Additional /datacompare arguments

Last modified: March 28, 2025

This topic gives detailed description of command line switches and examples of their usage.

You can select the required options while setting the comparison in the Data Comparison wizard and generate a file with command line arguments by clicking Save settings to a file.

Arguments

To get more information on switches related to data comparison in the command line interface, you can type:

C:\Program Files\Devart\dbForge Studio for SQL Server\dbforgesql.com /datacompare /?

Note

The path to the executable file will differ depending on how you have installed the Studio - as a standalone tool or as part of the dbForge Edge bundle. Make sure that you have specified a correct path. If you have installed the Studio as part of dbForge Edge, change the path accordingly:

C:\Program Files\Devart\dbForge Edge\dbForge Studio for SQL Server>dbforgesql.com

Below all switches of this option are described, together with usage examples.

Action Parameter
Loads command line settings from comparison *.dcomp project file /compfile:<path>
Groups objects in comparison report:* none - no grouping is applied* status - objects are grouped by status* object - object are grouped by object type.</ul> /groupby:<none/status/object>
Saves the comparison results to a log file, specify the file location and name. /log:"D:\Log.log"
Excludes objects from comparison if they match the given expression by using the /meobjmask argument and specifying the needed expression. To turn the option off, specify No, N, Off, False, F. /meobjmask:<expression/N>
Excludes columns from the comparison if they match the given expression. To turn off the option, specify: No, N, Off, False, F. /mimask:<expression/N>
Includes objects to comparison if they match the given expression by using the /miobjmask argument and specifying the needed mask expression. To turn the option off, specify No, N, Off, False, F. /miobjmask:<expression/N>
Specifies a path to the report file. Note, that in this case there is no need to specify the file format separately. /report:"D:\report_file.html"
Generates and save a comparison report, specify the report format (HTML, XLS, CSV) along with the report location and name. /reportformat:<HTML|XLS|CSV>
Sets objects for the report, enter one of the following options: * All - all objects; * Filtered - filtered objects; * Diff - objects with differences; * SelectForSync - objects selected for synchronization. The option refers specifically to the report generation in the HTML/XLS/XML formats and does not work separately from the /report:<filepath> key. /includeobjects:<All|Filtered|Diff|SelectForSync
Generates and saves a synchronization script, specify the file location and name. If an output file path is specified, the program will generate only a synchronization script. /sync:"D:\sync_script.sql"

Usage examples

To practice comparison and synchronization through the command line, try to generate a synchronization script for a database backup and a live database. To do this, you should first change the default path in the command line by typing cd <required path> (for example, C:\Program Files\Devart\dbForge Studio for SQL Server\dbforgesql.com) and pressing Enter. After the default directory has changed, type the following arguments into the Command Prompt:

"C:\Program Files\Devart\dbForge Studio for SQL Server\dbforgesql.com" /datacompare /source backup:"D:\backup_file.bak" /target server:mssql2014 database:db_name user:yourusername password:"yourpassword" /CheckIdentical:Yes /sync:"D:\sync_script.sql"( /report:"D:\report_file.html")

1. Compare data using settings from a file saved earlier:

/datacompare /compfile:"D:\workDir\DC1vsDC2.dcomp"

2. Compare and synchronize data using connection string. Log will be written to the specified file:

/datacompare /source connection: "Connect Timeout=120;Data Source=SqlServer1;Initial Catalog=db1;Integrated Security=False;User ID=yourusername;Password=yourpassword;Pooling=False" /target connection:"Connect Timeout=120;Data Source=SqlServer2;Initial Catalog=db2;Integrated Security=False;User ID=yourusername;Password=yourpassword;Pooling=False" /sync /log:"D:\sync.log"

3. Compare data of the specified databases and save the synchronization script to the:

/datacompare /source connection:"Data Source=demo\SQLEXPRESS02;Initial Catalog=DC1;Integrated Security=True" /target connection:"Data Source=demo\SQLEXPRESS02;Initial Catalog=DC2;Integrated Security=True" /sync:"D:\compare_result.sql"

4. Compare and synchronize data using settings from the file, do not generate comments in the synchronization script, turn off dml triggers during synchronization; generate a report to the specified file in the HTML format:

/datacompare /compfile:"DC1vsDC2.dcomp" /nocomments:yes /nodml:yes /report:"report.txt" /reportformat:HTML /sync

5. Compare and synchronize data using settings from a file. Synchronize Lob columns using files:

/datacompare /compfile:"D:\workDir\DC1vsDC2.dcomp" /fspath:"\\SqlHost\Temp" /sync

6. Compare data and generate data report using settings from a file. Comparison and data writing settings of the different objects will be included into the report.

/datacompare /compfile:"D:\Compare\DC1vsDC2.dcomp" /report:"D:\Reports\CompReportDC1vsDC2.html" /reportformat:html /includeobjects:All /incdata:Yes /incs:Yes

Note

To build the command-line syntax, it’s better to use the Command-line Wizard.

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