Comparing two text files in python

Question

Hi, I need to compare two files and redirect the different lines to third file. I know using diff command i can get the difference . But, is there any way of doing it in python ? Any sample code will be helpful

Answer 1

difflib

Answer 2

in1 = file("in1", "r") 
in2 = file("in2", "r") 
out = file("out", "r") 
do 
  str1 = in1.readline() 
  str2 = in2.readline() 
  if str1!=str2: out.writelines(str1+str2)  
  if not str1: break 
end 
in1.close(); in2.close(); out.close()

Answer 3

check out difflib

This module provides classes and functions for comparing sequences. It can be used for example, for comparing files, and can produce difference information in various formats, including HTML and context and unified diffs[...]

A command-line example in http://docs.python.org/library/difflib.html#difflib-interface