Commodore PC - Page 243

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8 File Comparison Utility (FC)
In this chapter you will learn:
■ How to compare files line by line
■ How to compare files byte by byte
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Introduction
It is sometimes useful to compare files on your disk. If you have
copied a file and later want to compare copies to see which one
is current, you can use the ms-dos file comparison utility, FC.
The FC utility compares the contents of two files, or two sets of
files. The differences between the two files can be sent to the
screen or to a third file. The files being compared must be text
files — unless you specify the /b switch.
The comparisons are made in one of two ways:
■ line by line
■ byte by byte
The line-by-line comparison isolates blocks of lines that are dif
ferent between two files and prints those blocks of lines. You use
this type of comparison to check for differences' between text files
(also known as ascii files). The byte-by-byte comparison displays
the bytes that are different between two files. You use this type of
comparison to check for differences between binary files.
What is FC?
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