Comparing Files for Differences

One fundamental task that nearly everyone needs to do is to compare text files for differences. Of course, Windows offers the COMP command, and UNIX has diff . But both of these are command-line utilities without advanced GUIs or reporting capabilities. So TOAD offers the Compare Files utility shown in Figure 9.35 and located on the main menu at File, Compare Files.

Figure 9.35. TOAD Compare Files ” identify files.

You merely select the two source files and then click the Compare Files button. TOAD then launches its awesome File Differences Viewer shown in Figure 9.36. Not only does this viewer offer the typical VCR button interface for navigating through the differences, but it also has advanced filtering and searching capabilities.

Figure 9.36. TOAD Compare Files ”File Differences Viewer.

Numerous additional display options settings are available by clicking the difference viewer's toolbar icon for options, which launches the Viewer Options screen shown in Figure 9.37.

Figure 9.37. TOAD Compare Files ”Viewer Options.

And for really large files with many differences, you can show a thumbnail view of the overall differences in the files as shown in Figure 9.38. This makes navigation much simpler and is the recommended way to work with this screen.

Figure 9.38. TOAD Compare Files ”thumbnail view.