Comparing 2 files

Suppose I have 2 Excel files and I wish to check if they are the same or not.
Is there any software out there that will do that?

 

It's built in to windows. Open a command prompt.

Code:

fc /b <path-to-first-file> <path-to-second-file>

For example:

Code:

fc /b C:\Finance.xls I:\Finance.xls

You'll either get a bunch of differences or a message that they're the same.

 

hmm I tried that already but witout /b
what does /b do?

thanks for the tip.

 

nm I got it.

 

For those who wonder what the /b is, it is this:

/B Performs a binary comparison.

 

Yeah, if you don't do /b then fc will assume you're comparing ASCII or ANSI text files, and it spits out the differences raw to the console. This means you get a bunch of control characters outputing to the screen, which results in a whole bunch of beeps and pauses and other ugly stuff.

 

yeah but still this fc /b only works for txt files not xls or doc files.
I was wondering if there was a program out the that does like a binary sort kind of thing except it compares 2 files, ignores ws and blanks.

Shit i could program it to do that with my collage noob programming skillz.

 

Oh, you want to know if the contents of each file are the same. As in in file1.xls cell b3 has $100. Does this match file2.xls?

No. I have no idea how to do something like that beyond manual scanning. You could try exporting the files to comma delimited files (.csv) and then running fc /L /W on them.

 

hm thats a good idea. Yeah I do allot of Crystal reports at work. It is a pain comparing 2 files for equality when one is from the database and the other from an outside source.

Thats alright thanks for your help.