Find matches in two text files, output them into a third text file

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Find matches in two text files, output them into a third text file

 
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  #1
Aug 14th, 2009
Hi,
I'm trying to take two text files, compare them, then output the matches into a new text file. I've read the thread started by the1last, but that's outputting differences, not matches. I just started learning about python a couple days ago, so I don't know anything about what syntax or modules I should use.
Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks.
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Re: Find matches in two text files, output them into a third text file

 
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  #2
Aug 15th, 2009
I'm new to Python as well, but I think I could offer some help.

Well if you're looking to find lines that match up, instead of words, then you can do something like this:

python Syntax (Toggle Plain Text) 
  1. file1 = open("file1.txt", "r")
  2. file2 = open("file2.txt", "r")
  3. file3 = open("file3.txt", "a")
  4.  
  5. file1.seek(0,0)
  6. file2.seek(0,0)
  7.  
  8. list1 = file1.readlines()
  9. list2 = file2.readlines()
  10.  
  11. for i in list1:
  12.     for j in list2:
  13.         if i == j:
  14.             file3.write("FILE 1:",i)
  15.             file3.write("FILE 2:",j)

Now if you are talking about words, then you can probably go through each list and use <string>.split() on it, so you have each word in a seperate list item, but I'm not sure if that would work. Just an idea, really.

Hope I helped.
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Re: Find matches in two text files, output them into a third text file

 
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  #3
Aug 15th, 2009
Zebibyte's code idea is correct, although lines 5 & 6 are unnecessary(I think).
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Re: Find matches in two text files, output them into a third text file

 
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  #4
Aug 17th, 2009
Thanks for the replies.
I tried the code that Zebibyte suggested, but I'm getting the following error:

Traceback (most recent call last):
File '/home/zach/bin/ps3.py", line 7, in <module>
list1 = file1.readLines()
AttributeError: 'file' object has no attribute 'readLines'
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Re: Find matches in two text files, output them into a third text file

 
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  #5
Aug 17th, 2009
readLines() is a type error; the 'l' is not capitals. So- readlines()
Last edited by sravan953; Aug 17th, 2009 at 10:46 am. Reason: Code mistake
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Re: Find matches in two text files, output them into a third text file

 
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  #6
Aug 17th, 2009
Oh yeah, thanks.
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Re: Find matches in two text files, output them into a third text file

 
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  #7
Aug 17th, 2009
Thanks to both of you for your help.

Here is the final working version of the code:

Python Syntax (Toggle Plain Text) 
  1. #!/usr/bin/env python
  2.  
  3. textfile = file('results.txt', 'wt')
  4.  
  5. file1 = open("list1.txt", "r")
  6. file2 = open("list2.txt", "r")
  7. file3 = open("results.txt", "a")
  8.  
  9. list1 = file1.readlines()
  10. list2 = file2.readlines()
  11.  
  12. file3.write("The following entries appear in both lists: \n")
  13.  
  14. for i in list1:<blockquote>for j in list2:</blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>if i==j:</blockquote></blockquote><blockquote><blockquote><blockquote>file3.write(i)</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>
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