/IGNORE=(keyword[,...]) Inhibits the comparison of the specified characters, strings, or records; also controls whether the comparison records are output to the listing file as edited records or exactly as they appeared in the input file. If you specify only one keyword, you can omit the parentheses. The keyword parameter refers to either a character or a keyword. The first set of keywords determines what, if anything, is ignored during file comparison; the second set of keywords determines whether or not ignored characters are included in the output. The following keywords are valid options for the /IGNORE qualifier: Keyword Item Ignored BLANK_LINES Blank lines between data lines. CASE Case of the text being compared. COMMENTS Data following a comment character. (Use the /COMMENT_DELIMITER qualifier to designate one or more nondefault comment delimiters.) FORM_FEEDS Form feed character. HEADER[=n] Defines n records of the file as header records, beginning with a record whose first character is a form feed. The first record is not ignored if the only character it contains is a form feed. (n indicates the header size and defaults to 2. A record containing only a single form feed is not counted in n.) SPACING Extra spaces or tabs within data lines. TRAILING_SPACES Space and tab characters at the end of a data line. WHITE_SPACE All spaces and tab characters. Keyword Status of Ignored Items in Output EDITED Omits ignored characters from the output records. EXACT Includes ignored characters in the output records. PRETTY Formats output records. Each data line is checked for COMMENTS, FORM_FEEDS, HEADER, and SPACING before it is tested for TRAILING_SPACES and then BLANK_LINES. Therefore, if you direct the DIFFERENCES command to ignore COMMENTS, TRAILING_SPACES, and BLANK_LINES, it ignores a record that contains several spaces or blank lines followed by a comment. By default, the DIFFERENCES command compares every character in each file and reports all differences. Also, by default, the DIFFERENCES command lists records in the output file with all ignored characters deleted. If you specify the /PARALLEL qualifier, output records are always formatted. The following table shows the corresponding output for the various characters that are being translated: Character Formatted Output Tab (Ctrl/I) 1-8 spaces Return (Ctrl/M) <CR> Line feed (Ctrl/J) <LF> Vertical tab (Ctrl/K) <VT> Form feed (Ctrl/L) <FF> Other nonprinting . (period) characters