How can I compare two files in a batch file?

Question

How can I compare two files in a batch file, and perform an action based on whether or not they match? I\'ve tried something like:

if file1.txt NEQ file2.txt got         


        

Answer 1

It seems like the COMP program is actually fairly easy to use. See this question on Yahoo answers.

Note that running comp /? will print the help text for the program (as does specifying the /? argument with any native Windows command line program). This outputs the same text you see in the answer of the question linked above.

Content from the Yahoo Answer:

C:\>comp /? 
Compares the contents of two files or sets of files. 

COMP [data1] [data2] [/D] [/A] [/L] [/N=number] [/C] [/OFF[LINE]] 

data1 Specifies location and name(s) of first file(s) to compare. 
data2 Specifies location and name(s) of second files to compare. 
/D Displays differences in decimal format. 
/A Displays differences in ASCII characters. 
/L Displays line numbers for differences. 
/N=number Compares only the first specified number of lines in each file. 
/C Disregards case of ASCII letters when comparing files. 
/OFF[LINE] Do not skip files with offline attribute set. 

To compare sets of files, use wildcards in data1 and data2 parameters.