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lifeafter2am

Member

From: 127.0.0.1

Registered: 2009-06-10

Posts: 1,332

[solved] Difference Between Two Files

Okay, so I have been trying to use diff to do this, but I am failing, as this isn't code I am looking at (and I'm not really a programmer).

I have two text files with a single line per entry (which is a userid).  I need to be able to compare the two files, and output only the userid's that don't show up in one of the files.

Example:

File 1                File 2
a                      a
b                      s
c                      c
d                      t

So the output would be simply s and t. 

Can I use diff to do this?  If not, can someone maybe hack up a quick Perl script or something?  I know there has to be a better way than going through a 2000+ userid file by hand.

Thanks!

Last edited by lifeafter2am (2010-08-27 16:19:53)

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Inxsible

Forum Fellow

From: Chicago

Registered: 2008-06-09

Posts: 9,183

Re: [solved] Difference Between Two Files

diff will only tell you the differences between files. What you want is something custom. So you might just have to create a script to do it.

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falconindy

Developer

From: New York, USA

Registered: 2009-10-22

Posts: 4,111

Website

Re: [solved] Difference Between Two Files

diff is the wrong tool to use here. Try comm(1).

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lagagnon

Member

From: an Island in the Pacific...

Registered: 2009-12-10

Posts: 1,087

Website

Re: [solved] Difference Between Two Files

I'm not sure but perhaps what might work for you is the command "comm". See "man comm" for more details.
Edit: good ol' falconindy beat me to it!

Last edited by lagagnon (2010-08-27 15:09:51)

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Procyon

Member

Registered: 2008-05-07

Posts: 1,819

Re: [solved] Difference Between Two Files

cat file1 file1 file2 | sort | uniq -u

lifeafter2am

Member

From: 127.0.0.1

Registered: 2009-06-10

Posts: 1,332

Re: [solved] Difference Between Two Files

You guys rock!  Comm did what I needed it to do after I sorted the files.

Thanks!!

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brisbin33

Member

From: boston, ma

Registered: 2008-07-24

Posts: 1,799

Website

Re: [solved] Difference Between Two Files

yes, use comm.

but just for fun:

//blue/0/~/ cat file1
a
b
c
d
//blue/0/~/ cat file2
a
s
c
t
//blue/0/~/ grep -Fxv "$(< file1)" file2
s
t

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//github/

Trent

Member

From: Baltimore, MD (US)

Registered: 2009-04-16

Posts: 990

Re: [solved] Difference Between Two Files

grep -v -f file1 file2

jvalecillos

Member

Registered: 2009-02-25

Posts: 24

Re: [solved] Difference Between Two Files

If you prefer a gui solution, i can recommend you diffuse: diffuse in aur

Last edited by jvalecillos (2010-08-29 17:06:18)