How do I diff two folders in Windows Powershell?

If you want to wrap the compare into a loop I would take the following approach:

$folder1 = "C:\Users\jscott"
$folder2 = "C:\Users\public"

# Get all files under $folder1, filter out directories
$firstFolder = Get-ChildItem -Recurse $folder1 | Where-Object { -not $_.PsIsContainer }

$firstFolder | ForEach-Object {

    # Check if the file, from $folder1, exists with the same path under $folder2
    If ( Test-Path ( $_.FullName.Replace($folder1, $folder2) ) ) {

        # Compare the contents of the two files...
        If ( Compare-Object (Get-Content $_.FullName) (Get-Content $_.FullName.Replace($folder1, $folder2) ) ) {

            # List the paths of the files containing diffs
            $_.FullName
            $_.FullName.Replace($folder1, $folder2)

        }
    }   
}

Note that this will ignore files which do not exist in both $folder1 and $folder2.

I have taken jscott's answer an expanded it to output the files that are present in one but not the other for those who are insterest in that type of functionality. Please note it also shows progress made since it was hard for me to see that given the huge folders with not very many differences. It looked like the script was hung to me. Here is the powershell code for that:

$folder1 = "C:\Folder1"
$folder2 = "C:\Folder2"

# Get all files under $folder1, filter out directories
$firstFolder = Get-ChildItem -Recurse $folder1 | Where-Object { -not $_.PsIsContainer }

$failedCount = 0
$i = 0
$totalCount = $firstFolder.Count
$firstFolder | ForEach-Object {
    $i = $i + 1
    Write-Progress -Activity "Searching Files" -status "Searching File  $i of     $totalCount" -percentComplete ($i / $firstFolder.Count * 100)
    # Check if the file, from $folder1, exists with the same path under $folder2
    If ( Test-Path ( $_.FullName.Replace($folder1, $folder2) ) ) {
        # Compare the contents of the two files...
        If ( Compare-Object (Get-Content $_.FullName) (Get-Content $_.FullName.Replace($folder1, $folder2) ) ) {
            # List the paths of the files containing diffs
            $fileSuffix = $_.FullName.TrimStart($folder1)
            $failedCount = $failedCount + 1
            Write-Host "$fileSuffix is on each server, but does not match"
        }
    }
    else
    {
        $fileSuffix = $_.FullName.TrimStart($folder1)
        $failedCount = $failedCount + 1
        Write-Host "$fileSuffix is only in folder 1"
    }
}

$secondFolder = Get-ChildItem -Recurse $folder2 | Where-Object { -not $_.PsIsContainer }

$i = 0
$totalCount = $secondFolder.Count
$secondFolder | ForEach-Object {
    $i = $i + 1
    Write-Progress -Activity "Searching for files only on second folder" -status "Searching File  $i of $totalCount" -percentComplete ($i / $secondFolder.Count * 100)
    # Check if the file, from $folder2, exists with the same path under $folder1
    If (!(Test-Path($_.FullName.Replace($folder2, $folder1))))
    {
        $fileSuffix = $_.FullName.TrimStart($folder2)
        $failedCount = $failedCount + 1
        Write-Host "$fileSuffix is only in folder 2"
    }
}

You just wrap a loop around the correct answer from your linked question that already answered this, and walk the directory tree comparing every file with the same name.

/Edit : If that's actually your question, it's more appropriate for SO, where you seem to be a regular contributor. You're asking a programming question. I understand you're doing it for a sysadmin-type of purpose, in which case, I would tell you to use a purpose-built tool like WinDiff.

Do this:

compare (Get-ChildItem D:\MyFolder\NewFolder) (Get-ChildItem \\RemoteServer\MyFolder\NewFolder)

And even recursively:

compare (Get-ChildItem -r D:\MyFolder\NewFolder) (Get-ChildItem -r \\RemoteServer\MyFolder\NewFolder)

and is even hard to forget :)

How do I diff two folders in Windows Powershell?

Related

Recent Posts