comparing the content of two directories


 
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# 1  
Old 04-29-2008
comparing the content of two directories

Hello

I want to compare the content of two directories recursively to check if the two directories have the same files. How can I do that?
# 2  
Old 04-29-2008
IF you mean just filenames, not file contents - one way:
Code:
ls dir1 > ./dir1.txt
ls dir2 > ./dir2.txt
diff dir1.txt dir2 txt

If you mean file contents:
Code:
diff dir1 dir2

[/code]
# 3  
Old 04-29-2008
If you are not trying to put it into a program, and that using some sort of GUI is acceptable, I found diff frontends such as kdiff3, kompare and meld helpful because they will highlight what the differences are using a lot of visual aids such as colours to make diffs a lot more pleasurable to read.
 
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