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