Check for missing files in two directories and their respective subdirectories

Question

Folder alpha has one subfolder, and files in both root and in subfolder.

Folder beta has 25 subfolders with files in them.

How would I compare the file contents of alpha and beta, checking for difference in files?

I looked into it, but couldn't find how to include all subfolders files. Or does it suffice comparing the two main folders and it automatically include everything inside? — Numbers, Oct 11 '14 at 20:15

Anthon · Accepted Answer · 2014-10-11 20:31:59Z

3

Assuming the file and directory names don't have newlines in them:

diff  <(cd alpha ; find . -type f) <(cd beta; find . -type f)

The find commands list the files in the directories the cd changed to and the diff compares the listings. Output looks like:

1c1,2
< ./b/c/file.x
---
> ./b/c/file.d
> ./b/c/file.e

with < indicating files only in alpha and > only in beta

answered Oct 11 '14 at 20:15

Anthon

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I'm comparing folders with ~ 30 000 files, and the file difference will be in the hundreds. Is there any way to only output the missing files? – Numbers Oct 11 '14 at 20:18
@Numbers, updated the answer. – Anthon Oct 11 '14 at 20:26
"find: illegal option -- t" – Numbers Oct 11 '14 at 20:28
@Numbers There was a . missing after the first find. (The one from GNU findutils doesn't seem to care about it). – Anthon Oct 11 '14 at 20:32

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