dir-compare
Advanced tools
The dir-compare npm package is used to compare the contents of directories. It can compare files and subdirectories, providing detailed information about differences and similarities. This package is useful for tasks such as synchronizing directories, verifying backups, and ensuring consistency between different environments.
Basic Directory Comparison
This feature allows you to compare two directories. The `compareSync` method performs a synchronous comparison, and the `compareContent` option ensures that file contents are compared as well.
const dircompare = require('dir-compare');
const options = { compareContent: true };
const res = dircompare.compareSync('path/to/dir1', 'path/to/dir2', options);
console.log(res);Asynchronous Directory Comparison
This feature allows you to perform an asynchronous comparison of two directories. The `compare` method returns a promise that resolves with the comparison result.
const dircompare = require('dir-compare');
const options = { compareContent: true };
dircompare.compare('path/to/dir1', 'path/to/dir2', options)
.then(res => console.log(res))
.catch(error => console.error(error));Custom Comparison Options
This feature allows you to customize the comparison process with various options. For example, you can exclude certain file types or include only specific file types in the comparison.
const dircompare = require('dir-compare');
const options = { compareContent: true, excludeFilter: '*.txt', includeFilter: '*.js' };
const res = dircompare.compareSync('path/to/dir1', 'path/to/dir2', options);
console.log(res);Detailed Comparison Result
This feature provides detailed information about the comparison result. The `diffSet` property contains an array of differences, which you can iterate over to get detailed information about each difference.
const dircompare = require('dir-compare');
const options = { compareContent: true };
const res = dircompare.compareSync('path/to/dir1', 'path/to/dir2', options);
res.diffSet.forEach(dif => console.log(dif));The diff package provides a way to compare text differences between two strings or files. While it is more focused on text comparison rather than directory structures, it can be used to compare file contents in a more granular way.
The fs-extra package extends the native Node.js fs module with additional methods, including methods for copying, moving, and removing directories. While it does not provide direct comparison features, it can be used in conjunction with other tools to manage directory contents.
The rsyncwrapper package is a Node.js wrapper for the rsync command-line utility. It can be used to synchronize directories and files between different locations. While it focuses on synchronization rather than comparison, it can be used to achieve similar goals.
Node JS directory compare
$ npm install dir-compare
or
$ npm install -g dir-compare
for command line utility.
const dircompare = require('dir-compare');
const options = { compareSize: true };
// Multiple compare strategy can be used simultaneously - compareSize, compareContent, compareDate, compareSymlink.
// If one comparison fails for a pair of files, they are considered distinct.
const path1 = '...';
const path2 = '...';
// Synchronous
const res = dircompare.compareSync(path1, path2, options)
print(res)
// Asynchronous
dircompare.compare(path1, path2, options)
.then(res => print(res))
.catch(error => console.error(error));
function print(result) {
console.log('Directories are %s', result.same ? 'identical' : 'different')
console.log('Statistics - equal entries: %s, distinct entries: %s, left only entries: %s, right only entries: %s, differences: %s',
result.equal, result.distinct, result.left, result.right, result.differences)
result.diffSet.forEach(dif => console.log('Difference - name1: %s, type1: %s, name2: %s, type2: %s, state: %s',
dif.name1, dif.type1, dif.name2, dif.type2, dif.state))
}
Typescript
import { compare, compareSync, Options, Result } from "dir-compare";
const path1 = '...';
const path2 = '...';
const options: Options = { compareSize: true };
const res: Result = compareSync(path1, path2, options);
console.log(res)
compare(path1, path2, options)
.then(res => console.log(res))
.catch(error => console.error(error));
Options:
function (entry1, entry2, state, level, relativePath, options, statistics, diffSet, reason)
statistics and diffSet.Result:
compareSymlink options is used
options.noDiffSet is false)
Minimatch patterns are used to include/exclude files to be compared.
The pattern is matched against the relative path of the entry being compared.
Following examples assume we are comparing two dir-compare code bases.
dircompare -x ".git,node_modules" dir1 dir2') exclude git and node modules directories
dircompare -x "expected" dir1 dir2') exclude '/tests/expected' directory
dircompare -x "/tests/expected" dir1 dir2') exclude '/tests/expected' directory
dircompare -x "**/expected" dir1 dir2') exclude '/tests/expected' directory
dircompare -x "**/tests/**/*.js" dir1 dir2') exclude all js files in '/tests' directory and subdirectories
dircompare -f "*.js,*.yml" dir1 dir2') include js and yaml files
dircompare -f "/tests/**/*.js" dir1 dir2') include all js files in '/tests' directory and subdirectories
dircompare -f "**/tests/**/*.ts" dir1 dir2') include all js files in '/tests' directory and subdirectories
By default file content is binary compared. As of version 1.5.0 custom file comparison handlers may be specified.
Custom handlers are specified by compareFileSync and compareFileAsync options which correspond to dircompare.compareSync() or dircompare.compare() methods.
A couple of handlers are included in the library:
dircompare.fileCompareHandlers.defaultFileCompare.compareSyncdircompare.fileCompareHandlers.defaultFileCompare.compareAsyncdircompare.fileCompareHandlers.lineBasedFileCompare.compareSyncdircompare.fileCompareHandlers.lineBasedFileCompare.compareAsyncUse defaultFileCompare.js as an example to create your own.
Line based comparator can be used to ignore line ending and white space differences. This comparator is not available in CLI mode.
var dircompare = require('dir-compare');
var options = {
compareContent: true,
compareFileSync: dircompare.fileCompareHandlers.lineBasedFileCompare.compareSync,
compareFileAsync: dircompare.fileCompareHandlers.lineBasedFileCompare.compareAsync,
ignoreLineEnding: true,
ignoreWhiteSpaces: true
};
var path1 = '...';
var path2 = '...';
var res = dircompare.compareSync(path1, path2, options);
console.log(res)
dircompare.compare(path1, path2, options)
.then(res => console.log(res))
Result builder is called for each pair of entries encountered during comparison. Its purpose is to append entries in diffSet and eventually update statistics object with new stats.
If needed it can be replaced with custom implementation.
var dircompare = require("dircompare")
var customResultBuilder = function (entry1, entry2, state, level, relativePath, options, statistics, diffSet, reason) {
...
}
var options = {
compareSize: true,
resultBuilder: customResultBuilder
}
var res = dircompare.compareSync('...', '...', options)
The default builder can be used as an example.
Unless compareSymlink option is used, symbolic links are resolved and any comparison is applied to the file/directory they point to.
Circular loops are handled by breaking the loop as soon as it is detected.
Version 1.x treats broken links as ENOENT: no such file or directory.
Since 2.0 they are treated as a special type of entry - broken-link - and are available as stats (totalBrokenLinks, distinctBrokenLinks, ...).
Using compareSymlink option causes dircompare to check symlink values for equality.
In this mode two entries with identical name are considered different if
These rules are applied in addition to the other comparison modes; ie. by content, by size...
If entries are different because of symlinks, reason will be different-symlink. Also statistics summarizes differences caused by symbolik links.
Usage: dircompare [options] leftdir rightdir
Options:
-h, --help output usage information
-V, --version output the version number
-c, --compare-content compare files by content
-D, --compare-date compare files by date
--date-tolerance [type] tolerance to be used in date comparison (milliseconds)
--compare-symlink compare files and directories by symlink
-f, --filter [type] file name filter
-x, --exclude [type] file/directory name exclude filter
-S, --skip-subdirs do not recurse into subdirectories
-L, --skip-symlinks ignore symlinks
-i, --ignore-case ignores case when comparing file names
-l, --show-left report - show entries occurring in left dir
-r, --show-right report - show entries occurring in right dir
-e, --show-equal report - show identic entries occurring in both dirs
-d, --show-distinct report - show distinct entries occurring in both dirs
-a, --show-all report - show all entries
-w, --whole-report report - include directories in detailed report
--reason report - show reason when entries are distinct
--csv report - print details as csv
--nocolors don't use console colors
--async Make use of multiple cores
By default files are compared by size.
--date-tolerance defaults to 1000 ms. Two files are considered to have
the same date if the difference between their modification dates fits
within date tolerance.
Exit codes:
0 - entries are identical
1 - entries are different
2 - error occurred
Examples:
compare by content dircompare -c dir1 dir2
show only different files dircompare -d dir1 dir2
exclude filter dircompare -x ".git,node_modules" dir1 dir2
dircompare -x "/tests/expected" dir1 dir2
dircompare -x "**/expected" dir1 dir2
dircompare -x "**/tests/**/*.ts" dir1 dir2
include filter dircompare -f "*.js,*.yml" dir1 dir2
dircompare -f "/tests/**/*.js" dir1 dir2
dircompare -f "**/tests/**/*.ts" dir1 dir2
Result replaced Statistics.FAQs
Node JS directory compare
We found that dir-compare demonstrated a healthy version release cadence and project activity because the last version was released less than a year ago. It has 1 open source maintainer collaborating on the project.
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