software recommedations

is there a mac equivilent to examdiff?

[Sari]

Someone told me about a windows software (examdiff) that compares two files and highlights the differences between the two. I thought--hey cool!, this will save me time with a program I have that rolls out updates weekly. With software like this, I can locate the updated code and insert it into my modded files.

But I can't seem to find a similar software for the mac.

Does anybody out there use anything like this? What would you recommend?

[microcars]

DiffFrontend
free, look on versiontracker or google it.
there is also
Difference Examiner (newer)
Diff'npatch

never used any of them myself.
It appears this feature is built into the BSD subsystem and if you want you can access it via Terminal (don't ask me how....)

[edited by: microcars at 2:45 pm (utc) on Aug. 9, 2005]

[too much information]

Terminal does have this ability, check the OSX Hacks book from O'Rilley (sp?)

[dcrombie]

In Terminal you can use the 'diff file1 file2' command - same as any *ix platform (type 'man diff' or 'diff --help' for instructions).

The latest version of BBEdit also has a command-line option that launches the editor and compares files - 'bbdiff file1 file2'

;)

[Sari]

Thanks for the suggestions microcars--I'll look into them.

I think I'll stay away from Terminal (I never seem to have much luck with it!) ;) Maybe I need to read that O'Reilly book--thanks for the tip too much information!

Sari

[jezra]

If you have installed the developer tools, you can use Apple's "FileMerge" application

[whoisgregg]

BBEdit has a section in the "Search" menu for comparing documents that works well.

[your_store]

I think I'll stay away from Terminal

There are a number of sites out there dedicated to bring Mac users up to speed w/ the Terminal, and it would be well worth your time to check them out.

It's truely amazing what you can do with a couple of shell commands linked together.

[icecoldsw]

I recommend installing the Apple Xcode tools and using FileMerge. Apple makes the application so it works well, and it's totally free to use. You can get the developer tools from their website if you sign up for a free ADC account.

[dcrombie]

use Apple's "FileMerge" application

Wow!

[Sari]

It's truely amazing what you can do with a couple of shell commands linked together.

Hmmm....okay, you've convinced me! ;) But it will have to wait until I have a little more time (I can't believe how busy this summer has been!)

In the meantime, i'll be looking at filemerge and diffFrontend--hopefully one of them will do the trick!

Thanks everyone for your help!

Sari