Comparing two files and writing mismatched rows along with mismatched columns. Pointing out the mismatched columns is my main problem statement

Python 3.x solution:

diff_marked.py script:

import sys file1_name = sys.argv[1] file2_name = sys.argv[2] with open(file1_name, 'r') as f1, open(file2_name, 'r') as f2: f1_lines = f1.readlines() # list of lines of File1 f2_lines = f2.readlines() # list of lines of File2 for k,l in enumerate(f1_lines): f1_fields = l.strip().split('|') # splitting a line into fields by separator '|' if k < len(f2_lines) and f2_lines[k]: has_diff = False f2_fields = f2_lines[k].strip().split('|') for i,f in enumerate(f1_fields): if f != f2_fields[i]: # comparing respective lines 'field-by-field' between two files f1_fields[i] = '**' + f + '**' # wrapping differing fields f2_fields[i] = '**' + f2_fields[i] + '**' has_diff = True if has_diff: print(f1.name) # print file name print('|'.join(f1_fields)) print(f2.name) print('|'.join(f2_fields)) 

Usage: (you may have another python version, the current case has been tested on python 3.5)

python3.5 diff_marked.py File1 File2 > diff_output 

diff_output contents:

File1 1|piyush|bangalore|**dev** File2 1|piyush|bangalore|**QA** File1 3|rohit|**delhi**|**QA** File2 3|rohit|**bangalore**|**dev**