difference between 2 strings 1

[johnv20]

Hi,
does anyone know how to compare 2 strings and show the differences ?

 

[brettskey]

Well, I think it depends on how you want to show the differences. There's a really simple way you can compare two strings and show the differences if you don't care about position. But if you want the differences between "ABCDE" and "BCDEF" to be shown as "First string starts with A" and "Last string ends with F", then this won't work. This is for simple stuff like "ABCDE" vs. "ABCEE":

(note: not tested)

public String showDifferences(String s1, String s2)
{
  StringBuffer diffStr=new StringBuffer("");

  int i;
  for(i=0; i<s1.length() && i<s2.length(); i++)
  {
    if(s1.charAt(i)!=s2.charAt(i))
      diffStr.append(&quot;String 1: &quot;+s1.charAt(i)+&quot;  String 2: &quot;+s2.charAt(i)+&quot;\n&quot;);
  }
  if(s1.length() > s2.length())
  {
    diffStr.append(&quot;String 1 extra: &quot;+s1.substring(i));
  }
  else if(s2.length() > s1.length())
  {
    diffStr.append(&quot;String 2 extra: &quot;+s2.substring(i));
  }
  return diffStr.toString();
}

 

[johnv20]

perfect - thanks