Semi-OT Wow... I'm impressed

In this field, we always have to deal with computers, and files, and usually end up with a ton of utility programs around.

In the past, I've often recommended various programs and utilities that are almost 'Must Have' in the virtual toolkit. Some of those include Acronis Disk Director (and Acronis Backup programs), Raxco PerfectDisk defragger, Acme CAD Converter, Foxit PDF Software (Sooooo much faster than Adobe Acrobat, and cheaper if you want the registered version), Look@Lan network utilities, the SolarWinds Network utility suite... well, you get the picture...

BUT...

A HUGE winner in the inexpensive utility line for me now is...

UltraCompare 6.0 !! Wooters! This is an amazing (and very very fast) program for comparing either files, or folders, or entire hard drives. It can also do up to 3-way compares, and is highly configurable.

The auto-sync and merge options work flawlessly, but I still usually do the manual highlight and merge. For file compares (text mode) it is incredibly intelligent in keeping similar (but different) files in as close to a side-by-side sync as possible, and lets you either merge by block, line by line, or manually edit one or the other (or the third) files right in the compare window.

I don't mean to be advertising here, but I will, as I don't work for these guys... I just buy their products. Love em so much, I have both UltraCompare and UltraEdit in the UE3 Version as well as the regular version so I can carry them on my thumbdrive.

They also make UltraEdit, which is my absolute favorite general purpose file editor.

Free demo's for download, time-restricted, but I believe full functional versions.

Try em out.

www.ultraedit.com

I agree. I haven't used 6.0, but can vouch for the coolness factor of UltraCompare.

My top choice in text editors is Textpad , but UltraEdit is my close second pick - I used to do C++ programming in it pretty extensively outside of a dev environment.

I use AlwaySync as backup and compare file.
For home used its free.
I save my files on disk on key and, very easy synchronize on every computer.
The analyze option compare all the files before sync.
http://allwaysync.com/

Arik,
I don't mean synching files together... I mean if you have say two source code files, with slight differences (or even major ones)...

Open one file in one pane, the second in another pane, and they will automagically lock the identical lines together as you scroll.

They have also finally put in a manual - 'Forced' re-sync command. And also, finally, you can do compare and edits directly between a local html file, and one on a web server. just too cool.

I use SynchronizeIT! and CompareIT! on the PC and Chronosync on my Macs. Chronosync doesn't compare text. Just synchronize files. I use Netbeans for Java development and it has a file history and can do text comparison between different versions of the same file.

That sounds great.

Anything available for a person with a limited budget? (i.e. free)

I've used UltraEdit and UltraCompare for a couple of years. I really like both applications. Each has been a life saver at one time or another.

I find UltraEdit is absolutely essential, and yes Ultracompare is useful also.

With the right macros, UltraEdit can almost write complete scripts with minimal intervention.

Shadrach said:

That sounds great.

Anything available for a person with a limited budget? (i.e. free)

Click to expand...

I used "diff.exe" awhile back to create a compare program in for finding different rungs in Logix .L5K files.

One of our contractors was having to do a nightly line-by-line compare of their PLC programs and I took mercy on him.

The heart of the program was GNU's "diff.exe" (for Windows of course). All I did was to make a simple wrapper for him in Visual Basic so that it would more or less do his diff's automatically.

Diff automatically resync's itself so it doesn't just show the first difference, but continues on to find all of them.

It's free, and with a bit of scripting (or VB programming) you can make a handy frontend for your needs.

And the nicest thing about it all is that it's free.


http://www.gnu.org/software/diffutils/diffutils.html


Whoops, I gave you the link for linux. Try this:

http://sourceforge.net/projects/unxutils


The file "UnxUtils.zip" also contains "diff3.exe" (along with a boatload of other programs) which will allow you to compare three files at once.

Enjoy.