdiff works as a graphical browser to view differences between two to three files or directories, and can create a merged version. This tool can work on Windows, Macintosh and Linux.

With all of the different variables that can be examined in a data file, there are several resources of downloadable program content that can examine those numerous aspects and make the necessary merging changes needed to keep the files current. While the thought of comparing files may sound like a daunting process, many of these tools offer a GUI (graphical user interface) based display, and can exhibit any differences side by side in a Window, or even highlight the difference in a more user friendly manner.

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