diff()mergewinmerge
I prefer Winmerge to Diffmerge, but the one thing I envy is Diffmerge's folder diff feature.
Diffmerge shows, for complicated folders and subfolders, only different files (not folders).
Winmerge shows different files and equal files and subfolders.
Winmerge has a feature which can show only different files. But it still shows subfolders. So I have to enter in the subfolders then should check different files.
I'd like to keep using WinMerge… How do I do this in WinMerge?
I would have thought that WinMerge with the following settings would work:
If it doesn't, I would ask the question in their forums.
I believe this is worth the effort, as WinMerge is my best file-compare product.
@Glytzhkof recommended Robocopy in his answer, and it suited my needs perfectly.
C:\>robocopy.exe source target /l /e /zb /xx /xl /fp /ns /nc /ndl /np /njh /njs
C:\source\foo\bar\b.txt
Robocopy (Wikipedia) seems widely adopted for Windows system administration; is well-documented (TechNet); is discussed as more than an obscurity on Stack Overflow, Server Fault, and of course, here at Super User; provides for a specific function rather than trying to be a multi-purpose tool (which tend toward bloat and bugs); and furthermore has been providing this specific function since 1997. For me, all these factors contribute to "transparency," despite it being closed-source, and set my mind at ease.
Robocopy comes as part of a set of tools currently known as Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit Tools. After downloading and installing, I recreated the scenario in my question and gave it a go:
C:\>robocopy.exe source target /l /e /zb
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ROBOCOPY :: Robust File Copy for Windows
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Started : Thu May 01 09:08:20 2014
Source : C:\source\
Dest : C:\target\
Files : *.*
Options : *.* /L /S /E /COPY:DAT /ZB /R:1000000 /W:30
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
0 C:\source\
1 C:\source\foo\
*EXTRA Dir -1 C:\target\foo\baz\
2 C:\source\foo\bar\
*EXTRA File 1 d.txt
Newer 5 b.txt
New File 1 c.txt
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total Copied Skipped Mismatch FAILED Extras
Dirs : 3 0 3 0 0 1
Files : 3 2 1 0 0 1
Bytes : 7 6 1 0 0 1
Times : 0:00:00 0:00:00 0:00:00 0:00:00
Ended : Thu May 01 09:08:20 2014
Looks good! Let me explain the options:
/l lists actions without actually carrying them out./e includes subdirectories, but unlike /s, includes empty directories too./zb copies in "restart" mode, and on access denied, "backup" mode; it seems like the safest approach; read more here.I didn't need any of the copy-related options since I'm not actually performing any actions.
Anyway, next, it was only a matter of adding more switches to get the output I desired:
C:\>robocopy.exe source target /l /e /zb /xx /xl /fp /ns /nc /ndl /np /njh /njs
C:\source\foo\bar\b.txt
Again, let's go through the options.
First, I only cared about modified files and folders, so:
/xx excludes "extra" files and directories—those which exist only in the target./xl excludes "lonely" files and directories—those which exist only in the source.Second, I desired relative paths (or at least full paths, not just names):
/fp enables full paths (unsurprisingly, there was no option for relative paths).Third, I wanted to remove as much logging fluff as possible, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that all of it was removable:
/ns suppresses file sizes./nc suppresses classes, e.g. Newer./ndl suppresses directory names./np suppresses copy progress output./njh suppresses the job header./njs suppresses the job summary.And there you have it!
For my purposes (creating versioned backups of changed files), I realized I'd actually like to have the timestamp of each modified file, too. Simply add /ts:
C:\>robocopy.exe source target /l /e /zb /xx /xl /fp /ns /nc /ndl /np /njh /njs /ts
2014/05/01 15:20:42 C:\source\foo\bar\b.txt
Best Answer
So easy :)
In Winmerge, go to menu View and uncheck "Tree mode"