Compare Groups of Sequential Files?

[chris5ft2]

Hello all,

Is it possible to use Beyond Compare to compare multiple data files in 2 groups? Let me set the scenario:

We have data that is automatically populated into files by account number order, once a file reaches a certain number of accounts it stops populating into that file and begins populating into a 2nd file. This process is repeated every time the account limit is reached until all accounts are created resulting in several files. We will then run this data again after a specific event to complete a comparison for changes.

As it is possible that some accounts may be present or absent from one run versus the next, it is possible that some accounts may appear in the first file in one run and then in the 2nd file in the next run and so on. If we were to compare file 1 from the first run versus file 1 from the 2nd run it is possible that accounts will be marked as missing when they have actually been created in file 2 because of an extra account being added before it in the 2nd run.

I therefore would like to know if it is possible to have beyond compare check several files in a group against another group of several files, that way theoretically if an account moves up or down files it should still be found succesfully.

If this is not possible I may be able to merge all of the files into 1 larger file but this could be a bit labourious and time consuming!

[Aaron]

Hello,

Beyond Compare does not have this ability automatically. You could run multiple comparisons: file1 <> file2, then file1 <> file3, then file1 <> file4. You could eventually find the matching account number this way, but otherwise you would need to join the files together.

You might not need to join all the files together into one massive file. If the Account numbers can be organized into different, sorted groups, you could approach it that way. For example, all accounts 1-10,000 in one file, and 10,001-20,000 in the next file, etc. I imagine it would be easier to dump all of the accounts into a single large file, but if that file is too large or unwieldy, this approach could work so long as the pair of files compared is guaranteed to have the Account ID.