Compare Two Lists: Find What Is in One and Not the Other
Paste two lists and see the items only in A, only in B, in both, and all together, with counts and a copy button for each. Runs in your browser, nothing is uploaded.
Your lists stay in this browser. Nothing is uploaded or sent to a server, and they are not put in the page address.
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Report a problem or suggest an improvement
Nothing is sent until you press Send. Your measurements are included only if you tick the box, and you can see the full report below first.
When to use this
- You have two lists of names, emails, SKUs or words and want to know what is missing from one.
- You want the items that appear in both lists.
- You want one clean list with the repeats taken out.
How to use
- Paste the first list into List A and the second into List B, one item per line.
- Choose whether upper and lower case count as different and whether to ignore spaces around each line.
- Press Compare lists.
- Read the four counts, then copy any result with its Copy button.
Examples
- Fruit lists: A is apple, banana, cherry, date, banana. B is banana, cherry, elderberry, fig. Only in A: apple, date. In both: banana, cherry. Only in B: elderberry, fig. All together: 6 different items.
Understanding the result
Each list is read line by line, blank lines are dropped and repeats are counted once, keeping the first spelling. Only in A are items with no match in B. In both are items found in both lists. Only in B are items with no match in A. All together is List A followed by what is only in B. Results keep the order of your lists.
Limitations
- Matching is exact. Near matches such as a typo, a plural or a different spelling are different items.
- Accents and other letters are compared as typed. The tool does not treat e and é as the same.
- Lists are limited to 50,000 lines and 1,000,000 characters each. Very large lists may be slow on an old phone.
- It compares text only, not files or spreadsheets. Copy a spreadsheet column and paste it in.
FAQ
How do I find items that are in one list but not the other?
Paste both lists, press Compare lists and read Only in A and Only in B. Those boxes hold the items with no match in the other list.
Does it care about upper and lower case?
By default no, so Apple and apple match. Tick the case option if they should be different.
What happens to repeated lines?
Repeats are counted once and the first spelling is kept. The page tells you how many repeated lines each list had.
Can I paste a column from a spreadsheet?
Yes. Copy the cells of one column and paste them into a box. Each cell becomes one line.
Is my list uploaded?
No. The comparison runs in your browser. Nothing you paste is sent to a server or stored, and it is not put in the page address.
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