Why Isn't File::Compare Not Working?

[Perl Beginner]

I am new to Perl and new to this site. I have the same question that I keep seeing, but not finding an answer…why doesn’t the compare function work? I’ve been going at this for a while. My code is (I’m using ActviePerl 5.8.8 Build 822 on Microsoft WinXP):

use File::Compare;
 
if (compare("$file1" , "$file") == 0)
{
print REPORT_FILE "Pass - Files are the same\n";
}
else {print REPORT_FILE "Fail - Files are different\n"};
 

I deliberately made the text for the two files exactly the same but it always prints out Fail. It's almost like, the IF statement is not being recognized at all. Is there a problem with the compare function? Is there another way to compare the text of two different files to see if they are the same?

Help please!!

[eWish]

This works for me. I would make sure that you have the proper path to the text files.

 use File::Compare;
 
        if (compare($file1, $file2) == 0) {
            print "Files are equal\n";
        } else {
            print "Files are not equal\n";
        }

[numberwhun]

This works for me. I would make sure that you have the proper path to the text files.

 use File::Compare;
 
        if (compare($file1, $file2) == 0) {
            print "Files are equal\n";
        } else {
            print "Files are not equal\n";
        }

I agree with eWish. I would also make sure that you please post the rest of your code so we can see it as well. I say that because above, the $file1 and $file2 variables are not set in your code. If this is all of your code, well then that is your issue.

Also, when placing code in your postings, please be sure to wrap the code in code tags as shown in the REPLY GUIDELINES to the right of the Message window.

Regards,

Jeff

[Perl Beginner]

Thanks for your responses so far. There is a whole lot more code, but here is the portion that is relevant. I added a print command that will print the text of each file in the cmd.exe window, so i know that the code is finding them in their respective directories. I hope i didnt' forget to add any lines that are relevant...

use File::Compare;
 
$known_message_dir = "C:\\Test_Input\\Known_Messages\\";
$result_message_dir = "C:\\Test_Input\\Result_Messages\\";
 
@result_files = <'$result_message_dir\\*'>;
 
for $i (0...$#{ testcase{output_message} } )
{
    foreach $file (@result_files)
    {
        my $file1 = $known_message_dir.$testcase{output_message}[$i];
 
        open(FILE, "< $file1" );
        while ( <FILE> )
        {
            print;
        }
        close FILE;
 
        open(FILE, "< $file" );
        while ( <FILE> )
        {
            print;
        }
        close FILE;
 
        if (compare("$file1" , "$file") == 0)
        {
        print REPORT_FILE "Pass - Files are the same\n";
        }
        else {print REPORT_FILE "Fail - Files are different\n"};
    }
}

[numberwhun]

Thanks for your responses so far. There is a whole lot more code, but here is the portion that is relevant. I added a print command that will print the text of each file in the cmd.exe window, so i know that the code is finding them in their respective directories. I hope i didnt' forget to add any lines that are relevant...

use File::Compare;
 
$known_message_dir = "C:\\Test_Input\\Known_Messages\\";
$result_message_dir = "C:\\Test_Input\\Result_Messages\\";
 
@result_files = <'$result_message_dir\\*'>;
 
for $i (0...$#{ testcase{output_message} } )
{
    foreach $file (@result_files)
    {
        my $file1 = $known_message_dir.$testcase{output_message}[$i];
 
        open(FILE, "< $file1" > );
        while ( <FILE> )
        {
            print;
        }
        close FILE;
 
        open(FILE, "< $file" > );
        while ( <FILE> )
        {
            print;
        }
        close FILE;
 
        if (compare("$file1" , "$file") == 0)
        {
        print REPORT_FILE "Pass - Files are the same\n";
        }
        else {print REPORT_FILE "Fail - Files are different\n"};
    }
}
 

Maybe its just me, but the syntax of your for loop just does not look correct. You may want to take a read on this documentation.

Regards,

Jeff

[Perl Beginner]

I'm pretty positive that the first FOR loop does the same thing as the second FOR loop. I haven't had any problems with this FOR loop.

for $i (0...$#{ testcase{output_message} } )
{
}
 
for ( my $i = 0; $i <= $#{ testcase{output_message} }; $i++ )
{
}

Terra

[KevinADC]

if the files are not too big attach them to a post.

[Perl Beginner]

Well, it looks like i figured out what the problem was. Even though the text for both of the files were exactly the same, there was something in one of my files that the code saw that i couldn't see....somethin g must have been in the white space (if that makes sense). I decided to copy the text and put it in a totally new text file and the comparison worked just fine. So it turns out that my code was fine...it was the text file itself.

Thanks everyone for helping me figure this out!! This is a great site!

[numberwhun]

Well, it looks like i figured out what the problem was. Even though the text for both of the files were exactly the same, there was something in one of my files that the code saw that i couldn't see....somethin g must have been in the white space (if that makes sense). I decided to copy the text and put it in a totally new text file and the comparison worked just fine. So it turns out that my code was fine...it was the text file itself.

Thanks everyone for helping me figure this out!! This is a great site!

You may want to throw that file into either vi on the Unix system or into Word on Windows (with paragraph markings turned on) so you can see hidden characters and see what was going on. Just a thought.

Either way, glad its working for you.

Regards,

Jeff