How does data viewer determine a record match

[kwphipps]

How does BC determine a match?
i.e. what fields does it match on?

How does BC determine an orphan?

[Erik]

The Data Viewer aligns records based on their keys. Aligned records are then compared field by field.

If key fields aren't specified, or the files aren't sorted, records are aligned using the same method as the File Viewer.

[kwphipps]

Ok, could you explain how the file viewer aligns records.
Thanks

[Erik]

The Data Viewer uses the "Standard Method" documented in Beyond Compare's Help file topic "File Alignment Rules".

Basically, it tries to maximize the number of matching records that are aligned by comparing entire lines. Mismatched records will only be aligned if a key isn't defined.