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I'm trying to compare 2 large text files around 500MB each, I've tried to use Notepad++, Textpad, VIM etc and couldn't get them to even open the text file. Either that, or the editors that DO work don't have the compare feature.

I need to see what changes are made in those 2 text files, that's why I need to compare them. Does anyone have any suggestions?

nhahtdh
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Ricky
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5 Answers5

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diff file1 file2

halfdan
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Are the files supposed to be very similar? Use a diff program instead of an editor; since they specialize in showing the differences, they are often more capable of handling large files.

The page at http://drupal.org/node/324 has a list of diff programs for Windows. If you are using Unix or Linux, you probably already have diff installed.

If you need an editor, I know that Emacs can be configured for files as large as this, but I haven't tried it myself. More info at http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/EmacsFileSizeLimit

JenEriC
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Winmerge at http://winmerge.org/ exactly what you want.

m3chanist
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Using UNIX/LINUX diff file1 file2 is not practical with large text files.I spent some time looking into solutions today and i wanted to share my finding with you. There is Open Source Project Meld http://meldmerge.org/. It is available on OS X, Linux and Windows platform as well.

If you prefer using notepad++ there is plugin available to download: Open notepad++ -> Plugins -> Plugin Manager -> Show Plugin Manager -> Find plugin named "Compare".

Gile Champion
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JujuEdit opens large file and it does not load them into memory. It does not compare features. I opened a file 1G byte in 2 seconds or less. It has binary mode.

Aftershock
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