Diff Tool For Large Files Mac

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I need to compare two binary files and get the output in the form:

<fileoffset-hex> <file1-byte-hex> <file2-byte-hex>

for every different byte. So if file1.bin is

in binary form and file2.bin is

I want to get something like

Is there a way to do this in Linux? I know about cmp -l but it uses a decimal system for offsets and octal for bytes which I would like to avoid.

bertieb

14 Answers

This will print the offset and bytes in hex:

Or do $1-1 to have the first printed offset start at 0.

Unfortunately, strtonum() is specific to GAWK, so for other versions of awk—e.g., mawk—you will need to use an octal-to-decimal conversion function. For example,

Broken out for readability:

Dennis WilliamsonDennis Williamsonakiraakira

diff + xxd

Try diff in the following combination of zsh/bash process substitution:

Where:

• -y shows you differences side-by-side (optional).
• xxd is CLI tool to create a hexdump output of the binary file.
• Add -W200 to diff for wider output (of 200 characters per line).
• For colors, use colordiff as shown below.

colordiff + xxd

If you've colordiff, it can colorize diff output, e.g.:

^{Otherwise install via: sudo apt-get install colordiff.}

Sample output:

vimdiff + xxd

You can also use vimdiff, e.g.

Hints:

• if files are too big, add limit (e.g. -l1000) for each xxd

kenorbkenorb

There's a tool called DHEX which may do the job, and there's another tool called VBinDiff.

For a strictly command-line approach, try jojodiff.

Aleksandr Dubinskynjdnjd

Method that works for byte addition / deletion

Generate a test case with a single removal of byte 64:

Output:

If you also want to see the ASCII version of the character:

Output:

Tested on Ubuntu 16.04.

I prefer od over xxd because:

• it is POSIX, xxd is not (comes with Vim)
• has the -An to remove the address column without awk.

Command explanation:

• -An removes the address column. This is important otherwise all lines would differ after a byte addition / removal.
• -w1 puts one byte per line, so that diff can consume it. It is crucial to have one byte per line, or else every line after a deletion would become out of phase and differ. Unfortunately, this is not POSIX, but present in GNU.
• -tx1 is the representation you want, change to any possible value, as long as you keep 1 byte per line.
• -v prevents asterisk repetition abbreviation * which might interfere with the diff
• paste -d ' - - joins every two lines. We need it because the hex and ASCII go into separate adjacent lines. Taken from: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/8987257/concatenating-every-other-line-with-the-next
• we use parenthesis () to define bdiff instead of {} to limit the scope of the inner function f, see also: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/8426077/how-to-define-a-function-inside-another-function-in-bash

See also:

Ciro Santilli 新疆改造中心996ICU六四事件Ciro Santilli 新疆改造中心996ICU六四事件

Short answer

When using hexdumps and text diff to compare binary files, especially xxd, the additions and removals of bytes become shifts in addressing which might make it difficult to see. This method tells xxd to not output addresses, and to output only one byte per line, which in turn shows exactly which bytes were changed, added, or removed. You can find the addresses later by searching for the interesting sequences of bytes in a more 'normal' hexdump (output of xxd first.bin).

EvgenyEvgeny

I'd recommend hexdump for dumping binary files to textual format and kdiff3 for diff viewing.

The hexdiff is a program designed to do exactly what you're looking for.

Usage:

It displays the hex (and 7-bit ASCII) of the two files one above the other, with any differences highlighted. Look at man hexdiff for the commands to move around in the file, and a simple q will quit.

kenorb

Format Usb For Large Files Mac

Attach Large Files

It may not strictly answer the question, but I use this for diffing binaries:

It prints both files out as hex and ASCII values, one byte per line, and then uses Vim's diff facility to render them visually.

Peter MortensenJohn Lawrence AspdenJohn Lawrence Aspden

dhex http://www.dettus.net/dhex/

DHEX is a more than just another hex editor: It includes a diff mode, which can be used to easily and conveniently compare two binary files. Since it is based on ncurses and is themeable, it can run on any number of systems and scenarios. With its utilization of search logs, it is possible to track changes in different iterations of files easily.

You can use gvimdiff tool that is included in vim-gui-common package

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install vim-gui-common

Then you can compare 2 hex files using following commands :

Tha's all. Hope tha help !

The firmware analysis tool binwalk also has this as a feature through its -W/--hexdump command line option which offers options such as to only show the differing bytes:

In OP's example when doing binwalk -W file1.bin file2.bin:

BinDiff is a great UI tool for comparing binary files that has been open sourced recently.

EvgenyEvgeny

The go to open source product on Linux (and everything else) is Radare which provides radiff2 explicitly for this purpose. I voted to close this because myself and others have the same question, in the question you ask

for every different byte

That's insane though. Because as asked, if you insert one byte at the first byte in the file, you'd find every subsequent byte was different and so the diff would repeat the whole file, for an actual difference of one byte.

Slightly more practical is radiff -O. The -O is for 'Do code diffing with all bytes instead of just the fixed opcode bytes'

Like IDA Pro, Radare is a tool primary for binary analysis, you can also show delta diffing with -d, or display the disassembled bytes instead of hex with -D.

If you're asking these kind of questions though, check out

• Stack Overflow for the software questions,

Evan CarrollEvan Carroll