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diff has an option --recursive (-r) to do a comparison between two directories (the files inside them). Is there a way to make diff ignore certain sub-directories (eg: .svn)?

$ diff -r src1/ src2/
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112

Add --exclude=".svn" as an option like so:

$ diff -r --exclude=".svn" src1/ src2/
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  • 7
    If you want to exclude multiple items just add another --exclude parameter. – JonMR Jul 12 '11 at 16:02
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    If you don't want to type --exclude every time use -x ".svn" – logic.town Aug 14 '12 at 9:03
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    --exclude option is also not working on mac os. -x ".svn" works well. – alpert Mar 29 '16 at 11:13
15
  diff --exclude=.svn ...
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