Being a Microsoft Certified Trainer, I work with a lot of different clients spread over 11 different time zones. I sometimes need a little help when it comes to looking at contracts from my clients. The old saying “All is fair in love and business” is something that all business owners needs to remember. Fortunately for me, from client to client, contracts are fairly identical. I still like to look for anything that has changed from a previous contract with a client, but this can be time consuming.
Below is a little script that I use to highlight any changes. I just simply save the contents of the contracts into a text file and feed the new contract and the previous one into this script. This script will highlight any differences in each line. This helps to quickly direct my attention where it needs to be. In most cases, the contracts are 99% identical from one to the other. This just helps to make sure that I do not miss that 1%.
One thing to note is the use of Write-Host in this code. The design of the code is note to be used in the PowerShell pipeline. It is to be displayed utilizing colors.
Function Compare-Contract
{
[cmdletBinding()]
Param (
$Previous = "C:\Users\JASON\Documents\PowerShell\InDevelopment\CompareContract\Previous.txt",
$Current = "C:\Users\JASON\Documents\PowerShell\InDevelopment\CompareContract\Current.txt"
)
# Function: Write-Line
# Writes the characters out one by one. Green if they match, red if they do not.
# The LoneLine and ShortLine allows for any lines that have extra
# Characters in them to be marked in red.
Function Write-Line
{
Param ($LongLine, $ShortLine)
$Y = $LongLine.Count
Try
{
For ($X = 0;$X -lt $Y; $X++)
{
If($LongLine[$X] -eq $ShortLine[$X])
{
Write-Host "$($LongLine[$X])" -NoNewline @Color0
}
Else
{
Write-Host "$($LongLine[$X])" -NoNewline @Color1
}
}
}
Catch
{Write-Host "$LongLine[$X]" -NoNewline @Color1}
# Adds a carriage return to the line.
Write-Host ""
} # End: Function Write-Line
# Read the content of the text files.
$Previous = Get-Content $Previous
$Current = Get-Content $Current
# Split the contracts on each line. This helps to reduce
# the false positives.
$Prev = $Previous.Split("`n")
$Curr = $Current.Split("`n")
# Color splats used to help clarify what I need to look at.
$Color0 = @{ForegroundColor="Green";BackgroundColor = "DarkBlue"}
$Color1 = @{ForegroundColor="Red";BackgroundColor = "DarkRed"}
$Color2 = @{ForegroundColor="Cyan";BackgroundColor = "DarkBlue"}
$Color3 = @{ForegroundColor="Magenta";BackgroundColor = "DarkBlue"}
# Lets you know if any lines were added or removed between contracts.
Write-Host "Previous contract line count: $($Prev.Count)" @Color2
Write-Host "Current contract line count: $($Curr.Count)" @Color2
Write-Host "-------------------------------------------------------"
# Find out what the maximum line count is between the two contracts.
$Y = $Prev.count, $Curr.count | Measure-Object -Maximum |
Select-Object -ExpandProperty Maximum
# Loop through the contracts line by line.
# The IF Statements makes sure that if one contract is longer then
# the other, that the extended text will be marked red.
For ($X = 0; $X -lt $Y; $X++)
{
Try
{
If ($Curr.count -ge $Prev.count)
{
Write-Host "[$($X)]" -NoNewLine @Color3
$P = $Prev[$X].ToCharArray()
$C = $Curr[$X].ToCharArray()
Write-Line -LongLine $C -ShortLine $P
}
}
Catch
{
Write-Host $Curr[$X] @Color1
}
Try
{
If ($Curr.count -lt $Prev.count)
{
Write-Host "[$($X)]" -NoNewLine @Color3
$P = $Prev[$X].ToCharArray()
$C = $Curr[$X].ToCharArray()
Write-Line -LongLine $P -ShortLine $C
}
}
Catch
{
Write-Host $Prev[$X] @Color1
}
} # End: For ($X = 0; $X -lt $Y; $X++)
<#
.SYNOPSIS
Compares two sets of texts for differences.
.DESCRIPTION
Compares two sets of texts for differences. Highlights lines with
different characters in red.
.PARAMETER Previous
The text file of the previous contract.
.PARAMETER Current
The text file of the current contract.
.EXAMPLE
Compare-Contract -Previous Previous.txt -Current Current.txt
.NOTE
Output is written to the host utilizing Write-Host. Output to an object
is not part of this codes design.
#>
} # End: Compare-Contract
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