DIRCMP — Compare two directories.

Syntax:
DIRCMP /A /C /D /M /P /R /S /T /X dir1 dir2

/Acompare attributes of items which exist in both dir1 and dir2
/Ccompare file contents
/Ddisable highlight
/Mdo not display the footers
/Ppage output
/Rcompare directories recursively
/Scompare sizes of files which exist in both directories
/Tcompare time stamps of files which exist in both directories
/Xreverse operation — reports only items which exist in both directories
dir1the first directory; directory aliases are supported
dir2the second directory; directory aliases are supported

dir1 and dir2 are both required. Wildcards are not allowed; you must name two unambiguous directories.

/A compares attributes when a file or subdirectory exists in both dir1 and dir2. Only the read-only, archive, hidden, and system attributes are compared. The more exotic attributes will be ignored.

/C compares the contents of files which appear in both directories. Both files are opened, then data is read and compared, byte-for-byte. This option can slow DIRCMP down considerably! If the command is unable to read from either file, the files are considered the same.

/S compares file sizes when a file exists in both locations. Only files are tested. The relevant Windows APIs do not report sizes for subdirectories.

/T compares time stamps when a file exists in both locations. Only the last-write time stamp is compared, and the comparison is fuzzy; differences of less than two seconds may be ignored. Only time stamps of files are compared; this option does not test subdirectories.

/X reverses DIRCMP’s operation and reports only items which exist in both locations. If you combine /X with /A, /C, etc. then only items with matching attributes, contents, and so on will be listed.

Note that /R, not /S, controls recursion. Recursion is only performed where subdirectories with the exact same name exist in both dir1 and dir2.

Mismatches are reported with a note in brackets:

[1]The item exists in dir1 but not in dir2.
[2]The item exists in dir2 but not in dir1.
[A]The item has different attributes in dir1 and dir2.
[C]The file has different contents in dir1 and dir2.
[S]The file has different sizes in dir1 and dir2.
[T]The item has different time stamps in dir1 and dir2.

The letters may be combined; e.g. [ST] would mean that the items have different sizes and time stamps.

Items which exist in one directory, but not the other, are always reported. There is no option to suppress this feature.

If a file exists in dir1 and a subdirectory of the same name exists in dir2 — or vice versa — then both will be reported as mismatches.


dircmp /r /s "%userprofile\Documents" d:\backup\docs\