Compare files - ignore last row

[stpeters68]

I want to compare files, ignoring the last line, since it is always different and I am only interested in differences in the range above it. This probably works with the line filter and regular expressions. Unfortunately I don't know how to do this and hope for your help.

I have attached a screenshot of the difference in the last line, which I would like to ignore.

[sdottaka]

Unfortunately, WinMerge currently does not have the ability to ignore last-line-only differences.

However, if the last line always contains a particular string and no other line contains that string, you can ignore the difference in the last line by specifying the string as a line filter. .

The following is an example with a line filter that assumes that the string "Prophet Table Editor" always appears in the last line.

[stpeters68]

Thanks for the help - I can handle the regular expressions now.

My next problem is that WinMerge recognizes some files as binary files and displays them as different. When I want to display the differences, the info comes up that they are identical.

[sdottaka]

Unfortunately, the line filters are not applied to files detected as binary files.

Although this is a much more complicated and less preferred method, you can combine multiple Unpacker plug-ins to compare files with the last line stripped off, as shown below. You can then apply this combination of plug-ins to multiple pairs of files in the folder comparison window and re-compare them. 1.

1. select multiple files to compare in the folder comparison window, ignoring differences in the last line.
2. right-click→Plugin Settings→Unpacker Settings→Select ....
3. Enter ReverseLines|SelectLines 2-|ReverseLines in the Plugin Pipeline.
4. Press F5 to compare again.

[stpeters68]

I just had some time again to deal with the problem. Unfortunately, the proposed solution does not yet lead to the goal.

I have attached two files that are identical except for the last line.

When I compare them directly with the suggested line filter, they are shown to me as identical. If they are in different folders, I get the result "Files are different".
File_in_Folder1.txt
File_in_Folder2.txt

[sdottaka]

Have you tried the method from #1659 (comment)?

[stpeters68]

Yes I had - but tried again and realized that I had selected the folder and not the files in the folder.

Now it worked :-) Thanks for the support.