Recursive compare and delete

Recursively compare a old directory with a new directory. Delete old files which are unchanged.

Useful for pruning down old backups after making new backups.

Any old file will only be deleted if:

• The script is given the -d flag.
• There is a new file with the exact same path and name.
• The old and new file are the exact name size and content.

Use

./recursive-compare-del.py -d old_dir new_dir

Windows

Assuming python is Python 3 in %PATH%.

python recursive-compare-del.py -d old_dir new_dir

Watch out: PowerShell tab-completes directory names containing spaces with a trailing backslash before the closing quote, which Python interprets as an escaped quote. Remove the final slash to run the script.

Requirements

Tested on Python 3.7.3 on Windows 10 in PowerShell.

• Python 3