Sometimes it can be convenient to compare two simulation results, e.g. for a test case to compare different simulations. Therefore, we provide the dc compare tool. In this example we showcase the simple version to compute the $L_2$ norm of different field properties.

The file input_compare.yaml in the example folder will be used as an example to compare the two simulation results for testing the implementation of the material model and the quasi-static time integration.

Dimension: 2
Filename_1: output_1.vtu
Filename_2: output_res.vtu
# output filename with path
Out_Filename: compare.txt
# set false if do not want to print result to std::cout
Print_Screen: false
# Tolerance for the l2 norm
Tolerance: 1e-12
# provide list of tags for which comparison has to be made
Compare_Tags:
- Displacement
- Force


Note the option Tolerance specifies the absolute error between the two $L_2$ norms and if the error is larger the program returns EXIT_FAILURE and this return value is captured in the ctest to determine the result.

## Printing the results to the screen

If the option Print_Screen is set to true following output will be printed to std::cout:

Displacement_L2_Error, Displacement_Sup_Error, Force_L2_Error, Force_Sup_Error
0,0,0,0


## Printing the results to a file

Following output will be written to the file specified in the option Out_Filename:

Displacement_L2_Error, Displacement_Sup_Error, Force_L2_Error, Force_Sup_Error
0,0,0,0