Win2k "secret weapon" file comparison tool (2)

In the previous article we introduced the file comparison tool command, followed by the last introduction operation:

Third, the operation guide

1. Interface function:

The operation guide mainly introduces the function of each menu item on the interface. So first of all, you should first familiarize yourself with the way WinDiff opens. No matter which one you use, the interface after opening is as shown:

File menu:

Compare Files

After clicking this item, a dialog box is displayed, which is very similar to the standard file open dialog. You can select the files to be compared in this dialog. They can be automatically opened after all selections have been completed, and then the comparison will start automatically.

Compare Directories

This item also displays a dialog box for you to select two directories or folders, to specify the path for the next comparison, you can use an absolute path or Relative to the path to the current folder, if there are subdirectories, you can use the Include Subdirectories option. You can also use the name of the subdirectory.

Abort

Click on this item to abort the unfinished comparison when needed.

Save File List

This item allows you to save the comparison results in a file in outline mode. The so-called outline mode means that there are two kinds of outlines and expansion modes for the display of comparison results: the outline mode is characterized by abbreviated, each result occupies one line; the expansion mode is very detailed, and many items are displayed. It will be described in detail later in the example. During the comparison process, the file is checked for each file and the results are recorded. These results are saved in a file.

Copy Files

Use a dialog box to display a list of files that need to be written to the current disk. The main purpose of this item is to use this when necessary. Try to synchronize the two directories that participate in the comparison.

Print

Result of print file comparison: You can select outline mode or expanded mode to print.

Edit menu

In the Edit menu, the main items are the same as the regular edit menu, but the following items are not available in the regular menu:

Edit Left File

Edit Right File

Edit Composite File

These commands allow the editor to call a text editor from WinDiff. You can edit the integration of either or both of the two files involved in the comparison. The two files that participate in the comparison are in the first place, which are customarily called left (hand) files, and the other is called right (hand) files.

Set Editor

This item allows you to set the selected editor. And the settings of some items in the editor, WinDiff default state, is the notepad as an editor. The following are the characters used for some project settings:

%p

The path used to represent the edit.

%l

The default state is used to represent the line number.

notepad %p

If you want to use Notepad smoothly, you also need to set: s %p -#%l

Open the program: follow the method described above if To compare between two files, in the File menu, click Compare Files. In the Select First File dialog, specify the first file to participate in the comparison. Then select the next comparison file in the Select Second File dialog.

Expand menu (Extension (Display) Menu)

Left File Only

Only the left file is displayed.

Right File Only

Only the right file is displayed.

Both Files (default)

The comparison results of the two files are displayed in a single file, but the information belonging to the two files is distinguished by red and yellow. Whoever uses the color of the left and right files will understand it as soon as you can.

Left Line Numbers (default)

The line number is displayed in the comparison result based on the left file.

Right Line Numbers

The line number is displayed in the comparison result based on the right file.

No Line Numbers

Do not display line numbers.

View Menu

Outline

Sets the display of the comparison result to outline mode. This mode shows a simple result.

Expand

Set the display of the comparison results to extended mode. The results displayed in this mode are very detailed.

Picture

Analog picture display. In extended mode, the location of the current content is graphically displayed.

Previous Change

Jumps to the previous comparison point of the file based on the current position (the difference between the two).

Next Change

Jump to the next comparison point of the file based on the current location.

Options menu

Ignore Blanks:

Ignore whitespace. Blanks are the parts that are ignored in extended mode. These appear as intervals.

The following four options control the display of files in outline mode:

Show Identical Files

shows the same files contained in each path.

Show Left-only Files

Shows only the files contained in the left (hand) file path.

Show Right-only Files

Only files contained in the right (hand) file path are displayed.

Show Different Files

Shows the parts of the two paths that are not identical.

Outline mode display

Display in outline mode, the comparison results list each line in the order of the first letter of the file name, but not included in the A file in a subdirectory.

2. Example:

The following is an example of comparison:

windiff c:temp d:progsnew command and comparison path

The result is as follows:

.myfile.txt identical

.hisfile.txt files differ

.newestmyfile.txt only in C:TEMP

.newestx .x only in D:PROGSNEW

.oldestfile identical

Other comparisons can be extended on the basic format of the above command. The returned results are similar.

3. How to understand the comparison results

The purpose of our comparison of documents is to get the returned results and understand the meaning of these results. In general, there are many statements for indications in the returned results to indicate the status of an item. The indication statement is:

Identical

means that the two files are identical after comparison. .

Files Differ or Different Sizes

means that the two files are not the same, and may be different from the blanks left between the files in the file.

Only In path

Specify only the path where the existing file is located.

Files Differ? (Left Unreadable)

The first file specified, the left file, is not available or can't be read, although the path is correct. The reason may be that the file is denied access, or because the location is on the remote network, and the network has an error.

Files Differ? (Right Unreadable)

The second file specified, the right file, is not available or can't be read, although the path is correct. The reason may be that the file denied access. But this is different from the above: at this time, the left file can be read smoothly.

Unreadable files are treated differently

Treat incomprehensible parts as different. And when the extended mode is displayed, it is highlighted with a red background.

Many of the above directives are actually items in the Options menu Options. If you only want to see the item of interest in the comparison, you can make a selection in the options menu to make an indicator valid or closed. However, it should be noted that turning off those primary directives and opening those auxiliary directives will make the results difficult to understand and may cause confusion.

Switching between outline mode and extended mode:

When you select a comparison file, the default display mode is outline mode, and the result is shown in Figure 3:

There is an Expand button, and if you click on it, you can switch to extended mode immediately. The figure below is an example of an extended mode display.

You will find that the text on the button changes to Outline again. Clicking the button again will switch back to the outline mode. In extended mode, all files with the same name but different content are displayed in red. The same part is shown in black.