Compare two files (or sets of files). Display items which do not match.
Syntax
COMP [pathname1] [pathname2] [/D] [/A] [/L] [/N=number] [/C]
Key
pathname1 The path and filename of the first file(s)
pathname2 The path and filename of the second file(s)
/D Display differences in decimal format. (default)
/A Display differences in ASCII characters.
/L Display line numbers for differences.
/N=number Compare only the first X number of lines in the file.
/C do a case insensitive string comparison
Running COMP with no parameters will result in a prompt for the 2 files and any options
To compare sets of files, use wildcards in pathname1 and pathname2 parameters.
When used with the /A option COMP is similar to the FC command but it displays the individual characters that differ between the files rather than the whole line.
To compare files of different sizes, use /N= to compare only the first n lines (common portion of each file.)
COMP will normally finish with a Compare more files (Y/N) prompt
to suppress this: ECHO n|COMP <options>
Errorlevel
COMP will return an ErrorLevel as follows:
0 Files are identical
1 Files are different
2 Cannot open one of the files or invalid arguments or invalid switch
“Shall I compare thee to a summer's day” ~ William Shakespeare
Related:
FC - Compare two files and display any LINES which do not match.
Powershell: Compare-Object - Compare the properties of objects, e.g. compare content of files.
Equivalent bash command (Linux): cmp - Compare two files.