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<H1><A NAME="SECTION008700000000000000000">
6.7 <tt class="module">filecmp</tt> --
File and Directory Comparisons</A>
</H1>
<P>
<P>
The <tt class="module">filecmp</tt> module defines functions to compare files and
directories, with various optional time/correctness trade-offs.
<P>
The <tt class="module">filecmp</tt> module defines the following functions:
<P>
<dl><dt><b><a name="l2h-1337"><tt class="function">cmp</tt></a></b>(<var>f1, f2</var><big>[</big><var>, shallow</var><big>[</big><var>, use_statcache</var><big>]</big><big>]</big>)
<dd>
Compare the files named <var>f1</var> and <var>f2</var>, returning <code>1</code> if
they seem equal, <code>0</code> otherwise.
<P>
Unless <var>shallow</var> is given and is false, files with identical
<tt class="function">os.stat()</tt> signatures are taken to be equal. If
<var>use_statcache</var> is given and is true,
<tt class="function">statcache.stat()</tt> will be called rather then
<tt class="function">os.stat()</tt>; the default is to use <tt class="function">os.stat()</tt>.
<P>
Files that were compared using this function will not be compared again
unless their <tt class="function">os.stat()</tt> signature changes. Note that using
<var>use_statcache</var> true will cause the cache invalidation mechanism to
fail -- the stale stat value will be used from <tt class="module"><a href="module-statcache.html">statcache</a></tt>'s
cache.
<P>
Note that no external programs are called from this function, giving it
portability and efficiency.
</dl>
<P>
<dl><dt><b><a name="l2h-1338"><tt class="function">cmpfiles</tt></a></b>(<var>dir1, dir2, common</var><big>[</big><var>,
shallow</var><big>[</big><var>, use_statcache</var><big>]</big><big>]</big>)
<dd>
Returns three lists of file names: <var>match</var>, <var>mismatch</var>,
<var>errors</var>. <var>match</var> contains the list of files match in both
directories, <var>mismatch</var> includes the names of those that don't,
and <var>errros</var> lists the names of files which could not be
compared. Files may be listed in <var>errors</var> because the user may
lack permission to read them or many other reasons, but always that
the comparison could not be done for some reason.
<P>
The <var>shallow</var> and <var>use_statcache</var> parameters have the same
meanings and default values as for <tt class="function">filecmp.cmp()</tt>.
</dl>
<P>
Example:
<P>
<dl><dd><pre class="verbatim">
>>> import filecmp
>>> filecmp.cmp('libundoc.tex', 'libundoc.tex')
1
>>> filecmp.cmp('libundoc.tex', 'lib.tex')
0
</pre></dl>
<P>
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<span class="release-info">Release 2.2, documentation updated on December 21, 2001.</span>
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