Check if two XML files are the same in C#?

Question

How do I check to see if two XML files are the same in C#?

I want to ignore comments in the XML file.

Answer 1

Install the free XMLDiffMerge package from NuGet. This package is essentially a repackaged version of the XML Diff and Patch GUI Tool from Microsoft.

This function returns true if two XML files are identical, ignoring comments, white space, and child order. As a bonus, it also works out the differences (see the internal variable differences in the function).

/// <summary>
/// Compares two XML files to see if they are the same.
/// </summary>
/// <returns>Returns true if two XML files are functionally identical, ignoring comments, white space, and child
/// order.</returns>
public static bool XMLfilesIdentical(string originalFile, string finalFile)
{
    var xmldiff = new XmlDiff();
    var r1 = XmlReader.Create(new StringReader(originalFile));
    var r2 = XmlReader.Create(new StringReader(finalFile));
    var sw = new StringWriter();
    var xw = new XmlTextWriter(sw) { Formatting = Formatting.Indented };

    xmldiff.Options = XmlDiffOptions.IgnorePI | 
        XmlDiffOptions.IgnoreChildOrder | 
        XmlDiffOptions.IgnoreComments |
        XmlDiffOptions.IgnoreWhitespace;
    bool areIdentical = xmldiff.Compare(r1, r2, xw);

    string differences = sw.ToString();

    return areIdentical;
}   

Here is how we call the function:

string textLocal = File.ReadAllText(@"C:\file1.xml");
string textRemote = File.ReadAllText(@"C:\file2.xml");
if (XMLfilesIdentical(textLocal, textRemote) == true)
{
    Console.WriteLine("XML files are functionally identical (ignoring comments).")
}