# Aligned vs Unaligned

Table Compare has special features not found in other types of sessions.  One of them is the ability to sort the left and right side during a comparison.  

Select two lists in your file system.  Notice that they don't have to be spreadsheet files.  Here I have selected two text files exported from [ssa.gov](https://www.ssa.gov/OACT/babynames/decades/index.html).  I then rightclick to open them, being careful to open them as a TableCompare session:

![](/files/-LYTJEH7Vlb06q-L9A1X)

(If you don't have the rightclick context menu, you can do `Session->newSesson->TableCompare` and then drag in your files with a mouse.)  

Popular names of boys born in the US, 1940 vs 1990, aligned but not sorted.  The line numbers are created by BC. They are the line numbers in the original file.  We see the BC algorithm finding a match at *Stuart* but then the other names are trapped above it and below it, unable to reshuffle:

![](/files/-LYTKcLZI21f7nfIxOll)

With `session->sessionsettings->alignment->sortedAlignment` turned on we see the lines rearranging.  The original file is unharmed.  The line numbers tell us the line position prior to sorting. *Jerome* was line 96 in the left file before sorting and in the newer file Jerome was line 265 before sorting. Highlighted in blue as unimportant differences are names that don't exist at all in the opposing file.

![](/files/-LZKvJbKblVW5ZMRvDRX)

These [colors ](https://beyondcompare.gitbook.io/project/other/colors)are not the factory defaults: I reset them for my color blindness.


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