Compare two csv files and color code the difference in csv

Question

I want to compare two CSV files. If there is difference in a particular cell (Ex: 5th row and 3rd column) then give red color to that cell.

I can able to compare two files but unable to give red color to the difference cell I have tried this code

def compare():
try:
    assert_frame_equal(df_sort_sas, df_sort_py)
    return True
except:  # appeantly AssertionError doesn't catch all
    return False 
compare()

I want output like this: Here red colored cell means that particular value is not equal with first csv cell

You want to add colors to "CSV" files? This is not possible. — sisanared, Sep 27 '16 at 12:01

score 0 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 10:27

You can't set a colour in a csv file. Want you can do is doing it in excel: Have a look at those two questions: How to change background color of excel cell with python xlwt library? and Setting a cell's fill RGB color with pywin32 in excel

To summen up the answers:

from xlwt import Workbook
import xlwt
book = Workbook()
sheet1 = book.add_sheet('Sheet 1')
book.add_sheet('Sheet 2')
for i in range(0, 100):
    st = xlwt.easyxf('pattern: pattern solid;')
    st.pattern.pattern_fore_colour = i
    sheet1.write(i % 24, i / 24, 'Test text',st)
book.save('simple.xls')

or here:

def rgb_to_hex(rgb):
    strValue = '%02x%02x%02x' % rgb
    iValue = int(strValue, 16)
    return iValue

xl.ActiveSheet.Cells(row, column).interior.color = rgb_to_hex((255,255,0))

Credits to the authors not me

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 27 '16 at 12:15

You can only apply conditional formatting to excel files (e.g. xlsx), not .csv

I would organise the code in the following way:

Use pandas to compare the two csv and create a dataframe with a flag for the differences
Use xlsx module to write a xlsx file, coloring in red the cells where you have mismatch (http://xlsxwriter.readthedocs.io/example_conditional_format.html?highlight=conditional%20formatting)

Hope this helps

Compare two csv files and color code the difference in csv

2 Answers2