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In computing, the utility diff is a data comparison tool that computes and displays the differences between the contents of files. Unlike edit distance notions used for other purposes, diff is line-oriented rather than character-oriented, but it is like Levenshtein distance in that it tries to determine the smallest set of deletions and insertions to create one file from the other.
The file types addressed by individual file comparison apps varies but may include text, symbols, images, audio, or video. This category of software tool is often called "file comparison" or "diff tool", but those effectively are equivalent terms — where the term "diff" is more commonly associated with the Unix diff utility.
Displaying the differences between two or more sets of data, file comparison tools can make computing simpler, and more efficient by focusing on new data and ignoring what did not change. Generically known as a diff [ 1 ] after the Unix diff utility , there are a range of ways to compare data sources and display the results.
Main concerns for data differencing are usability and space efficiency (patch size).. If one simply wishes to reconstruct the target given the source and patch, one may simply include the entire target in the patch and "apply" the patch by discarding the source and outputting the target that has been included in the patch; similarly, if the source and target have the same size one may create a ...
In computing, fc (File Compare) is a command-line program in DOS, IBM OS/2 and Microsoft Windows operating systems, that compares multiple files and outputs the differences between them. [2] [3] It is similar to the Unix commands comm, cmp and diff.
Handles DOS, Unix, and Mac text file formats; Unicode support (as of version 2.8.0, UTF-8 files are correctly read without a BOM) Difference pane shows current difference in two vertical panes; Location pane shows map of files compared; Highlights differences inside lines in file compare; Can also generate HTML report with differences highlighted
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Revision control utilities can recreate a coherent structure where multiple users simultaneously modify the same file. Disk cleaners find files that are unnecessary to computer operation, or take up considerable amounts of space. File comparison utilities provide a standalone capability to detect differences between files.