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====== COMPARE TABLES ======
Category: Transform / Advanced\\

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=====Description=====
This action compares two tables and produces a list of detected differences based on column metadata.

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=====Use cases=====
Use this action to compare the current version of a dataset against an earlier one to determine if it has changed, and what those changes were.

This action can be used to drive workflow branching based on whether the two comparison tables match, or not.

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=====Action settings=====
The only setting for his action is selecting the //Other table// to compare to.

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====Results====
The result of this action is a dataset containing the columns //Verdict//, //Column//, //This table//, and //Other table//.

^Column  ^Description  ^
|Verdict  |This column contains descriptions of the differences found, per column, between the tables. |
|Column  |This column lists the names of the Columns involved.  |
|This table  |This column lists the values in the current dataset associated with the Verdict in the Column shown.  |
|Other table  |This column lists the values in the other table associated with the Verdict in the Column shown.  |

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When the tables are misaligned, the following types of Verdicts will be displayed:
^Verdict  ^Description^
|Column removed  |This represents a column that appears in the original dataset ("this table") that does not appear in the comparison dataset ("other table").  This will appear for each column removed.  |
|Column added  |This represents a column that appears in the comparison dataset ("other table") that does not appear in the original dataset ("this table").  This will appear for each column added.  |
|The first mismatching value found in row #|This Verdict displays the number of the first row, within each Column, where the values between the tables do not align.  The disparate values are shown in the "This table" and "Other table" columns. |

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=====Remarks=====
If both tables are //exactly the same// the resultant dataset will be empty and the action icon will show //green//.  Otherwise, the action icon will show //red//.

If both tables are //completely different//, the result will be a "Column removed" verdict for each column in the original dataset followed by a "Column added" verdict for each column in the comparison dataset.

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=====See also=====

  * [[transformations:metadata|Table metadata]]