# To view the differences between two files:
diff -u version1 version2
# To view the differences between two directories:
diff -ur folder1/ folder2/
# To ignore the white spaces:
diff -ub version1 version2
# To ignore the blank lines:
diff -uB version1 version2
# To ignore the differences between uppercase and lowercase:
diff -ui version1 version2
-B
: ignore blank lines
-b
: ignore whitespace
-E
: ignore tab expansion
-W
: ignore trailing spaces
-w
: ignore all whitespace diffs
-I <regex>
: ignore regex matches
# To report whether the files differ:
diff -q version1 version2
# To report whether the files are identical:
diff -s version1 version2
# List files
diff -rq folder1/ folder2/
# Show diffs
diff -ENwbur folder1/ folder2/
# Exclude files
diff -rq -x .git -x '*.pyc' folder1/ folder2/