polimao/fileDiffParser

File diff parser

File diff parser

Parse and compare two files

API

compare(file1, file2)

Compares file1 content to file2 content and return the result
 * usage: compare(file1, file2);
 * where:
 *    file1 - required string path to file 1
 *    file2 - required string path to file 2

The goal of this task is to develop application that can compare the content of two files. Input parameters for the application are paths of two files (it’s a plus if application supports more than two files) The result of program is show the difference between the files. The format of result is shown below.

For example:

#File1

 Some
 Simple
 Text
 File

#File2

 Another
 Text
 File
 With
 Additional
 Lines

The result of program should look like this:

 1  *   Some|Another
 2  -   Simple
 3      Text
 4      File
 5  +   With
 6  +   Additional
 7  +   Lines

The first column shows line number regarding the first file.

The second column shows:

 1. * in case if line has changed

 2. – in case line exists in the first file but does not exist in the second one

 3. + in case line does not exist in the first file but exists in the second one

 4. Nothing if line has not changed.

The third column shows:

1. If line has changed, it shows text in the following format:

    Line content from the first file | line content from the second file

2. If line exists in the first file but is missing in the second file – show the line content

3. If the line is added in the second file – show the line content

For more examples, please check http://www.diffnow.com/.

From the code prospective, program should be implemented as a component that can be reused in any other applications easily.