percentage difference between two text files
algorithm, language-agnostic, linux, python
Solution
You can use difflib.SequenceMatcher ratio method
From the documentation:
Return a measure of the sequences’ similarity as a float in the range [0, 1].
For example:
from difflib import SequenceMatcher
text1 = open(file1).read()
text2 = open(file2).read()
m = SequenceMatcher(None, text1, text2)
m.ratio()
Problem
I know that I can use cmp, diff, etc to compare two files, but what I am looking for is a utility that gives me percentage difference between two files. if there is no such utility, any algorithm would do fine too. I have read about fuzzy programming, but I have not quite understand it.