Compare two word files(*.doc)

[Anon]

I have 2 document files f1.doc and f2.doc
f2.doc is generated by using f1.doc
file->save as->f2.doc.
When i compare these two doc files ideally
speaking it should come same but it doesn't
I don't know why this happens .
That is not the case in txt or htm files
Pls help

[[deleted]]

Are you saving the doc in word?
Then word is probably updating the author information, and storing a different date in the doc file.
Word is a bloated format, full of time-dependant information.

Also, old versions of MS-word are known to copy random parts of your computers memory into the doc file to make the file larger (don't ask me why, it was a security issue some time ago).

That would make your new file different from the old one.

[gushy]

Indeed, this is all to do with the author/file information.

If you do a copy of f1.doc and then compare them you should get the result you are expecting.

Alternatively you could strip the text from the word files and then compare the text. Might not be very reliable though.

[alanl]

It's not just author info...

Try this. Create a word doc, save it, delete some stuff, save it again. In word 95, the second file is bigger than the first!

[Anon]

do you have any software for comparing the two word files ?

Kumaresh Babu