#+options: toc:nil num:nil
#+date: 2022-09-24

* Comparing the content of two files or directories

~diff~ is a command line utility used to compare two files or directories

** Compare files

To compare the content of two files use something like

#+begin_example bash
  diff file1.txt file2.txt
#+end_example

You can redirect the output to a file and make a patch: a file containing the differences between both files

#+begin_example bash
  diff file1.txt file2.txt  > patch.txt
#+end_example

** Comparing directories

Some arguments may be hepful to have an output showing the differences between
two directories:

 * ~--brief~ (show only the differences) and
 * ~-r~ (compare the directories that are located within the main directory also)

#+begin_example bash
  diff --brief -r directory1 directory2
#+end_example

Another approach to compare all the files within each directory is to use:

 * ~q~ : Shows only differences
 * ~r~ : Run the command recursively

#+begin_example bash
  diff -qr directory1 directory2
#+end_example