Tool to compare directories (Windows 7) [closed]

Asked 3/1, 2013 at 12:21 Answered 3/1, 2013 at 12:30

168

Due to some SVN movement I got disconnected from SVN while I was in middle of a fairly large enhancement.

Now I have my current workspace (with changes and disconnected from SVN) and new workspace (latest from SVN).

I need to manually update the new workspace with the changes so I could check them in.

So I am looking out for a tool that can let me compare the two workspaces, tell for new files and folders and also updated files.

Does a tool like this exist? If so, could you recommend a good one?

Felipa answered 3/1, 2013 at 12:21 Comment(10)

I use this one winmerge.org, it is free and works pretty well – Target 3/1, 2013 at 12:23

@Target : I know winmerge, but I have used it only for comparing files. Does it let you compare directories? – Felipa 3/1, 2013 at 12:23

yes it works fine also for directories – Target 3/1, 2013 at 12:25

scootersoftware.com This is by far the cadillac of comparison tools! – Danica 6/1, 2015 at 15:38

KDiff3 works awesome! softpedia.com/get/Office-tools/Text-editors/KDiff3.shtml – Provitamin 30/9, 2015 at 20:47

@Target thank you Rich - would you know where/how i can get a safe download, because I'd hate to get an internet transmitted disease? – Pet 12/2, 2016 at 5:24

I just downloaded the file and installed it. I cannot be 100% sure, but it doesn't apperar to contain any "disease" (filename : WinMerge-2.14.0-Setup.exe) – Target 12/2, 2016 at 9:31

This question is on-topic at Software Recommendations: softwarerecs.stackexchange.com/questions/3294/… – Sapro 25/4, 2016 at 8:56

Does FileZilla works too? But Beyond Compare is the best. – Hartsfield 27/6, 2016 at 17:29

You can use tree command to export the directory structure in a text file. then compare the text files in the ide to check how folder differs. Since question was closed not able to write my answer. Syntax - tree "your directory to which you need to export its structure" /F /A > "directory where to place text file/directory-structure.txt" – Chagall 1/2, 2018 at 7:56

210

I use WinMerge. It is free and works pretty well (works for files and directories).

Target answered 3/1, 2013 at 12:30 Comment(11)

Also FreeFileSync freefilesync.sourceforge.net – Aphasic 27/1, 2014 at 14:1

The problem with WinMerge is that the downloads are hosted on SourceForge which cannot be trusted anymore. One of the many articles describing their fall from grace: howtogeek.com/218764/… – Interrogatory 25/8, 2015 at 7:43

The problem with WinMerge is that it doesn't do recursive comparison on folders and you have to check each subdirectory manually. This is not easy when dealing with complex folder structures. A far better tool I have just found is CodeCompare: devart.com/codecompare/download.html. It has a free license and -from what I have seen- it is amazing, even when using the free license. There is also "Beyond Compare" that is 100% paid. – V 16/9, 2015 at 21:2

WinMerge (currently) doesn't handle paths more than 255 chars. It results in buffer overrun error. So if you are a Visual Studio or NodeJS developer, this tool is not so useful. – Teasel 31/12, 2015 at 20:24

I read the article about SourceForge. What a shame. I did what they suggested and went to ninite.com to download WinMerge, the Ninite installer was just one click, WinMerge installed. No hidden junk. Thanks for the recommendation for WinMerge, I really needed that, not unconstructive or constructive. I'm glad this didn't get deleted. – Aspergillosis 20/3, 2016 at 21:3

I just added a new answer relevant to this question at SoftwareRecs.SE per @NicolasRaoul comment above. It works for both local folders and network fileshares and uses a free Microsoft command line utility which is included in Windows Vista and up. – Tsuda 22/6, 2016 at 11:25

WinMerge does not recurse through subdirectories. – Dobson 27/7, 2016 at 21:50

WinMerge 2.14.0 has a checkbox to compare subdirectories. I just used it to compare my backup Tomcat install and it worked. – Misericord 29/1, 2017 at 16:54

CodeCompare is much better than WinMerge. Especially if you have multiple folders. WinMerge is not great with recursive stuff. Oh by the way get the CodeCompare Free version and it will do just fine for comparison and merging purposes. – Hege 15/3, 2017 at 16:11

WinMerge does not work on right click anymore in Windows >7 (Windows 10) – Eh 6/6, 2017 at 9:52

Have to call out the comment by NoOne recommending CodeCompare at devart.com/codecompare/download.html - free license, compare folder hierarchy, then launch file comparison from there. Within file comparison you can replace content in either direction or insert before or after. Plenty more features for a team-based dev environment too. For a free licence, this wins. – Olericulture 12/7, 2018 at 2:26

The tool that richardtz suggests is excellent.

Another one that is amazing and comes with a 30 day free trial is Araxis Merge. This one does a 3 way merge and is much more feature complete than winmerge, but it is a commercial product.

You might also like to check out Scott Hanselman's developer tool list, which mentions a couple more in addition to winmerge

Gastric answered 3/1, 2013 at 12:28 Comment(0)

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