Incorrect work of substitution filters

[ivti81]

I'm trying to compare 2 XML files with ignoring XML comments. To do this I've created substitution filter by using regular expressions:

^<!--[\s\S]*-->$

If XML comments are in both files it works OK, but when XML comment absent in of the file, WinMerge consider them as unequal. Files to compare and screenshot are attached.
winmergebug.zip

WinMerge version: 2.16.40.0 X 64
Config file:
WinMerge.txt

[sdottaka]

Unfortunately, the current WinMerge has a weakness in processing files that do not have a newline character at the end of the file, like the one you attached.
If there is a newline character at the end of the file on the right and the "Ignore blank lines" option is enabled as shown in the image below, you will get the expected result.

[ivti81]

Thank for prompt reply. Will this weakness be fixed it future releases?

[sdottaka]

If it were to be fixed, it would be a relatively large fix and would not be released immediately.