22795 File compare: How to achieve this alignment?

[chrisjj]

I want to align e.g. left

O Set 2010-01-29 Carablanca - La Vie en Rose.m3u
O Set 2010-03-07 El Amateur - Everybody Hurts Sometimes.m3u

etc. with right

O Set 2010-01-29 3h19m Carablanca - La Vie en Rose.m3u
O Set 2010-03-07 3h10m El Amateur - Everybody Hurts Sometimes.m3u

How?

IIUC, the obvious Alignment Override can't do this because "The right side only supports exact matches, so you can only use references like $1, $2, etc and characters on the right. "

So I swapped sides and tried



(Both Align left file (or folder) and with right file (or folder) values end with a space character, left invisible by BC)

But as the pic shows, this fails.

PS The Help "Fill in the Align left file (or folder) and with right file (or folder) edits." is incorrect and misleading. There's only one edit and the two values are pattern and replacement respectively. But for the examples, this article would leave me with no clue as to the effect of these fields.

Also I think the labels Align left file (or folder) and with right file (or folder) are also unhelpful. Better would be for them to say what the fields actually do/are rather than what is hoped they'll achieve e.g. Left file/folder name pattern, Right file/folder name replacement.

[chrisjj]

Solution found:



It is really intended that the pattern must match the whole filename?

[Aaron]

Hello,

Yes, the Alignment Override mask must match the entire file name, although you can match generally (.*) to catch excess filename you don't necessarily need to track.

[chrisjj]

Yes, the Alignment Override mask must match the entire file name

Shame there's no way to divine this from the docs or UI.