snippetbashTip

comp — Compare the contents of two files or sets of files. Use wildcards (*) to compare sets of files. More

Submitted by: @import:tldr-pages·Mar 2, 2026·

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windows

Problem

How to use the comp command: Compare the contents of two files or sets of files. Use wildcards (*) to compare sets of files. More information: <https://learn.microsoft.com/windows-server/administration/windows-commands/comp>.

Solution

comp — Compare the contents of two files or sets of files. Use wildcards (*) to compare sets of files. More information: <https://learn.microsoft.com/windows-server/administration/windows-commands/comp>.

Compare files interactively:

comp

Compare two specified files:

comp {{path\to\file1}} {{path\to\file2}}

Compare two sets of files:

comp {{path\to\directory1}}\* {{path\to\directory2}}\*

Display differences in [d]ecimal format:

comp /d {{path\to\file1}} {{path\to\file2}}

Display differences in [a]SCII format:

comp /a {{path\to\file1}} {{path\to\file2}}

Display [l]ine numbers for differences:

comp /l {{path\to\file1}} {{path\to\file2}}

Compare files [c]ase-insensitively:

comp /c {{path\to\file1}} {{path\to\file2}}

Compare only the first 5 lines of each file:

comp /n=5 {{path\to\file1}} {{path\to\file2}}

Code Snippets

Compare files interactively

comp

Compare two specified files

comp {{path\to\file1}} {{path\to\file2}}

Compare two sets of files

comp {{path\to\directory1}}\* {{path\to\directory2}}\*

Display differences in [d]ecimal format

comp /d {{path\to\file1}} {{path\to\file2}}

Display differences in [a]SCII format

comp /a {{path\to\file1}} {{path\to\file2}}

Context

tldr-pages: windows/comp

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