Compare Directories
The Compare Directories tool can be used to compare and manage changes to files and folders within the structure of your directories.
Compare Directories Tool
Starting the Tool from a Command Line
The directory comparison tool can also be started by using command-line arguments.
In the
installation folder there is an executable shell (diffDirs.bat on
Windows, diffDirs.sh on Unix/Linux, diffDirsMac.sh
on OS X). To specify the directories to compare, you can pass command-line arguments
using
the following construct: diffDirs.bat/diffDirs.sh/diffDirsMac.sh [directory path 1]
[directory path 2].
If you pass only one argument, you are prompted to manually choose the second directory or archive.
For example, to start a comparison between two Windows directories, the command line would look like this:
diffDirs.bat "c:\documents new" "c:\documents old"
Tip
Directory Comparisons
To perform a directory comparison, follow these steps:
- Select a folder in the left panel and the folder you want to compare it to in the
right panel. You can specify the path by using the text field, the history drop-down,
or
the Browse for local directory action in the
Browse drop-down menu.
Step Result: The selected directory structures are opened in the two side-by-side panels.
- To highlight the differences between the two folders, click the
Perform Directories Differencing button
from the toolbar.
To compare the content of two archives, follow these steps:
- Use the Browse for archive file action in the Browse drop-down menu to select the
archives in the left and right panels.
- To highlight the differences, click the Perform Directories Differencing button
from the toolbar.
The directory comparison results are presented using two tree-like structures showing the files and folders, including their name, size, and modification date. A column that contains graphic symbols separates the two tree-like structures. The graphic symbols can be one of the following:
- An X symbol, when a file or a folder exists in only one of the compared directories.
- A ≠symbol, when a file exists in both directories but the content differs. The same sign appears when a collapsed folder contains differing files.
The directories that contain files that differ are expanded automatically so that you can focus directly on the differences. You can merge the contents of the directories by using the copy actions. If you double-click (or press Enter) on a line with a pair of files, Oxygen XML Editor plugin starts a file comparison between the two files, using the Compare Files tool.