ignore specific lines and portions of lines

 

 

Ignoring lines or portions of lines is best described using file specific information. This is why ECMerge has "File types". It allows you to confront files of slightly different types in the same comparison.

For example, imagine you have log files (named *.log) where comment lines are noted using # in first position and every other line is started by current date finished by some ": " (colon space) notation, you would do that way:

• create a file type in the Preferences / File types panel
  • Give it the name you wish, e.g. My log files
  • Use the right pattern: *.log
  • Go to the Text to Ignore panel
  • Enter : ^# (# at being of line) in the Lines to ignore / Lines matching field
  • Select Ignore spans with expression : Not matching
  • Enter : ": .*$" (without the quotes) in the Expression to search field
  • Validate the file type
• Go to the comparison and view options
  • In the File types panel, verify the file type is active (there is a check in front of it in the list)
  • In the Text comparison panel, verify that "Ignore the text defined in "Text to Ignore" panel" is checked

Now open the log files to compare, unimportant portions of the file are ignored.

Note: you can Export and Import later a file type on the same or another computer

See also

• Files Types in the Preferences
• Files Types in the View and Comparison Options
• Text to Ignore
• Text Comparisons Options