ExamDiff, my personal favourite UNIX DIFF file creator software (for side-by-side comparison of text files, such as a Programmer’s source code) for the Windows (win32) operating system, has all of the features necessary to effectively compare two text-based files when there is a need to determine any slight differences which may exist between the two.

The following examples illustrate a few of the common tasks which may be completed with remarkably greater efficiency, when ExamDiff for Windows is employed to aid in comparing similar text files:

• Apache server installation:
  • Compare an “old” httpd.conf file with that which is included in a new Apache distribution
  • ExamDiff quickly reveals areas, such as ServerRoot, ServerName, and ServerAdmin, which tend to require changing before a new server installation Service is started
• Compare an optimized php.ini file with the php.ini-dist or php.ini-recommended files bundled with a new PHP release

ExamDiff Command Line Options

The following information was accessed from www.prestosoft.com , the ExamDiff developer’s web site. Make note of these options if you wish to launch ExamDiff from the Command Line (e.g. cmd.exe), or if you need a method by which to open files from a 3rd party file explorer, like FreeCommander.

Command line options include: Usage: ExamDiff [Filename1] [Filename2] [Options]

• Filename1, Filename2 are names of files to be compared
• Options are any of: /i ignore case
• /w ignore all white space in lines
• /b ignore changes in amount of white space in lines
• /l ignore leading white space in lines
• /e ignore trailing white space in lines
• /t treat both files as text files
• /d show differences only
• /n don’t show initial “Compare Files” dialog
• /aN scroll trough all differences with N second delay and exit after the last difference
• /?,/h print this screen

NOTE: if options /i, /w, /b, /l, /e, /t, or /d are not set, the last used options remain in effect.