Comparing strings from a file

Here is a question to roll around in your heads.

if I have 2 files that are identical except a few variables might be different, how do I compare them to see that they match?

the variables look like this:

parameter=value

and there are 2 files that have these types of variables.

How do I read the variable by parameter in one page and find the same parameter in the second file and then compare the values?

Does that make sense?

I appreciate the time.