compare the two xml files attributes, elements & sub elements

[ashok ks]

How can i compare two xml files attributes, elements & sub elements ?

[Lasse Koskela]

What exactly do you mean by "comparing"?
Is it enough to know whether two documents are identical, similar or different, or do you need to know *what* is different between two documents?
The former requirement would be easy to satisfy with XMLUnit.

[ashok ks]

I would like to know about *what* is different between two documents details also.

[Balaji Loganathan]

Originally posted by ashok ks:
I would like to know about *what* is different between two documents details also.

Just wondering why ??

[Lasse Koskela]

In fact, XMLUnit provides a class named DetailedDiff which can list detailed differences between two documents.
Here's some sample code:

import java.io.File;
import java.util.Iterator;
import java.util.List;
import javax.xml.parsers.DocumentBuilder;
import javax.xml.parsers.DocumentBuilderFactory;
import org.custommonkey.xmlunit.DetailedDiff;
import org.custommonkey.xmlunit.Diff;
import org.custommonkey.xmlunit.Difference;
import org.w3c.dom.Document;
public class DiffSample {
public static void main(String[] args) throws Throwable {
DocumentBuilderFactory factory = DocumentBuilderFactory.newInstance();
DocumentBuilder builder = factory.newDocumentBuilder();
Document doc1 = builder.parse(new File(args[0]));
Document doc2 = builder.parse(new File(args[1]));
printDifferences(doc1, doc2);
}
private static void printDifferences(Document doc1, Document doc2) {
Diff diff = new Diff(doc1, doc2);
DetailedDiff detailedDiff = new DetailedDiff(diff);
List differenceList = detailedDiff.getAllDifferences();
System.out.println("" + differenceList.size() + " differences:");
Iterator differences = differenceList.iterator();
while (differences.hasNext()) {
Difference difference = (Difference) differences.next();
System.out.println("+ [" + difference.getDescription() + "]");
String node1 = difference.getControlNodeDetail().getNode().toString();
String node2 = difference.getTestNodeDetail().getNode().toString();
System.out.println("  [" + node1 + "] vs [" + node2 + "]");
}
}
}