In Python, there are many methods available to this comparison. In this Article, We’ll find out how to Compare two different files line by line. Python supports many modules to do so and here we will discuss approaches using its various modules.
This article uses two sample files for implementation.
Files in use:
Method 1: Using unified_diff()
Python has a Module which is specially used for comparing the differences between the files. To get differences using the difflib library, we have to call the unified_diff() function to this comparison.
Syntax:
unified_diff(file1, file2, fromfile, tofile, lineterm)
Parameter:
- file1: List of String such as file_1_text
- file2: List of String such as file_2_text
- fromfile: first file name with extension
- tofile: second file name with extension
- lineterm: argument to “” so that the output will be automatically uniformly newline free
Approach
- Import module
- Open files
- Compare using unified_diff() with appropriate attributes
Example:
Python3
# Importing difflibimport difflibwith open('file1.txt') as file_1: file_1_text = file_1.readlines()with open('file2.txt') as file_2: file_2_text = file_2.readlines()# Find and print the diff:for line in difflib.unified_diff( file_1_text, file_2_text, fromfile='file1.txt', tofile='file2.txt', lineterm=''): print(line) |
Output:
— file1.txt
+++ file2.txt
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
Learning
Python
is
-too
-simple.
+so
+easy.
Method 2: Using differ
There is one Class available for comparing the differences between the files which named as Differ inside the difflib library. This class is used for comparing sequences of lines of text, and producing human-readable differences or deltas.
| Code | Meaning |
|---|---|
|
‘-‘ |
line unique to sequence 1 |
|
‘+’ |
line unique to sequence 2 |
|
‘ ‘ |
line common to both sequences |
|
‘?’ |
line not present in either input sequence |
Approach
- Import module
- Open files
- Read contents line bt line
- Call compare function with the use of differ class object
Example:
Python3
from difflib import Differwith open('file1.txt') as file_1, open('file2.txt') as file_2: differ = Differ() for line in differ.compare(file_1.readlines(), file_2.readlines()): print(line) |
Output:
Learning
Python
is
– too
– simple.
+ so
+ easy.
Method 3: Using while loop and Intersection Method
Approach
- Open both files in read mode
- Store list of strings
- Start comparing both files with the help of intersection() method for common strings
- Compare both files for differences using while loop
- Close both files
Example:
Python3
# Open File in Read Modefile_1 = open('file1.txt', 'r')file_2 = open('file2.txt', 'r')print("Comparing files ", " @ " + 'file1.txt', " # " + 'file2.txt', sep='\n')file_1_line = file_1.readline()file_2_line = file_2.readline()# Use as a COunterline_no = 1print()with open('file1.txt') as file1: with open('file2.txt') as file2: same = set(file1).intersection(file2)print("Common Lines in Both Files")for line in same: print(line, end='')print('\n')print("Difference Lines in Both Files")while file_1_line != '' or file_2_line != '': # Removing whitespaces file_1_line = file_1_line.rstrip() file_2_line = file_2_line.rstrip() # Compare the lines from both file if file_1_line != file_2_line: # otherwise output the line on file1 and use @ sign if file_1_line == '': print("@", "Line-%d" % line_no, file_1_line) else: print("@-", "Line-%d" % line_no, file_1_line) # otherwise output the line on file2 and use # sign if file_2_line == '': print("#", "Line-%d" % line_no, file_2_line) else: print("#+", "Line-%d" % line_no, file_2_line) # Print a empty line print() # Read the next line from the file file_1_line = file_1.readline() file_2_line = file_2.readline() line_no += 1file_1.close()file_2.close() |
Output:
Comparing files
@ file1.txt
# file2.txt
Common Lines in Both Files
Learning
Python
is
Difference Lines in Both Files
@- Line-4 too
#+ Line-4 so
@- Line-5 simple.
#+ Line-5 easy.
