# Install excel-compare with Homebrew

Command-line tool (and API) for diffing Excel Workbooks. Version 0.7.0 via Homebrew; verified 2026-06-22.

## Install

```sh
sudo av install brew:excel-compare
```

Additional install commands:

### macOS

- Homebrew (100%):

```sh
brew install excel-compare
```

  Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata

## Package facts

- **Package key:** brew:excel-compare
- **Package manager:** Homebrew
- **Version:** 0.7.0
- **Source summary:** Command-line tool (and API) for diffing Excel Workbooks
- **Homepage:** <https://github.com/na-ka-na/ExcelCompare>
- **Repository:** <https://github.com/na-ka-na/ExcelCompare>
- **Last updated:** 2026-06-22T14:03:17-07:00
- **Generated:** 2026-08-03T19:37:03+00:00

## Executables

- excel_cmp (alias)

## Install behavior

- Bottle: not available

## Freshness

- Page generated: 2026-08-03
- Package-manager version: 0.7.0
## Project history and usage

ExcelCompare is a Java command-line tool and API-oriented project for diffing Excel and OpenDocument spreadsheets.

### Project history

The GitHub repository was created on 2012-06-30, and release 0.3 was published on 2013-12-13. The README describes it as a CLI for diffing Excel and ODS workbooks, built on Apache POI and OdfToolkit.

### Adoption history

ExcelCompare found a practical niche among developers who need spreadsheet diffs in shells, scripts, and version-control workflows. The README explicitly documents macOS installation via Homebrew and notes packaged shell and batch scripts.

The project has remained recognizable enough for Homebrew packaging and GitHub issue-based maintenance, even though the core use case is narrow.

### How it is used

The excel_cmp command compares two workbook files and exits 0 when workbooks match or 1 when they differ. It reports differing and extra cells, supports xls, xlsx, xlsm, and ods files, and can ignore sheets, rows, columns, or cell ranges independently for each input.

The README also documents unified-diff output and using /dev/null or Windows NUL as an empty file, which makes the tool suitable for git diff-style workflows over spreadsheets.

### Why package nerds care

ExcelCompare packages a messy office-document problem into a scriptable Unix-style CLI with deterministic exit codes. That makes it useful in CI and review workflows where binary spreadsheet files otherwise resist normal diff tools.

### Timeline

- 2012: GitHub repository created.
- 2013: Release 0.3 published.
- Later README versions: Homebrew installation, ODS support, ignore rules, and unified-diff output documented.

### Related projects

- The README cites Apache POI for Excel parsing and OdfToolkit for OpenDocument spreadsheet parsing.

### Sources

- <https://github.com/na-ka-na/ExcelCompare>
- <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/na-ka-na/ExcelCompare/master/README.md>
- <https://api.github.com/repos/na-ka-na/ExcelCompare>
- <https://api.github.com/repos/na-ka-na/ExcelCompare/releases?per_page=100>


## Security Notes

narrow executable package without higher-risk signals.

- **Geiger risk:** green / low
- narrow executable package without higher-risk signals


## Combined YAML source

View the package source record on GitHub. [combined/excel-compare.yml](https://github.com/mxcl/pkgdb/blob/main/combined/excel-compare.yml)


## Sources

- pkg.so package database
- Geiger risk classifier
- curated package history
- pkgdb category and tag curation
- cross-ecosystem install command graph