Compare content of directories in Linux

Question

In Linux, if I have two directories, how I can see the differences of content in these directories?

Now I use this command:

diff <(ls -d dir1/*) <(ls -d dir2/*)

Any other idea?

slhck · Answer 1 · 2012-05-29 19:47:00Z

up vote 3 down vote

Why not use diff on the directories themselves?

$ tree
.
|-- test1
|   |-- bar
|   `-- foo
`-- test2
    |-- baz
    `-- foo

The result:

$ diff test1 test2
Only in test1: bar
Only in test2: baz

answered May 29 '12 at 19:47

slhck♦
55.5k1089147

	I recall the `-r` flag being required in some cases... – grawity May 29 '12 at 21:56
	Not if you want to mimic what the OP did, but I'll leave reading the manpage to them. – slhck♦ May 30 '12 at 6:05

1 Answer