dir-compare

Node JS directory compare

!! Important !! Starting with v3.0.0 the CLI utility has been moved to dir-compare-cli.

Installation
Library
UI tools
Changelog

Installation

npm install dir-compare

Library

Use

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));

Api

compare(path1: string, path2: string, options?: Options): Promise<Result>
compareSync(path1: string, path2: string, options?: Options): Result

More details can be found in the reference documentation:

Common options:

Glob patterns

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.

const options = { 
  excludeFilter: ".git,node_modules",   //  exclude git and node modules directories  
  excludeFilter: "expected"         ,   //  exclude '/tests/expected' directory  
  excludeFilter: "/tests/expected"  ,   //  exclude '/tests/expected' directory  
  excludeFilter: "**/expected"      ,   //  exclude '/tests/expected' directory  
  excludeFilter: "**/tests/**/*.js" ,   //  exclude all js files in '/tests' directory and subdirectories  

  includeFilter: "*.js,*.yml"       ,   //  include js and yaml files  
  includeFilter: "/tests/**/*.js"   ,   //  include all js files in '/tests' directory and subdirectories  
  includeFilter: "**/tests/**/*.ts"     //  include all js files in '/tests' directory and subdirectories  
}

Custom file content comparators

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:

binary sync compare - dircompare.fileCompareHandlers.defaultFileCompare.compareSync
binary async compare - dircompare.fileCompareHandlers.defaultFileCompare.compareAsync
text sync compare - dircompare.fileCompareHandlers.lineBasedFileCompare.compareSync
text async compare - dircompare.fileCompareHandlers.lineBasedFileCompare.compareAsync

Use defaultFileCompare.js as an example to create your own.

Ignore line endings and white spaces

Line based comparator can be used to ignore line ending and white space differences.

const dircompare = require('dir-compare');

const options = {
  compareContent: true,
  compareFileSync: dircompare.fileCompareHandlers.lineBasedFileCompare.compareSync,
  compareFileAsync: dircompare.fileCompareHandlers.lineBasedFileCompare.compareAsync,
  ignoreLineEnding: true,      // Ignore crlf/lf line ending differences
  ignoreWhiteSpaces: true,     // Ignore white spaces at the beginning and ending of a line (similar to 'diff -b')
  ignoreAllWhiteSpaces: true,  // Ignore all white space differences (similar to 'diff -w')
  ignoreEmptyLines: true       // Ignores differences caused by empty lines (similar to 'diff -B')
};

const path1 = '...';
const path2 = '...';
const res = dircompare.compareSync(path1, path2, options);
console.log(res)

dircompare.compare(path1, path2, options)
.then(res => console.log(res))

Custom name comparators

If default name comparison is not enough, custom behavior can be specified with compareNameHandler option. Following example adds the possibility to ignore file extensions.

import { Options, compare } from 'dir-compare'
import path from 'path'

const options: Options = {
    compareSize: false,                    // compare only name by disabling size and content criteria
    compareContent: false,
    compareNameHandler: customNameCompare, // new name comparator used to ignore extensions
    ignoreExtension: true,                 // supported by the custom name compare below
};

function customNameCompare(name1: string, name2: string, options: Options) {
    if (options.ignoreCase) {
        name1 = name1.toLowerCase()
        name2 = name2.toLowerCase()
    }
    if (options.ignoreExtension) {
        name1 = path.basename(name1, path.extname(name1))
        name2 = path.basename(name2, path.extname(name2))
    }
    return ((name1 === name2) ? 0 : ((name1 > name2) ? 1 : -1))
}

const path1 = '/tmp/a';
const path2 = '/tmp/b';

const res = compare(path1, path2, options).then(res => {
    console.log(`Same: ${res.same}`)
    if (!res.diffSet) {
        return
    }
    res.diffSet.forEach(dif => console.log(`${dif.name1} ${dif.name2} ${dif.state}`))
})

// Outputs
// icon.svg icon.png equal
// logo.svg logo.jpg equal

Custom result builder

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.

const dircompare = require("dircompare")

const customResultBuilder = function (entry1, entry2, state, level, relativePath, options, statistics, diffSet, reason) {
    ...
}

const options = {
    compareSize: true,
    resultBuilder: customResultBuilder
}
const res = dircompare.compareSync('...', '...', options)

The default builder can be used as an example.

Symbolic links

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

one is symlink, the other is not
both are symlinks but point to different locations

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.

Handling permission denied errors

Unreadable files or directories are normally reported as errors. The comparison will be intrerrupted with an EACCES exception. This behavior can be altered with Options.handlePermissionDenied.

UI tools

Changelog

v3.3.0 Added skipEmptyDirs option
v3.2.0 Handle permission denied errors
v3.1.0 Added ignoreAllWhiteSpaces and ignoreEmptyLines options
v3.0.0 Moved CLI component into separate project dir-compare-cli
v2.4.0 New option to customize file/folder name comparison
v2.3.0 Fixes
v2.1.0 Removed bluebird dependency
v2.0.0
- New option to compare symlinks.
- New field indicating reason for two entries being distinct.
- Improved command line output format.
- Tests are no longer part of published package.
- Generated Api documentation.
Breaking changes:
- Broken links are no longer treated as errors. As a result there are new statistics (leftBrokenLinks, rightBrokenLinks, distinctBrokenLinks, totalBrokenLinks) and new entry type - broken-link. Details in Symbolic links.
- Typescript correction: new interface Result replaced Statistics.
v1.8.0
- globstar patterns
- typescript corrections
- removed support for node 0.11, 0.12, iojs
v1.7.0 performance improvements
v1.6.0 typescript support
v1.5.0 added option to ignore line endings and white space differences
v1.3.0 added date tolerance option
v1.2.0 added compare by date option
v1.1.0
- detect symlink loops
- improved color scheme for command line utility
v1.0.0
- asynchronous processing
- new library options: noDiffSet, resultBuilder
- new statistics: distinctFiles, equalFiles, leftFiles, rightFiles, distinctDirs, equalDirs, leftDirs, rightDirs
- new --async command line option
- Fix for https://github.com/tj/commander.js/issues/125
v0.0.3 Fix fille ordering issue for newer node versions

Current Tags

4.0.0 ... latest (3 years ago)