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How can I compare two directories with sub dirs to see where is the difference?

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Operating System please. – mh01 Feb 9 '10 at 15:22
Are you wanting to know if there are different files between the two directories or if the contents of the files are different? – Matt Simmons Feb 9 '10 at 17:19

4 Answers

up vote 13 down vote accepted

Under Linux:

$ diff -r /first/directory /second/directory

Under Windows: you'd probably better download and install WinMerge, then

> WinMerge /r c:\first\folder c:\second\folder

M

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I use diff -qrl now... – alexus Aug 10 '11 at 19:28
Is there an option in the GUI to specify the /r switch without using the command prompt? – Omtara May 7 at 3:31
up vote 1 down vote

Beyond Compare is a good commercial tool, $30 or so. Runs under windows, has an eval version. http://www.scootersoftware.com/

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up vote 0 down vote

On Windows, I believe windiff does it, however Winmerge is my tool of choice for this job. It's open source and does a very neat job of comparing two sets of directory trees.

edit: oops, was beaten to it by Marius

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up vote 0 down vote

DiffMerge for Windows shows differences including subfolders in a window. There is also a portable version somewhere but a quick search revealed this download: http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/File-Management/SourceGear-DiffMerge.shtml

Greetz, GHad

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