does WIn10 have a built-in file compare command line utility the emits the same output format as Unix Diff command?
FC.EXE doesn’t create an “edit script” or at least not in the same format.
If there isn’t one built in, is there a “Free” one. my app needs to be able to call such a program from a Shell.
I have it working just find in macOS, but it has the Unix Diff as part of the OS already
I would have preferred to do the whole thing in pure Xojo code… but the Diff process is a bit complex especially when you start applying various compare criteria
it is
best I can figure is you use FC with one of the gazillion options it has that gets you kind of close to diff-like and then do some extra leg work on Windows
or write one (which is admittedly a decent sized job)
MinGW does not include a diff tool (at least my install of MinGW doesn’t).
Cygwin is an almost complete Linux sub-system but you cannot use the tools from a Windows command line (not easily anyway).
Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) is the Unix tool of choice for Windows but cannot be used from the standard command line.
Maybe I’m misunderstanding what you’re trying to accomplish Dave, but what about KDiff3 ? Although it’s an older program, and I’ve only used the GUI aspects of KDiff3, it still works fine on Windows 10 and it does appear to have some command-line options including an arguments for specifying an output file. See documentation
Thanks Scott… but I need only the “edit script” output exactly like the Unix DIFF command creates (see above post for a description of the 3 output formats (add/delete/change). I could have sworn there was such a tool in an older version of Windows, but seems I am mistaken.
FC doesn’t do it
COMPARE-OBJECTS doens’t do it
I was hoping for purposes of completeness to have my app work XPlat, but looks like it would require the user to install something additional.
You need to look at MinGW and see about building a Win32 verison of their diff tool for windows. This really is the only way to get a compatible diff for Windows.