Re: Compare Binary Files

If all you want is to check whether the files have identical content or not I would simply compare the MD5 (or SHA-1) hashes.

Hash::MD5 will calculate the hash for you.

Comment on Re: Compare Binary Files

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Re^2: Compare Binary Files by ikegami (Patriarch) on Sep 07, 2011 at 23:12 UTC
Why? It seems to me that reading entire file to calculate its hashes is a waste of time compared to just reading the entire file. Calculating hashes is useful in two circumstances: 1) When comparing one document to many (or many to many), 2) When a compact signature of the file is needed (for ease of communication or storage).	[reply]