exact match

when I compare two files based on the first, say, 6 characters and there are numeric, how do I ensure that exact matches only are matches e.g. I want to stop similar number being reported along with mismatches. I'm sure BC can do this but for the life of me I can't see how, now can the help assist - can you?
Cheers
Colin.

[Craig]

Set up the columns so everything after the 6th column is unimportant, then check the "Never Align Mismatches" option on the "Alignment" panel. That option was added in 2.1, so if you haven't yet you'll need to upgrade.

Alternatively, you can use the data viewer plugin and mark the field in columns 1-6 as a key field.

I have a similar problem. But the data is in signed hexadecimal. I would like to be able to specify tolerance for values to be recognized as different. eg. +/-3 to be regarded as equal. I have downloaded the data compare viewer but it takes decimal numbers and does not give me the result I want.

Is there any tool available to compare them? Is not, is there any way I can modify the data tool to do what I need?

[Chris]

The Data Viewer doesn't support hexadecimal numbers. I will add it to our feature request list.