zsCompare Features

ZsCompare, allows you to manually or automatically compare and synchronize files, folders, zip files, and jar files between local directories or networked computers. You can use zsCompare to do line by line comparisons of text files, and then merge the files to include only the changes you want. Also, you can compare freeform text that has been input either by typing it in, or by copying the text from other applications. The following sections describe the full functionality available within zsCompare. Please note, some functionality is not available in all editions of zsCompare. For a complete list of the differences between each edition, see the Comparison of Editions page.

ZsCompare runs on Mac OS X (10.3 and later), Windows, and Linux.

Directory Comparison and Directory Synchronization

• Compare local directories or networked directories
• Bookmark commonly used directories using Favorites
• Compare by file size
• Compare by last modification date and or creation date with the ability to set tolerances and adjust for daylight savings
• Compare by file attributes (read only, hidden)
• Compare by Checksum including the ability to only do Checksum comparison if file sizes are the same. Two types of checksums calculations are available the CRC32 method and the Adler32 method.
• Compare with fast binary comparison
• Optionally ignore the case of filenames when comparing files and folders
• Optionally ignore hidden and system files when comparing files and folders
• Create and compare snapshots of the file system.
• Create and apply patch files for files. Patch files allow you to store the differences between two files and recreate a file from the original file and the changed file.
• Results are displayed in a hierarchical view which mirrors the structure of your hard drive.
• Modify filenames, timestamps, and attributes directly from the results.
• Sort results according to name, file size, time stamp, or checksum.
• Expand and collapse sub-folders
• Easily compare file contents after completing a folder comparison
• Synchronize all files and folders or selected files and folders in either direction
• The Advanced Synchronization Option for synchronizing directories allows fine-grained control over the synchronization process.
• Copy all files and folders or selected files and folders in either direction
• Permanently delete files and folders without leaving zsCompare
• Open files with the associated editor from zsCompare
• Delete files permanently, or delete to a backup folder
• Filter results according to the relative timestamps of the files.

File Comparison and File Merge

• Side by side comparison of text files
• Compare text from Microsoft Word Documents and PDF Files.
• Compare files by line, by word, or by character
• Compare files where the order of lines is not important
• Compare files where the order of lines is fixed
• Ignore changes in case
• Ignore changes in white-space (spaces and tabs)
• Optionally compare line breaks within a file.
• Break lines after a specified number of characters or after a regular expression
• View a selected line with differences under the results pane making it easier to determine the differences between long lines of text. You can view both lines as they are shown in the results table and/or the lines combined to show additions and deletions.
• Directly edit the contents of a file (Standard and Professional Editions only).
• Synchronize entire files, sections of files, or individual lines in either direction
• Copy entire files, sections of files, or individual lines in either direction
• Delete entire files, sections of files, or individual lines from either side
• Easily compare sections of a file that have been moved using freeform text comparison
• Display results in binary format to more easily compare binary files

Freeform Text Comparison

• Compare text that is not saved in a text file without having to export it to a text file
  • Compare text from Microsoft Word
  • Compare text from Microsoft Excel
  • Compare text from PDFs
  • Compare text from websites
  • Compare text from the clipboard
• Contains all of the functionality from File Comparisons

General Comparison and Synchronization Functionality

• Results are color coded and the colors can be customized
• Difference Navigator to view results at a glance and easily move between differences
• Filter results to show items that have changed, items that have been added, items that have been deleted, and/or items that are unchanged.
• Save commonly used comparisons with sessions
• Save results for historical or reporting purposes
• Search within results to find specific files or lines of text
• Use your standard system dialog to select files and folders, or use our custom dialog which lets you browse within zip files
• Optionally show a warning prompt before a newer file is overwritten by an older file.
• Optionally show a warning prompt before a file is permanently deleted.

Options

Save commonly used settings as options and quickly switch between option sets to ensure you are always working with the best options for your needs.

Reporting

Save HTML based reports of comparisons. The primary features of reports are as follows:

• Customizable header and footer text can be added to the report.
• The report can include either only visible results or all results.
• The report can optionally include the options used to generate the results.
• The report can optionally include the directories searched to generate the results.
• Date generated can be included.
• Title of the report can be customized.

Zip File Management

• Create new Zip files
• Open Zip files and view the contents
• Extract files from a Zip file
• Add files to a Zip file
• Compare Zip files to the original files
• Backup files to a Zip file
• Delete Zip files

Jar File Management

• Create new Jar files
• Open Jar files and view the contents
• Extract files from a Jar file
• Add files to a Jar file
• Compare Jar files to the original source classes
• Delete Jar files
• Work with jar files, ejb files, war files, and ear files.

Command Line Switches

• Automatically start comparisons using the session command.
• Automatically synchronize files and folders.
• Automatically copy files and folders.
• Automatically backup files and folders.
• Automatically verify CD copies, test results, and installations.

Scripting

Create and save scripts in the Professional edition of zsCompare. Scripts give access to functionality which is not available from the command line interface.