# phpman > man > File::Compare

## NAME
    [File::Compare](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/File%3A%3ACompare/markdown) - Compare files or filehandles

## SYNOPSIS
            use [File::Compare](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/File%3A%3ACompare/markdown);

            if (compare("file1","file2") == 0) {
                print "They're equal\n";
            }

## DESCRIPTION
    The [File::Compare::compare](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/File%3A%3ACompare%3A%3Acompare/markdown) function compares the contents of two sources, each of which can be a
    file or a file handle. It is exported from [File::Compare](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/File%3A%3ACompare/markdown) by default.

    [File::Compare::cmp](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/File%3A%3ACompare%3A%3Acmp/markdown) is a synonym for [File::Compare::compare](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/File%3A%3ACompare%3A%3Acompare/markdown). It is exported from [File::Compare](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/File%3A%3ACompare/markdown)
    only by request.

    [File::Compare::compare_text](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/File%3A%3ACompare%3A%3Acomparetext/markdown) does a line by line comparison of the two files. It stops as soon as
    a difference is detected. compare_text() accepts an optional third argument: This must be a CODE
    reference to a line comparison function, which returns 0 when both lines are considered equal.
    For example:

        compare_text($file1, $file2)

    is basically equivalent to

        compare_text($file1, $file2, sub {$_[0] ne $_[1]} )

## RETURN
    [File::Compare::compare](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/File%3A%3ACompare%3A%3Acompare/markdown) and its sibling functions return 0 if the files are equal, 1 if the files
    are unequal, or -1 if an error was encountered.

## AUTHOR
    [File::Compare](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/File%3A%3ACompare/markdown) was written by Nick Ing-Simmons. Its original documentation was written by Chip
    Salzenberg.