Bash function to compare two binary files [closed]

Question

I need a function to compare 2 binary files, here the requirements:

• 2 files, not 3 or 4
• files can't be assumed to exist
• avoid running checksum (CRC/MD5/SHA/...) until one must
• if running multiple checksums, do so from least expensive to most expensive (order above)
• print out meaningful error messages
• usage: binary_compare_two_files file1 file2

Here's what I have got, I think it can be done much better than this. How?

#!/bin/bash

function binary_compare_two_files() {

  REQUIRED_ARGUMENTS=2

  n_arguments="$#"

  if [ ! "${n_arguments}" -eq $REQUIRED_ARGUMENTS ]; then
    printf 'Invalid number of arguments. Required: %d, supplied: %d\n' \
      $REQUIRED_ARGUMENTS $n_arguments
    echo 'usage: binary_compare_two_files file1 file2'
    return
  fi

  file1="${1}"
  file2="${2}"

  if [  ! -f "${file1}" -o ! -f "${file2}" ]; then
    echo 'Invalid arguments. Both arguments need to refer to existing files.'
    return
  fi

  file1_size=$(stat -f "%z" "${file1}")
  file2_size=$(stat -f "%z" "${file2}")

  if [ ! ${file1_size} -eq ${file2_size} ]; then
    return $((file1_size - file2_size))
  fi

  file1_md5=$(md5 -q "${file1}")
  file2_md5=$(md5 -q "${file2}")

  if [ ! "${file1_md5}" == "${file2_md5}" ]; then
    return -1
  fi

  return 0
}

I have opted not to use diff/bdiff because I am not sure whether those stat and check for sizes first... I would need to look at the src.

Answer 1

#!/bin/bash
diff -u $1 $2 > /dev/null
if [[ $? -eq 0 ]] ;then
    echo "They are equal!"
else 
    echo "They aren't equal!"
fi;

Of course, i didn't test whether argument is free or not.You can do it yourself.

Enjoy that....