Linux: Binary comparison with "cmp"

[peter_b]

Usually I use "vbindiff" for binary file comparison, but on RedHat (RHEL) systems, it doesn't seem to be in the default repositories.
Thanks to an answer on "superuser.com", I found a substitute by using "cmp":

Code: Select all

$ cmp -l file1.avi file2.avi

That outputs a listing with 3 columns:

• byte offset
• value in first file
• value in second file

For example:

230858726 0 243
230858727 0 266
230858728 0 125
230858729 0 316
230858730 0 117
230858731 0 302
230858732 0 65

It's not as beautiful to read/interact with as vbindiff, but at least it gives you a hint of what's going on.
If you want to count the differences, you can use "wc" in line-mode:

Code: Select all

$ cmp -l file1.avi file2.avi | wc -l

Links:

• Question: How do I compare binary files in Linux? (superuser.com)