Macworld: Text File Question ...

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7 Replies Last post: Apr 22, 2005 12:11 AM by zmagical1

zmagical1

5 posts since
Apr 17, 2005

Apr 19, 2005 1:37 PM

Text File Question

I have two different text lists. The first list has around five hundred different names. The second list has around two hundred names. All of the names in the second list are also in the first list. Is there an easy way to figure out which names from the first list are missing in the second list?

bikin'_mama

550 posts since
Nov 6, 2002

1. Apr 20, 2005 9:11 AM

in response to: zmagical1

Re: Text File Question

You can compare two documents for differences in MS Word. In Word X, open up the longer list, then do menu Tools-->Track Changes-->Compare Documents and select the file containing second list. I don't have Word 2004, but imagine it works similarly.

bofus

143 posts since
Jun 30, 2003

2. Apr 20, 2005 3:40 PM

in response to: zmagical1

Re: Text File Question

You can do this in Excel...

Regards,

Naphtali

1,019 posts since
Aug 12, 2001

3. Apr 21, 2005 7:34 AM

in response to: zmagical1

Re: Text File Question

Probably an easier way is to insert/paste all names into one Word file. Select All, then under Table Menu, SORT in ascending or decending order.

Duplicate files are together. Delete the duplicate name (paragraph).

zmagical1

5 posts since
Apr 17, 2005

4. Apr 21, 2005 9:49 AM

in response to: Naphtali

Re: Text File Question

Thanks for the suggestion. I now have a single Word document with all of the duplicates together. How exactly do I get rid of the word pairs (other than the very time consuming obvious way)?

Naphtali

1,019 posts since
Aug 12, 2001

5. Apr 21, 2005 9:34 PM

in response to: zmagical1

Re: Text File Question

This is a one-time job. So kludge is okay.

We're talking about 200 duplicates, give or take. Less than 5 seconds a deletion. Put an offspring/sibling/parent/relative/intern on the job. 200 x 5 = 1000 / 60 = 16 min. 40 sec. maximum.

car1son

1,349 posts since
Aug 30, 2001

6. Apr 21, 2005 9:56 PM

in response to: zmagical1

Re: Text File Question

With your previous editing question, you indicated you had downloaded and used TextWrangler.

You will find that program has an interesting command on the Text menu: Process duplicate lines...

If you set the parameters of the TextWrangler duplicate lines dialog to "Matching all" and "Delete duplicates lines", I think you will find the resulting document has exactly what you are looking for.

zmagical1

5 posts since
Apr 17, 2005

7. Apr 22, 2005 12:11 AM

in response to: car1son

Re: Text File Question

Thanks Carlson! That did the trick.

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Apr 19, 2005 1:37 PM

Text File Question

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