Data compare

Note: This feature is available in Enterprise, Ultimate and Team editions only.

Sometimes you need to compare data from two sources (tables) which have almost identical data with just a few differences. There may be plenty reasons to do so: quickly visualize and navigate through all the differences; copy different rows or individual values; export them using Data Transfer.

1. You will need to choose one or two desired tables in the Database Navigator - it may be the tables from the same databases or from different databases or even from different RDBMS (e.g. PostgreSQL and MySQL).
2. Then choose Database ⇒ Compare/Migrate ⇒ Data Compare from the menu and the Data Compare Wizard will appear. Here you can preview selected tables or choose other ones. Then you can navigate to the second page.
3. On the second page you should choose the columns that will be used as a unique key during the comparison (the amount of columns must be equal). If the keys chosen are wrong, it may lead to invalid results. By default, if the table has a unique key in it, it will be chosen automatically during the initial setup: Without unique keys the rows cannot be compared properly, since there is no way to distinguish between individual rows.
4. After reaching the last page, you can tweak limits (e.g. you only care about the N first rows) and exclude categories of the resulting rows (e.g. you are not interested in modified rows). Also, you can press the Save task button to save the configuration in Task to use it later, or Schedule it.

If tables you want to compare have different ordering, naming or quantity of columns, you can tweak their mappings and/or entirely skip columns you're not interested in:

Please note that this page only features columns that aren't used as primary key configured on a previous page.

Pressing the Auto assign button will attempt to link columns with same names.

After finishing the wizard, you can press the Start button to begin the actual comparison process - it may take some time depending on the databases you are comparing, the amount of data in them, and your network speed (*).

When the results are ready, DBeaver will play a beep sound, and the editor will open: Here you can examine the differences, swap the panels using the Swap Containers button in the toolbar, or preview the summary including the statistics by using the Show Summary button in the toolbar too. Everything you can do in the regular data editor is possible to perform here - you can copy data or transfer it to another database, except modify the values.

* - Please note that the actual preview is only available when Data Compare is launched through the wizard - otherwise only the statistics will be written into the Task Log.

You can export results as an SQL script containing statements that will turn the second table into the first one by DELETE-ing unrelated rows, INSERT-in new ones, and UPDATE-ing existing ones, so the data will look the same.

You can export results either by:

1. Setting the Export compare results to file option found on the last page
2. Pressing the Preview SQL diff button found in the compare viewer

Tip: You can export the results to a remote file system via Cloud Storage by using the Browser remote file system button . This feature is available exclusively to users of the Ultimate Edition, Team Edition, and CloudBeaver versions.

This section is under construction. It will include information about the engine's implementation details and more.