Python - getting just the difference between strings

Question

What\'s the best way of getting just the difference from two multiline strings?

a = \'testing this is working \\n testing this is working 1 \\n\'
b = \'testi         


        

Answer 1

The easiest Hack, credits @Chris, by using split().

Note : you need to determine which is the longer string, and use that for split.

if len(a)>len(b): 
   res=''.join(a.split(b))             #get diff
else: 
   res=''.join(b.split(a))             #get diff

print(res.strip())                     #remove whitespace on either sides

# driver values

IN : a = 'testing this is working \n testing this is working 1 \n' 
IN : b = 'testing this is working \n testing this is working 1 \n testing this is working 2'

OUT : testing this is working 2

EDIT : thanks to @ekhumoro for another hack using replace, with no need for any of the join computation required.

if len(a)>len(b): 
    res=a.replace(b,'')             #get diff
else: 
    res=b.replace(a,'')             #get diff