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Files & data

Read and write files safely; parse JSON, CSV, and common text formats.

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Files & data easy

How to Compare Directory Trees in Python

This code recursively scans two directory trees and reports files that exist in only one directory, as well as files present in both but with different content.

filesystem comparison pathlib
Python
from pathlib import Path

def compare_directories(path1, path2):
    dir1 = Path(path1)
    dir2 = Path(path2)

    if not dir1.is_dir() or not dir2.is_dir():
        raise ValueError("Both paths must be directories.")

    files1 = {p.relative_to(dir1) for p in dir1.rglob("*") if p.is_file()}
    files2 = {p.relative…
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