How do I diff two text files in Windows Powershell?

Question

I have two text files and want to find the differences between them using Windows Powershell. Is there something similar to the Unix diff tool available? Or is there another other way I haven't considered?

I've tried compare-object, but get this cryptic output:

PS C:\> compare-object one.txt two.txt

InputObject                                                 SideIndicator
-----------                                                 -------------
two.txt                                                     =>
one.txt                                                     <=

Answer 1

Figured it out myself. Because Powershell works with .net objects rather than text, you need to use get-content to expose the contents of the text files. So to perform what I was trying to do in the question, use:

compare-object (get-content one.txt) (get-content two.txt)

Answer 2

diff on *nix is not part of the shell, but a separate application.

Is there any reason you can't just use diff.exe under PowerShell?

You can download a version from the UnxUtils package (http://unxutils.sourceforge.net/)

Answer 3

You mean like Compare-Object?

Answer 4

WinMerge is another good GUI-based diff tool.

Answer 5

There's also Windiff which provides a GUI diff interface (great for use with GUI based CVS/SVN programs)

Answer 6

A simpler way of doing it is to write:

diff (cat file1) (cat file2)