{"id":1175,"date":"2023-07-24T18:34:00","date_gmt":"2023-07-24T13:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/geekpython.in\/?p=1175"},"modified":"2024-03-01T17:10:52","modified_gmt":"2024-03-01T11:40:52","slug":"filecmp-module-in-python","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/geekpython.in\/filecmp-module-in-python","title":{"rendered":"Comparing Files and Directories Using filecmp Module in Python"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

You’ve probably heard of the filecmp<\/code> module, which provides functions for programmatically comparing files and directories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>Comparing Files<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

The filecmp<\/code> module includes a function called cmp()<\/code> that compares two files and returns True<\/code> if they are equal, False<\/code> otherwise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>Syntax<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

filecmp.cmp(f1, f2, shallow=True)<\/code><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Parameters<\/strong> –<\/p>\n\n\n\n

f1<\/code>: First filename<\/p>\n\n\n\n

f2<\/code>: Second filename<\/p>\n\n\n\n

shallow<\/code>: If set to True<\/code> and the information(os.stat<\/code> signatures) of the file are identical, the files are considered equal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>Comparing Files Using cmp()<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
import filecmp\n\ncompare = filecmp.cmp('test_file1.txt', 'test_file2.txt')\nprint(compare)\n\n----------\nTrue<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Both files (test_file1.txt<\/code> and test_file2.txt<\/code>) have the same content, size, and permissions, that’s why the above code returned True<\/code>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most information in both files would be similar if you used the os.stat()<\/code> function to compare them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
stat1 = os.stat('test_file1.txt')\nprint(\"Information: test_file1.txt\")\nprint(stat1)\n\nstat2 = os.stat('test_file2.txt')\nprint(\"Information: test_file2.txt\")\nprint(stat2)<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Some os.stat()<\/code> function attributes will be the same in both files.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Information: test_file1.txt\nos.stat_result(st_mode=33206, st_ino=6473924465395070, st_dev=3836766283, st_nlink=1, st_uid=0, st_gid=0, st_size=20, st_atime=1689869596, st_mtime=1689856217, st_ctime=1689856083)\n\nInformation: test_file2.txt\nos.stat_result(st_mode=33206, st_ino=2814749768156544, st_dev=3836766283, st_nlink=1, st_uid=0, st_gid=0, st_size=20, st_atime=1689869596, st_mtime=1689856277, st_ctime=1689856094)<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n\n
The output shows that the status of both files is similar in terms of st_mode<\/code> (permissions) and st_size<\/code> (file size).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/a>Comparing Files Having Different Info<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
import filecmp\n\nfile_path1 = 'test_file1.txt'\nfile_path2 = 'D:\/SACHIN\/Pycharm\/file_handling\/test.txt'\n\ncompare = filecmp.cmp(file_path1, file_path2, shallow=True)\nprint(compare)\n\n----------\nFalse<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n\n
The above code returned False<\/code> because the contents of both files differ, as does the file size.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/a>Comparing Files From Different Directories<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
Files from two different directories can be compared using the filecmp.cmpfiles()<\/code> function.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The function compares the common files in the directories specified and returns three results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n