# Software recommendation - comparing text **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 12, 2010, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/software-recommendation-comparing-text/539225 "2010-05-12T21:40:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/software-recommendation-comparing-text/539225/1 "2010-05-12T21:40:45Z")
I’m wondering if anyone uses any freeware software that will compare two text files, ignoring white space? I have been working on a web page, following instructions from a book, and can not for the life of me get a particular e-mail form to work. However, when I took the example from the website and cut out the extras to make it match what I have in my file, the website demo is functioning. Clearly I’m missing something, but I think I’ve been looking at it for too long; the only difference I can see now between the two of them (I’ve even got everything on the same line numbers) are my indents and spaces. I’d love to be able to compare them with something that will show me the differences, excluding those indenting differences. ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/software-recommendation-comparing-text/539225/2 "2010-05-12T21:45:28Z")
> **[WinMerge - You will see the difference…](https://winmerge.org/)** > > WinMerge is an Open Source differencing and merging tool for Windows. WinMerge can compare both folders and files, presenting differences in a visual text format that is easy to understand and handle. looks like it can do what you want. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/software-recommendation-comparing-text/539225/3 "2010-05-12T21:52:02Z")
The e-mail protocol uses the end of line characters as special delimiters. You need to make sure that you are using or not using \r and as the e-mail protocol asks. Winmerge is a great tool, but it’s for comparing textual differences, not white space differences. It will probably detect the differences, but not in a way that tells you why it is relevant. > **[Simple Mail Transfer Protocol](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMTP)** > > The Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) is an Internet standard communication protocol for electronic mail transmission. Mail servers and other message transfer agents use SMTP to send and receive mail messages. User-level email clients typically use SMTP only for sending messages to a mail server for relaying, and typically submit outgoing email to the mail server on port 587 or 465 per .mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit;word-wrap:break-word}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quote... ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/software-recommendation-comparing-text/539225/4 "2010-05-13T08:57:01Z")
> **[diff](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diff)** > > In computing, the utility diff is a data comparison tool that computes and displays the differences between the contents of files. Unlike edit distance notions used for other purposes, diff is line-oriented rather than character-oriented, but it is like Levenshtein distance in that it tries to determine the smallest set of deletions and insertions to create one file from the other. The utility displays the changes in one of several standard formats, such that both humans or computers can parse th... ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/software-recommendation-comparing-text/539225/5 "2010-05-13T13:28:16Z")
This [SourceGear | DiffMerge](http://www.sourcegear.com/diffmerge/) is a great freee developer tool for comparing text files. It gets a lotof use at our shop. ---
**Author:** ![rockypg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/aeb1de/32.png) [@rockypg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rockypg)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2010, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/software-recommendation-comparing-text/539225/6 "2010-05-13T18:21:59Z")
> [@gazpacho](#): > > [http://winmerge.org/](http://winmerge.org/) > looks like it can do what you want. Second this. Powerful and simple. ---
**Author:** ![groo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecd19e/32.png) [@groo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/groo)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2010, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/software-recommendation-comparing-text/539225/7 "2010-05-15T17:54:40Z")
[Beyond Compare](http://www.scootersoftware.com/). It’s beyond compare. ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2010, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/software-recommendation-comparing-text/539225/8 "2010-05-15T18:13:47Z")
> [@groo](#): > > [Beyond Compare](http://www.scootersoftware.com/). It’s beyond compare. +1 ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2010, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/software-recommendation-comparing-text/539225/9 "2010-05-16T16:49:29Z")
Thanks all! **LSLGuy** , I used that and found in seconds what my problem was. Thanks for the tip!