Any Catalina mac utility to compare two folders?

[shankar2]

Hi so I have some books in two folders and I want to see which one is missing from one folder, compared to the other. Is there any simple yet powerful utility to do this task? Please advise. Thanks!

 

[shankar2]

Basically I want to copy from 2 folders, files with extension .EPUB only (ignore other extension) into a 3rd folder .

 

[SaSaSushi]

It sounds like Hazel may be an option for you. I use it to perform similar operations and can highly recommend it.

 

[superscape]

...or you could be fancy and use an Automator workflow, something like the attached screenshot.

 

[posguy99]

Beyond Compare, from Scooter Software.

 

[revmacian]

The diff app is present in Catalina. Open the Terminal and use diff as follows:
(remember to replace "/path/folder1" and "/path/folder2" with their respective paths or drag folders into the Terminal window)

For simple differences:

diff /path/folder1 /path/folder2

For recursive differences:

diff -r /path/folder1 /path/folder2

To learn more about how to use diff:

man diff

Press the "q" key to exit the man app.

 

[bogdanw]

Basically I want to copy from 2 folders, files with extension .EPUB only (ignore other extension) into a 3rd folder .

Why don't you use Finder? Open the first folder, type .epub in the search box and drag&drop the files into the third folder. Do the same for the second folder. You will be prompted if there are files with the same name.

 

[shankar2]

I also found that the terminal cmd find along with copy works fine! It needed to work with subfolders within the main folder too.

 

[Fowl]

If you have Xcode installed, it comes with a tool called FileMerge (under Xcode/Open Developer Tool). Otherwise, if you search for "compare directories macOS" or "compare folders macOS" you'll find many other options out there.

 

[prometheus12]

Beyond Compare will allow you to do this.

 

[s3cur3]

Kaleidoscope can drill down into folders like this—you drag the two folders you want to compare into it and it'll give you a side-by-side view of their contents. They have a 14 day free trial.