Comparing 2 different files (same field)

[mshinn9999]

Hello all.  I am trying to figure out the best approach for this.  I have File 1 (with a single field Name) with say 300K records. Then, I have another file which sources from another application with the same Name field (but has only about 1K records).  I am trying to understand how likely there would be close matches in the Name field between the 2 separate files. 

Is the Fuzzy Match tool (MERGE) the best approach here?  Or, is there something a bit easier tool to leverage here?  I did not want to over-complicate this. 

Mike

[mshinn9999]

Thank you @OllieClarke !  This is great use of Find/Replace. 

[jdminton]

@OllieClarke you are correct. I was confusing the reasons why I don't prefer find/replace and append fields. Append fields is the one that limits the data coming in. I typically avoid find/replace as it doesn't allow for multiple criteria in the join. In this case, it shouldn't be an issue though. Thanks for pointing this out!