Purpose:Compare directories

 

Format:DIFFER [ranges] [/= /A:[[-|+]rhsadecijopt /A /C /D /N[ejs] /S source target

 

source - source directory

target - target directory

 

/A:... (Attributes)/N (disable)
/A (Added files)/S[n] (Subdirectories)
/C (Changed files)/SHAx (Hash type)

/D (Deleted files)

 

File Completion Syntax:

 

The default filename completion syntax is: dirs

 

Usage:

 

DIFFER will compare two directories and display files that have been added, changed, or deleted. If you don't specify the /A, /C, and/or /D options, DIFFER will prefix the line with a [*] for changed files, [+] for added files, and [-] for deleted files.

 

DIFFER will not by default search target to see if there are additional directories that are not in source. You can either reverse the source & target, or specify the /A:D option if you want to find new target subdirectories.

 

Examples:

 

Compare the directories C:\DEV and D:\DEV (and their subdirectories) and display the differences:

 

differ /S /SHA256 c:\dev d:\dev

 

Options:

 

/=Display the DIFFER command dialog to help you set the directory and command line options. The /= option can be anywhere on the line; additional options will set the appropriate fields in the command dialog.

 

/A:Compare only those files that have the specified attribute(s) set. See Attribute Switches for information on the attributes which can follow /A:.

 

/AOnly look for files that have been added to the target directory.

 

/COnly look for files that have been changed in the target directory.

 

/DOnly look for files that have been deleted from the target directory,

 

/NA /N with one or more of the following arguments has an alternate meaning:

 

eDon't display errors
jSkip junctions (when used with /S)
sDon't display the summary

 

/SAlso compare subdirectories in source and target. If you specify a number after the /S, DIFFER will limit the subdirectory recursion to that depth. For example, if you have a directory tree "\a\b\c\d\e", /S2 will only compare the "a", "b", and "c" directories.

 

/SHAxHash type to use for the file comparison. You can use /SHA1, /SHA256, or /SHA512.  If you don't specify a hash type, then DIFFER will compare the file times (which is much faster, but can't determine that two files are identical if the date/times are different).