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Beyond Compare. I find this tool very very useful when you have lots of integration job. If you have an enterprise version, then you can do stuff like compare

Beyond Compare. I find this tool very very useful when you have lots of integration job. If you have an enterprise version, then you can do stuff like compare and merge files across two servers, compare PDFs, ZIPs, JAR, and obviously plain text files. This is a tool for which I definitely ask for an Enterprise Version license whenever I join a new organization.

controlledchaos 6y ago
Beyond Compare is a life saver. Great choice.
gbpz 6y ago
I have a peer who says this is the greatest tool ever. I mostly just use IntelliJ for compare and merges, directories are seldom a problem.
shoo 6y ago
beyond compare gets bonus points for having special features for diffing and merging tabular data. for example, if you're comparing a couple of CSV files, you can mark some columns as unimportant to help focus on diffing and merging differences in the remaining columns you deem are important. this can be quite helpful if manually regression testing tabular output from some report generating tool, where most of the output is deterministic but the tool pollutes one column with timestamps or ids that differ every run. the ability to compare and merge directories is also nice (although a number of open source diff and merge tools also support this -- e.g. kdiff3, meld)
kozak 6y ago
I use Beyond Compare for all my backups at home.
unmole 6y ago
> This is a tool for which I definitely ask for an Enterprise Version license whenever I join a new organization. I simply bought myself a license and use it on both the company and personal machines.
2OEH8eoCRo0 6y ago
I've come across this at work and always assumed it was another piece of garbage next to Clearcase and DOORs.
luckman212 6y ago
The Beyond Compare guys recently finished a big overhaul converting the code to 64-bit. It's an amazingly useful tool that keeps getting better. I love that I can use it on both Mac and Windows and the UI and feature set are identical.
jlkuester7 6y ago
+1 for Beyond Compare! I have tried many different comparison tools and none of them come even close. BC just does it all and does it better than anyone else. File comparison, folder comparison, etc. My personal favorite is the Git mergetool integration with gives me a three-way merge (with the common ancestor). This is absolutely indispensable when trying to do complex merging and has saved me countless hours.

controlledchaos 6y ago

Beyond Compare is a life saver. Great choice.

gbpz 6y ago

I have a peer who says this is the greatest tool ever. I mostly just use IntelliJ for compare and merges, directories are seldom a problem.

shoo 6y ago

beyond compare gets bonus points for having special features for diffing and merging tabular data. for example, if you're comparing a couple of CSV files, you can mark some columns as unimportant to help focus on diffing and merging differences in the remaining columns you deem are important. this can be quite helpful if manually regression testing tabular output from some report generating tool, where most of the output is deterministic but the tool pollutes one column with timestamps or ids that differ every run. the ability to compare and merge directories is also nice (although a number of open source diff and merge tools also support this -- e.g. kdiff3, meld)

kozak 6y ago

I use Beyond Compare for all my backups at home.

unmole 6y ago

> This is a tool for which I definitely ask for an Enterprise Version license whenever I join a new organization. I simply bought myself a license and use it on both the company and personal machines.

2OEH8eoCRo0 6y ago

I've come across this at work and always assumed it was another piece of garbage next to Clearcase and DOORs.

luckman212 6y ago

The Beyond Compare guys recently finished a big overhaul converting the code to 64-bit. It's an amazingly useful tool that keeps getting better. I love that I can use it on both Mac and Windows and the UI and feature set are identical.

jlkuester7 6y ago

+1 for Beyond Compare! I have tried many different comparison tools and none of them come even close. BC just does it all and does it better than anyone else. File comparison, folder comparison, etc. My personal favorite is the Git mergetool integration with gives me a three-way merge (with the common ancestor). This is absolutely indispensable when trying to do complex merging and has saved me countless hours.