I am messing around with a text file editor, running under PHP, and have made
some minor change which has upset the editor. I trying to find what is wrong,
and have just compared two versions of an edited file in Beyond Compare.

It has told me "files don't match", but if I select "show all" it shows two
identical screens. If I select either "just differences", or "differences with
context", I get two blank screens. I suspect there is probably an extra space
on the end of a line, or a hidden character somewhere, but is there any way to
get it to tell me just what the perceived difference is?

Clancy

Clancy wrote:
> I am messing around with a text file editor, running under PHP, and have made
> some minor change which has upset the editor. I trying to find what is wrong,
> and have just compared two versions of an edited file in Beyond Compare.
>
> It has told me "files don't match", but if I select "show all" it shows two
> identical screens.

In Beyond Compare, go to Tools > Options > Startup. Set "Show dialog
with quick comparison results" to "Rules-based quick compare".

--
David Powers, Adobe Community Expert
Author, "The Essential Guide to Dreamweaver CS3" (friends of ED)
Author, "PHP Solutions" (friends of ED)
http://foundationphp.com/

David Powers <david@example.com> wrote:

>In Beyond Compare, go to Tools > Options > Startup. Set "Show dialog
>with quick comparison results" to "Rules-based quick compare".

Thanks, David.

Now the files match. So the alleged mismatch was due to some glitch in the
quick comparison procedure?


Clancy

Clancy wrote:
> Now the files match. So the alleged mismatch was due to some glitch in the
> quick comparison procedure?

The default quick comparison is a binary comparison. Rules-based is more
accurate.

--
David Powers, Adobe Community Expert
Author, "The Essential Guide to Dreamweaver CS3" (friends of ED)
Author, "PHP Solutions" (friends of ED)
http://foundationphp.com/

David Powers <david@example.com> wrote:

>Clancy wrote:
>> Now the files match. So the alleged mismatch was due to some glitch in the
>> quick comparison procedure?
>
>The default quick comparison is a binary comparison. Rules-based is more
>accurate.

?? Apart from the quickest, surely binary comparison is the the only truly
accurate way to do it. I can only guess that the rule-based comparison takes
account of the fact that while almost any difference may be significant in text
files, if you are comparing high-level language files some differences will not
be significant, depending on the particular language used.

For example in PHP the following two scraps of code are functionally equivalent.
------------
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Test factorials. Try 1.</p><h5>&nbsp;</h5>
<?php
$i = 1;
$j = 7;
$fact[0] = 1;
while ($i < $j)
{
$fact[$i] = $fact[$i-1]*$i;
echo '<p>Factorial('.$i.') = '.$fact[$i++].'</p>';
}
?>
-------------
<?php echo '<p>&nbsp;</p><p>Test factorials. Try 2.</p><h5>&nbsp;</h5>';
$i=1;$j=7;$fact[0]=1;
while($i<$j){$fact[$i]=$fact[$i-1]*$i;echo'<p>Factorial('.$i.') =
'.$fact[$i++].'</p>';} ?>


I notice that Beyond Compare does not have a rule for PHP, perhaps because PHP
files are usually a random mixture of PHP, HTML, and text.


Clancy