Re: Compare two data files

[John Darrington]

Well I would seriously consider Ben's suggestion of exporting to text and using 
the
posix diff utility.

Another possibility, which may be of use since you have a lot of variables but 
only 
a few cases, is to use the FLIP command.  Then you will have a lot of cases but 
fewer variables,
which will make it feasible to calculate the difference between them with a 
command like
CALCULATE diff_X = x_1 - x_2.
Then any non-zero values you know highlight a difference in the input.

J'

On Mon, Aug 02, 2010 at 04:43:57PM +1000, Michelle Parker wrote:
     HI John
     
     Thanks, this works and is great!
     
     But, I'm finding each file has some allowed differences, e.g. dates, 
times, durations, so every file will be found in this list.
     
     Since there are probably 20% of the values that are different between 
files, it would be much easier just to list the values when they are different. 
     
     Can I highlight every individual difference?
     
     Non-different values could be empty or even spaces to make the important 
differences easier to spot in the output.
     
     What do you think?
     
     Much appreciated!
     
     thanks
     mich
     
     On 20/07/2010, at 1:31 AM, John Darrington wrote:
     
     > One way to do this is as follows:
     > 
     > MATCH FILES
     >        /FILE='f1.sav' /IN=file1 /SORT
     >        /FILE='f2.sav' /IN=file2 /SORT
     >        /BY ALL
     >        .
     > 
     > SELECT IF file2=0 OR file1=0.
     > 
     > 
     > LIST.
     > 
     > This will show a list of all the cases which don't match.  And you get 
two extra
     > variables file1 and file2 showing where those cases came from.
     > 
     > J'
     > 
     > 
     > On Mon, Jul 19, 2010 at 02:09:42PM +1000, Michelle Parker wrote:
     >     Hi Michel
     > 
     >     Thanks for getting back to me.
     > 
     >     The files have 730 variables, types and lengths are identical.
     >     There are 13 cases in each file.
     > 
     >     Some of the cases may have different values (eg date/times) but in 
general they should be the same between files. Specifically I need to know if 
there are any differences.
     > 
     >     thanks!
     >     mich
     > 
     > 
     > 
     > 
     > 
     >     On 19/07/2010, at 12:48 PM, Michel Boaventura wrote:
     > 
     >> Hello Michelle,
     >> 
     >> Would you like to compare the variables or the cases on the files? If 
the variables,
     >> it matters if they have the same name but diverge on type, length, etc?
     >> 
     >> Regards,
     >> 
     >> Michel
     >> 
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     > 
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     ---------------------------------------
     Michelle Parker
     Web Objectives Pty Ltd
     33 Ridge St
     Gordon, NSW, 2072
     Australia 
     Phone: (02) 9499 3166
     Fax: (02) 9499 3166
     Mobile : 0412 064 123
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