computing Computing is any goal-oriented activity requiring, benefiting from, or creating computing machinery. It includes the study and experimentation of algorithmic processes, and development of both hardware and software. Computing has scientific, ...

, comp is a

command Command may refer to: Computing * Command (computing), a statement in a computer language * COMMAND.COM, the default operating system shell and command-line interpreter for DOS * Command key, a modifier key on Apple Macintosh computer keyboards ...

used on DEC OS/8,"Concise Command Language" (CCL). DOS, DR

FlexOS FlexOS is a discontinued modular real-time multiuser multitasking operating system (RTOS) designed for computer-integrated manufacturing, laboratory, retail and financial markets. Developed by Digital Research's Flexible Automation Business U ...

, IBM

OS/2 OS/2 (Operating System/2) is a series of computer operating systems, initially created by Microsoft and IBM under the leadership of IBM software designer Ed Iacobucci. As a result of a feud between the two companies over how to position OS/2 ...

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation, multinational technology company, technology corporation producing Software, computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at th ...

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for ...

and related computer

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common daemon (computing), services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems scheduler (computing), schedule tasks for ef ...

s such as

ReactOS ReactOS is a free and open-source operating system for amd64/ i686 personal computers intended to be binary-compatible with computer programs and device drivers made for Windows Server 2003 and later versions of Windows. ReactOS has been noted ...

. It is used to perform comparisons of multiple

computer file A computer file is a computer resource for recording data in a computer storage device, primarily identified by its file name. Just as words can be written to paper, so can data be written to a computer file. Files can be shared with and trans ...

s to show the differences between them.

History

In DOS, the comp command first appeared in PC DOS 1.0 and has been included in most versions of

MS-DOS MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few oper ...

and

PC DOS PC or pc may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Player character or playable character, a fictional character controlled by a human player, usually in role-playing games or computer games * ''Port Charles'', an American daytime TV soap opera * ...

. A newer command, fc was added in DOS 3.3 which allows for line comparisons in addition to binary comparisons.

DR DOS 6.0 DR-DOS (written as DR DOS, without a hyphen, in versions up to and including 6.0) is a disk operating system for IBM PC compatibles. Upon its introduction in 1988, it was the first DOS attempting to be compatible with IBM PC DOS and MS-D ...

also includes an implementation of the command. The

FreeDOS FreeDOS (formerly Free-DOS and PD-DOS) is a free software operating system for IBM PC compatible computers. It intends to provide a complete MS-DOS-compatible environment for running legacy software and supporting embedded systems. FreeDOS ca ...

version was developed by Paul Vojta and is licensed under the

MIT License The MIT License is a permissive free software license originating at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the late 1980s. As a permissive license, it puts only very limited restriction on reuse and has, therefore, high license co ...

. Ged Murphy developed the

version. It is licensed under the GNU GPL 2. The command is also available in the EFI shell.

Syntax

The command- syntax is:MS-DOS and Windows command line comp command
/ref> comp Data1> Data2> d a l n= c

Parameters

* – Location and name of the first file or set of files * – Location and name of the second file or set of files */d – Display differences in decimal format (Default is hexadecimal) */a – Display differences as characters */l – Display the number of the line, instead of the byte offset */n= – Compare only the specified number of lines for each file */c – Perform a non case-sensitive comparison *

/off ine/code> – Process files with the offline attribute set
*/? – Display Help

 See also

*  Data comparison
* List of DOS commands 

This article presents a list of commands used by  DOS operating systems, especially as used on  x86-based  IBM PC compatibles (PCs).  Other DOS operating systems are not part of the scope of this list.

In DOS, many standard system commands were p ...

* diff 



In computing, the utility diff is a  data comparison tool that computes and displays the differences between the contents of files. Unlike edit distance notions used for other purposes, diff is line-oriented rather than character-oriented, but i ...


 References



 Further reading

*
*
*

 External links


comp ,  Microsoft Docs



 External DOS commands
 OS/2 commands
 ReactOS commands
 File comparison tools


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