File Compare

This article is about the operating system command. For the general concept, see File comparison.

In computing, fc (File Compare) is a command-line program in DOS, IBM OS/2 and Microsoft Windows operating systems, that compares multiple files and outputs the differences between them.^[2][3] It is similar to the Unix commands comm, cmp and diff.

fc

The Microsoft Windows 95 fc command
Original author(s)	Mani A. Ulloa[1]
Developer(s)	Microsoft, IBM, Digital Research, Novell
Initial release	1984, 40–41 years ago
Written in	MS-DOS: x86 assembly language FreeDOS: C
Operating system	MS-DOS, PC DOS, OS/2, eComStation, ArcaOS, Windows, DR DOS, FreeDOS
Platform	Cross-platform
Type	Command
License	MS-DOS: MIT FreeDOS: GPLv2+
Website	docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/windows-commands/fc

History

The fc command has been included in Microsoft operating systems since MS-DOS 2.11 (e.g. on the 1984/85 DEC Rainbow release)^[4] and is included in all versions of Microsoft Windows.^[5] fc has also been included in IBM OS/2 Version 2.0.^[6]

DR DOS 6.0 includes an implementation of the fc command.^[7]

The command is also available in FreeDOS. This implementation is licensed under the GPLv2+.^[8]

Functionality

fc can compare text files as well as binary files.^[9] The latest versions^[which?] can compare ASCII or Unicode text. The result of comparisons are output to the standard output. The output of fc is intended primarily to be human readable and may be difficult to use in other programs.

See also

• Data comparison
• comp (command)
• List of DOS commands