I've been using TP for almost 15 years now, and, I've always loved it. But, I have to admit that I'm totally baffled as to the use of "compare files." I've got two simple text files. Each are simply directory listings of two directories. I just want to see what's in the first directory, but not in the second. Well, when I use the compare files tool, it gives me a bunch of < and > listings that make no sense at all. It doesn't seem to show actual differences!
Please help, anyone.
Thank you,
Peter
Using "compare files"
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The Compare Files function in TextPad isn't one of its strong points. The help file does explain the format of the results; look under How To -> Compare Text Files. The conventions come from the UNIX diff utility. You can read up about it if you're interested.
You'd be better off using an separate utility if you want to visualize file differences easily. If you only want to compare two directories, there are programs that do that too. For example, DiffMerge, TextDiff or TreeComp.
You'd be better off using an separate utility if you want to visualize file differences easily. If you only want to compare two directories, there are programs that do that too. For example, DiffMerge, TextDiff or TreeComp.
Using "compare files"
Yes. I finally figured out what it's displaying. It basically shows everything that's in the one file, then everything that's in the other file. Not very friendly. Thanks for your response.