Text difference algorithm

Question

I need an algorithm that can compare two text files and highlight their difference and ( even better!) can compute their difference in a meaningful way (like two similar fi

Answer 1

Bazaar contains an alternative difference algorithm, called patience diff (there's more info in the comments on that page) which is claimed to be better than the traditional diff algorithm. The file 'patiencediff.py' in the bazaar distribution is a simple command line front end.