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 OS/8 is the primary operating system used on the Digital Equipment Corporation's PDP-8 minicomputer. PDP-8 operating systems which precede OS/8 include: * R-L Monitor, also referred to as MS/8. * P?S/8, requiring only 4K of memory. * PDP-8 4K ...

,"Concise Command Language" (CCL).

DOS DOS is shorthand for the MS-DOS and IBM PC DOS family of operating systems. DOS may also refer to: Computing * Data over signalling (DoS), multiplexing data onto a signalling channel * Denial-of-service attack (DoS), an attack on a communicat ...

, 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 r ...

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washin ...

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 ser ...

and related computer

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also i ...

s such as ReactOS. 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 ope ...

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 can ...

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 comp ...

. Ged Murphy developed the ReactOS version. It is licensed under the

GNU GPL 2 The GNU General Public License (GNU GPL or simply GPL) is a series of widely used free software licenses that guarantee end users the four freedoms to run, study, share, and modify the software. The license was the first copyleft for general us ...

. 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 *

/offine 
INE, Ine or ine may refer to:

 Institutions
* Institut für Nukleare Entsorgung, a German nuclear research center
* Instituto Nacional de Estadística (disambiguation)
* Instituto Nacional de Estatística (disambiguation)
* Instituto Nacional Elec ...
/code> – Process files with the offline attribute set
*/? – Display Help

 See also

* Data comparison 



In computing, file comparison is the calculation and display of the differences and similarities between data objects, typically text files such as source code.

The methods, implementations, and results are typically called a diff, after the Un ...

* 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 pro ...

* 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  ...


 References



 Further reading

*
*
*

 External links


comp ,  Microsoft Docs



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


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