A simple file comparison utility written in Python.

audit-tool.py

#!/usr/bin/python
# audit-tool.py 2.0 - A simple file comparison utility.
# Copyright 2014 13Cubed. All rights reserved. Written by: Richard Davis
 
import sys
 
def compareFiles(filename1, filename2, ignorecase, bidirectional):
  """
  Given two filenames and an ignorecase booelean, compares filename1
  against filename2 and returns list of the differences and a count of
  how many were found. If ignorecase is 1, the contents of both files
  are read in as lowercase so that case differences are ignored. If
  bidirectional is 1, filename1 is compared to filename2 and vice-versa.
  """
  results = []
 
  try:
    f1 = open(filename1, 'rU')
  except IOError:
    print 'Could not find the specified file:', filename1
    sys.exit(1)
 
  try:
    f2 = open(filename2, 'rU')
  except IOError:
    print 'Could not find the specified file:', filename2
    sys.exit(1)
 
  list1 = f1.readlines()
  list2 = f2.readlines()
 
  f2.close()
  f1.close()
 
  if ignorecase == 1:
    for i in range(0,len(list1)):
      list1[i] = list1[i].lower()
    for i in range(0,len(list2)):
      list2[i] = list2[i].lower()
 
  diffs = set(list1) - set(list2)
 
  if bidirectional == 1:
    reverseDiffs = set(list2) - set(list1)
 
  diffcount = 0
 
  results.append('\n' + filename1 + ' -> ' + filename2 + ':\n')
 
  for diff in diffs:
    results.append(diff)
    diffcount = diffcount + 1
 
  if bidirectional == 1:
    results.append('\n' + filename1 + ' <- ' + filename2 + ':\n')
 
    for diff in reverseDiffs:
      results.append(diff)
      diffcount = diffcount + 1
 
  return results, diffcount
 
def main():
  if (len(sys.argv) < 3) or (len(sys.argv) > 5):
    print 'usage: audit-tool.py filename1 filename2 [--ignorecase] [--bidirectional]'
    sys.exit(1)
 
  ignorecase = 0
  bidirectional = 0
 
  filename1 = sys.argv[1]
  filename2 = sys.argv[2]
 
  if len(sys.argv) == 4:
    option1 = sys.argv[3]
    if option1 == '--ignorecase':
      ignorecase = 1
    elif option1 == '--bidirectional':
      bidirectional = 1
    else:
      print 'unknown option: ' + option1
      sys.exit(1)
 
  elif len(sys.argv) == 5:
    option1 = sys.argv[3]
    option2 = sys.argv[4]
 
    if option1 == '--ignorecase':
      ignorecase = 1
    elif option1 == '--bidirectional':
      bidirectional = 1
    else:
      print 'unknown option: ' + option1
      sys.exit(1)
 
    if option2 == '--ignorecase':
      ignorecase = 1
    elif option2 == '--bidirectional':
      bidirectional = 1
    else:
      print 'unknown option: ' + option2
      sys.exit(1)
 
  (results, diffcount) = compareFiles(filename1, filename2, ignorecase, bidirectional)
 
  if diffcount:
    print '\n%d difference(s) found.' % (diffcount)
    for line in results:
      print line,
  else:
    print '\nNo differences -- files are identical.'
 
  print '\nCopyright (C) 2014 13Cubed. All rights reserved.'
 
if __name__ == '__main__':
  main()