Useful Software and Software Solution

Visual Text Comparison

October 2nd, 2006

Sometime we need to know the difference of a text file to another text file. This is especially when we are dealing with text files which may have multiple revisions.
Especially for programmers, knowing what changed is important to maintain the code quality and to make sure new changes does not introduce new bugs.

In this situation, having visual text comparison software would become useful. The basic functionality of this type of software is to show where does the changes been applied, whether a new text has been added, edited, replaced or removed.

One software doing this is WinMerge. This is an open source software and so it is completely free. So just give it a try. If you need to compare text file occasionally, WinMerge would be adequate.

However, if you need to do the file comparison on regular basis, I would suggest using other software. WinMerge can become a bit confusing and the look and feel could be improved further.

Currently I’m using Araxis Merge. It is an awesome tool since I need to do a lot of file comparison in my daily work.

Araxis merge is simple enough to use, just drag any 2 or 3 files for comparison and it highlights where the differences are.

How it highlights and points the changes is where Araxis Merge makes it more favorable than WinMerge. Plus, the accurateness of the comparison seems better in Araxis Merge.

So if you need to do text comparison often, Araxis Merge is a must have.

Entry Filed under: Stand alone Software