Create file of orphan lines.

[Mimi68]

I’m new to Beyond Compare. I’m comparing two text files. The one on the left has information which should be in our database. The text file on the right has information which is in our database.

I’d like to create a file with all the items which should be in the database but are not. i.e. lines which are in the left file but not in the right file. Looking at the help file, think these are called "orphan lines".

How is this done?

Thanks in advance,
Mimi

[Aaron]

Hello,

In the Text Compare, you can use the display filters to only show Left Orphan Lines:
Right click on the display filters (Show All, Show Different, Show Equal) in the upper left corner of the toolbar, and select Toggles. Then toggle On "Left Orphans" and Toggle Off the other 3 filters.

Select All, then Paste into your new file.

We also offer different Report options (Session menu -> Text Compare Report)

[Mimi68]

Thank you that was very helpful! That would have taken me hours to find.

A follow-up question: Is it possible to compare only a certain portion of the files? In my case, there's a number then a tab character and then text. It's not so much the text that I care about comparing as the numbers before the tab character. Is this possible?

Thanks again!

[Aaron]

Hello,

You are probably looking for the information provided here:

http://www.scootersoftware.com/support.php?zz=kb_unimportantv3.php

Also note that in the Importance tab we have "Everything Else" and whitespace. It sounds like you want a grammar defining ^\d+ (beginning of line numeric for 1 or more characters) defined as Important, then uncheck Everything else to mark all other stuff as Unimportant.

If you are still having trouble, you can email [email protected] with specific files, your Support package (Help menu -> Support; Export), and a screenshot showing what you see and describe your goal. Please include a link back to this forum post, so we can follow up here as well if we need to.

[Mimi68]

Thanks for your all your help, I'll try that later.