When comparing binary files that are larger than the available memory, fc compares both files completely, overlaying the portions in memory with the next portions from the disk. The output is the same as that for files that fit completely in memory. There is a great command line tool that can be used to compare files to see if there are any content or binary code differences that you can access if you are using a PC. File Compare or FC as we will refer to is from here on out, is a simple program that will compare the contents of text or binary files and is capable of comparing both ASCII and Unicode text.
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Jan 14, 2019 12 Best Free File Comparison Tools for Windows 10. It lets you compare two files (text or binary) to check if any of them is a duplicate. It gets downloaded quickly and is pretty easy with no complications involved. From options to customize keyboard shortcuts, getting file backups, or personalizing the UI fonts and colors to.
-->Compares two files or sets of files and displays the differences between them.
For examples of how to use this command, see Examples.
Syntax
Parameters
Parameter | Description |
---|---|
/a | Abbreviates the output of an ASCII comparison. Instead of displaying all of the lines that are different, fc displays only the first and last line for each set of differences. |
/b | Compares the two files in binary mode, byte by byte, and does not attempt to resynchronize the files after finding a mismatch. This is the default mode for comparing files that have the following file extensions: .exe, .com, .sys, .obj, .lib, or .bin. |
/c | Ignores the letter case. |
/l | Compares the files in ASCII mode, line-by-line, and attempts to resynchronize the files after finding a mismatch. This is the default mode for comparing files, except files with the following file extensions: .exe, .com, .sys, .obj, .lib, or .bin. |
/lb<N> | Sets the number of lines for the internal line buffer to N. The default length of the line buffer is 100 lines. If the files that you are comparing have more than 100 consecutive differing lines, fc cancels the comparison. |
/n | Displays the line numbers during an ASCII comparison. |
/off[line] | Does not skip files that have the offline attribute set. |
/t | Prevents fc from converting tabs to spaces. The default behavior is to treat tabs as spaces, with stops at each eighth character position. |
/u | Compares files as Unicode text files. |
/w | Compresses white space (that is, tabs and spaces) during the comparison. If a line contains many consecutive spaces or tabs, /w treats these characters as a single space. When used with /w, fc ignores white space at the beginning and end of a line. |
/<NNNN> | Specifies the number of consecutive lines that must match following a mismatch, before fc considers the files to be resynchronized. If the number of matching lines in the files is less than NNNN, fc displays the matching lines as differences. The default value is 2. |
[<Drive1>:][ | Specifies the location and name of the first file or set of files to compare. FileName1 is required. |
[<Drive2>:][ | Specifies the location and name of the second file or set of files to compare. FileName2 is required. |
/? | Displays help at the command prompt. |
Remarks
- This command is implemeted by c:WINDOWSfc.exe. You can use this command within PowerShell, but be sure to spell out the full executable (fc.exe) since 'fc' is an alias for Format-Custom.
- Reporting differences between files for an ASCII comparisonWhen you use fc for an ASCII comparison, fc displays the differences between two files in the following order:
- Name of the first file
- Lines from FileName1 that differ between the files
- First line to match in both files
- Name of the second file
- Lines from FileName2 that differ
- First line to match
- Using /b for binary comparisons/b displays mismatches that are found during a binary comparison in the following syntax:
<XXXXXXXX: YY ZZ>
The value of XXXXXXXX specifies the relative hexadecimal address for the pair of bytes, measured from the beginning of the file. Addresses start at 00000000. The hexadecimal values for YY and ZZ represent the mismatched bytes from FileName1 and FileName2, respectively. - Using wildcard charactersYou can use wildcard characters (* and ?) in FileName1 and FileName2. If you use a wildcard in FileName1, fc compares all the specified files to the file or set of files specified by FileName2. If you use a wildcard in FileName2, fc uses the corresponding value from FileName1.
- Working with memoryWhen comparing ASCII files, fc uses an internal buffer (large enough to hold 100 lines) as storage. If the files are larger than the buffer, fc compares what it can load into the buffer. If fc does not find a match in the loaded portions of the files, it stops and displays the following message:
Resynch failed. Files are too different.
When comparing binary files that are larger than the available memory, fc compares both files completely, overlaying the portions in memory with the next portions from the disk. The output is the same as that for files that fit completely in memory.
Examples
To make an ASCII comparison of two text files, Monthly.rpt and Sales.rpt, and display the results in abbreviated format, type:
To make a binary comparison of two batch files, Profits.bat and Earnings.bat, type:
Results similar to the following appear:
If the Profits.bat and Earnings.bat files are identical, fc displays the following message:
To compare every .bat file in the current directory with the file New.bat, type:
Install microsoft excel for free. To compare the file New.bat on drive C with the file New.bat on drive D, type:
Compare Binary Files Windows 10 Free
To compare each batch file in the root directory on drive C to the file with the same name in the root directory on drive D, type:
Additional references
![Binary Binary](https://pics.obigra.ru/images/1358.jpg)
Active1 year, 1 month ago
In Windows, I wish to compare old binary files with newly built ones in order to determine which files has been updated. However, when I build the files I give them new meta data details (like version etc.). By right clicking the file and going to the tab 'Details' you can see file version and other information. This causes the comparisons differentiate. Is it possible to work around this in order to check which files are equal or not?
Alex5,5061 gold badge11 silver badges21 bronze badges
AlexanderAlexander
2 Answers
Give Angus Johnson's Resource Hacker a try. This free tool will allow you to view (and even edit) the resource tables in a given executable as long as the PE or library was compiled with the
Version Info
resource. Please keep in mind that you won't be able to view or edit the resource files within an obfuscated binary.Mr. MendelliMr. Mendelli
Update:
I reread your comments and it looks to me like you want to compare version info from executable files and libraries instead of checking integrity of files.
I reread your comments and it looks to me like you want to compare version info from executable files and libraries instead of checking integrity of files.
Well, first off all you need to understand that there no such terms as 'metadata header'. Executable files and libraries on windows has concept of so called 'resources' that linked to final file on compilation/linking. It isn't requirement, so programmer may use resources or simply skip it. In a file's resources one can pack practically anything, icons, sounds, picture, malicious encrypted payload and so on. In the same resource file programmer may specify additional textual info such as file version. You need to understand, that file version isn't advancing automatically in some languages, it is a programmers manual job to change file's version.
Ok, let back to subject, I guess you want to compare file versions between executable/libraries files, so you can use command line tool to extract file version from resources with help of official utility from Microsoft
Ok, let back to subject, I guess you want to compare file versions between executable/libraries files, so you can use command line tool to extract file version from resources with help of official utility from Microsoft
sigcheck.exe
that is part of very useful utilities from Sysinternals Suite. If you would run sigcheck.exe
on executable files that has resources, then this program will extract 'meta-data' you mentioned:You can parse further fields you need to compare with you preferred tool.
If you can use Windows API, you can extract 'meta-data' from resources programmatically by employing FileVersionInfo WinAPI.
![Compare binary files windows 10 2019 Compare binary files windows 10 2019](https://www.noupe.com/wp-content/uploads/trans/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/compareit.jpg)
Previous guess:
Since you mentioned
compare old binary files with newly built ones
, then the best option for you would be to use version control systems such as git or fossil that both can track changes in binary files besides of convenient tracking of source files.You can also compare binary files in multiple ways:
The standard Unix's
(If you're on windows 10, you can use WSL to run natively unix's utility)
diff
utility that can compare binary files, it simply would tell if it differ or not.(If you're on windows 10, you can use WSL to run natively unix's utility)
Compare Binary Files In Windows
There is also
visual binary diff
that runs on both, - windows and Unix. Native window's utility
fc
also can do binary comparison as fc /b file1 file2
You can use explorer extension that can calculate hash of binary files, for example HashCheck, DirHash or even use Microsoft's
fciv
Compare Two Binary Files Windows 10
If you using Microsoft visual studio, you can also use WinDiff
For a huge files (in Terabytes size) comparison you can use old good HxD
AlexAlexCompare Binary Files Windows 10 7zsocao
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