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Re: File::Compare Binary Files

by skx (Parson)
on May 24, 2008 at 11:18 UTC ( [id://688273]=note: print w/replies, xml ) Need Help??


in reply to File::Compare Binary Files

This is a suggestion of another method, rather than a comment on the module you mention. When I want to compare (binary) files I do two things:

  • Use stat to get the filesize.
  • Use Digest::SHA1 to get a checksum of the file contents.

Sure collisions are possible, but for my cases I find that if the SHA1 hash and file sizes match then the files are identical enough!

Steve
--

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re^2: File::Compare Binary Files
by moritz (Cardinal) on May 24, 2008 at 11:33 UTC
    If you just want to compare two files (and no n-way comparisons) File::Compare can be much faster than calculating a hash because it can abort at the first difference, while the hash algorithm always has to go through both files entirely.

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