File Comparison Summary

The Perl script available here compares two files and generates an HTML document that shows a summary of differences between the files.

This tool is not run from the Chuck Taylor Web site; it is intended to run on your system. The script is free software. You are free to download a copy of the script and use it as-is or customize it to your needs.

Get the Perl script here.

System Requirements

The File Comparison Summary tool is a Perl script and requires specific features to be available on the system on which it is run.

Perl 5.0; see http://www.perl.org/ and the Comprehensive Perl Archive Network.
A diff utility that supports the -n option. Most UNIX diff programs satisfy this requirement, including GNU diff (which can be obtained for Microsoft Windows and other systems as well).

Using the Script

Command Syntax and Options

Once you have installed the script on your system, using it is straightforward. The command syntax is as follows:

    comparison-summary.pl [options] file1 file2

The options provided by the script are as follows:

-col num: Limit the summary to a maximum of num columns. The default is 80 columns.
-h, -help: Print a help message that briefly explains the command syntax and the available options.
-links: Include links to previous and next changes in the comparison summary.
-nointro: Suppress the generation of an informational introduction in the comparison summary.
-number: Add line numbers to the comparison summary.
-style file: Replace the default style definition with the contents of file.
-v: Verbose: Precede each addition in the comparison summary with "(Added)" and each deletion with "(Deleted)".
-vv: Verbose: Same as -v, but also follow additions with "(End added)" and deletions with "(End deleted)".

Script Output

All script output is sent to the standard output device. In most cases you will probably want to redirect the script's output to a file (typically with an extension of .html).