Dear roboticus

Thanks a mil for clarifying RichardK's example and for providing a code sample. I like the approach and I think this might be the way to go ( might look nicer to the user, although I personally prefer tables ).

Be that as it may, I have one question that cropped up, while I was trying the code. In your example the files for the array are hardcoded. Since in the application scenario(s) the amount of files will vary. So I need to read the files into an array.

When using my previous approach with the glob function, the file names do not match, i.e. the script checks for

file_02_0.xml.xml:
file_03_0.xml.xml:
file_04_0.xml.xml:
file_05_0.xml.xml:

[download]

and with the .bak files, the script checks for:

file_02_0.xml.bak.xml:
file_03_0.xml.bak.xml:
file_04_0.xml.bak.xml:
file_05_0.xml.bak.xml:

[download]

I would like to turn this piece of code into a subroutine which will be implemented into another script, so I guess I cannot hardcode the file names, nor pass via cmd. Secondly, the xml files might be used for further processing so I would like to keep them separate.

I have been wrecking my head how to get around the issue, but no matter what I used I have not been successful. Moreover, I think I cannot change the the file tests for .bak and .xml, since what would be there to check, right?. Is there any way I could keep the file test and using glob and/or File::Find::Rule to keep both file types separate while still doing the comparision as shown here?

I know that I am missing something quite elemental, but I could not figure it out, please excuse my stupidity.

Thanks a mil for your help, I am really learning a lot more than just going through one book after the other

Kind regards

C. 
#Separating xml and backup files 

my @xml_files = glob( '*xml' );
#say for @xml_files;

my @bak_files = glob( '*bak' );
#say for @bak_files;

#Show differences between file_01.xml and file_01.xml.bak, etc...

open my $FH, '>', "file_difference_report" or die $!;
my @base_file_names = ( @xml_files, @bak_files );
print Dumper \@base_file_names;
print "\n\n\n";
for my $file_name ( @base_file_names ) {
    if ( ! -e "$file_name.xml" ){
        print "$file_name.xml: Not present ... not interesting file?\n
+";
        next;
    }
    if ( ! -e "$file_name.bak" ){
        print "$file_name: no backup, so probably not changed\n";
        next;
    }
    # If we get here, we have a .bak and a .xml file, so make another
    # program to compare them for us:
    my $output = 'diff $file_name.xml $file_name.bak';
    print $FH "\n\n===== $file_name changes =====\n";
    print $FH $output;
    print $FH "\n\n";
}

[download]

In reply to Re^6: comparing contents of two arrays and output differences by PitifulProgrammer
in thread comparing contents of two arrays and output differences by PitifulProgrammer

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