Python comparing two CSV files when order of rows doesn't matter

Question

I have some code that creates a CSV file. The order of the rows it writes to the file can vary. I am writing a test to make sure the CSV file is what I expect. All I need to do is check that all rows are present and all fields equal. I have the code below, but am not sure how to get it to work so it doesn't care about the order of the rows. How can I make sure two CSV files contain the same rows, but the order of the rows doesn't matter?

 def assertRowsEqual(self, first, second)

    error_count = 0
    first_f = open(first)
    csv1 = csv.reader(first_f, delimiter=',', quotechar='"',
                    quoting=csv.QUOTE_ALL)

    second_f = open(second)
    csv2 = csv.reader(second_f, delimiter=',', quotechar='"',
                    quoting=csv.QUOTE_ALL)

    for row1 in csv1:
        row2 = csv2.next()
        if row1 != row2:
          self.fail("NOT THE SAME\n")

score 6 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 06 '11 at 18:21

6

If you don't care about repeated rows:

set(csv1) == set(csv2)

else:

sorted(csv1) == sorted(csv2)

answered Mar 06 '11 at 18:21

Fred Foo

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score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 06 '11 at 18:20

0

If they'll fit in memory, just cast to lists and sort them.

answered Mar 06 '11 at 18:20

Vamana

580
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7

Python comparing two CSV files when order of rows doesn't matter

2 Answers2

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