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Compare two directories for differences

harmlessFilesystemalle
Adjust the values, the command updates live
user@server
diff -rq /var/www/vhosts/example.com/httpdocs /var/www/vhosts/example.com/staging

Walks both trees recursively and only reports which files differ in content (differ) or exist in just one directory (Only in). Thanks to -q, the actual changes are not printed. Handy for comparing staging and live, or for checking a fresh core download against a possibly tampered installation.

Note: Only contents are compared, not permissions or timestamps.

Also searched as

  • compare two folders linux
  • which files are different
  • compare wordpress copy with original
  • diff two directories

Related one-liners

All in Filesystem

Compare two lists: what is missing from the second

$comm -23 <(sort -u all-domains.txt) <(sort -u backed-up-domains.txt)
harmlessText processing

Show differences between two branches

$git diff --stat main...feature/contact-form
harmlessGit

Analyze disk usage interactively with ncdu

$ncdu -x /var
harmlessFilesystem

Calculate the total size of all files of one type

$find /var/www/vhosts/example.com/httpdocs/wp-content/uploads -type f -iname '*.mp4' -printf '%s\n' | awk '{s+=$1; n++} END {printf "%d Dateien, %.1f MB\n", n, s/1048576}'
harmlessFilesystem

Check inode usage of filesystems

$df -ih -x tmpfs -x devtmpfs -x squashfs
harmlessFilesystem

Copy a directory with its contents

$cp -a -- /var/www/vhosts/example.com/httpdocs/wp-content/themes/mytheme /var/www/vhosts/example.com/httpdocs/wp-content/themes/mytheme-copy
cautionFilesystem

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The commands on myline.de act directly on servers, files and databases. A wrong path or placeholder can delete data irreversibly or make a server unreachable.

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  • Make a backup first and, if possible, try it on a test system.
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