Diff files present in two different directories Diff files present in two different directories unix unix

Diff files present in two different directories


You can use the diff command for that:

diff -bur folder1/ folder2/

This will output a recursive diff that ignore spaces, with a unified context:

  • b flag means ignoring whitespace
  • u flag means a unified context (3 lines before and after)
  • r flag means recursive


If you are only interested to see the files that differ, you may use:

diff -qr dir_one dir_two | sort

Option "q" will only show the files that differ but not the content that differ, and "sort" will arrange the output alphabetically.


Diff has an option -r which is meant to do just that.

diff -r dir1 dir2