Improving ‘diff’ readability on Windows | Tip

The output of diff -q path1 path2 is pretty verbose. This function

• Converts full paths to relative
• Differences are red.

Missing ‘diff’ ?

If git is installed, you may need to update your %PATH% environment variable.

# in your profile
$Env:Path = "$Env:ProgramFiles\Git\usr\bin", $Env:Path -join ';'

Stand-Alone function Compare-Directory

This is an isolated version of <a href="https://github.com/ninmonkey/Ninmonkey.Console">Ninmonkey.Console: Compare-Directory</a> . I removed all dependencies except coloring is provided by the module PoshCode/Pansies.

function Invoke-NativeCommand {
    <#
    .synopsis
        wrapper to both call 'Get-NativeCommand' and invoke an argument list
    .example
        PS> # Use the first 'python' in path:
        Invoke-NativeCommand 'python' -Args '--version'
    #>

    param(
        # command name: 'python' 'ping.exe', extension is optional
        [Parameter(Mandatory, Position = 0)]
        [string]$CommandName,

        # Force error if multiple  binaries are found
        [Parameter()][switch]$OneOrNone,

        # native command argument list
        [Alias('Args')]
        [Parameter(Position = 1)]
        [string[]]$ArgumentList
    )

    $binCommand = Get-NativeCommand $CommandName -OneOrNone:$OneOrNone -ea Stop
    & $binCommand @ArgumentList
}

function Compare-Directory {
    <#
    .SYNOPSIS
    Compare Two directories using 'diff'
    .EXAMPLE
    Compare-Directory 'c:\foo' 'c:\bar\bat'
    #>
    [Alias('DiffDir')]
    param(
        # Path1
        [Parameter(Mandatory, Position = 0)]
        [string]$Path1,

        # Path2
        [Parameter(Mandatory, Position = 1)]
        [string]$Path2,

        # Output original raw text?
        [Parameter()][switch]$OutputRaw
    )

    $Base1 = $Path1 | Get-Item -ea Stop
    $Base2 = $Path2 | Get-Item -ea Stop
    $Label1 = $Base1 | Split-Path -Leaf | New-Text -fg 'green'
    $Label2 = $Base2 | Split-Path -Leaf | New-Text -fg 'yellow'

    "Comparing:
        Path: $Path1
        Path: $Path2
    " | Write-Information

    $stdout = Invoke-NativeCommand 'diff' -args @(
        '-q'
        $Base1
        $Base2
    )

    $outColor = $stdout
    $outColor = $outColor -replace [regex]::Escape($path1), $Label1
    $outColor = $outColor -replace [regex]::Escape($path2), $Label2
    $outColor = $outColor -replace 'Only in', (New-Text 'Only In' -fg 'red')
    $outColor = $outColor -replace 'Differ', (New-Text 'Differ' -fg 'red')

    if ($OutputRaw) {
        h1 'Raw' | Write-Information
        $stdout
        return
    }

    $outColor
}

function Get-NativeCommand {
    <#
    .synopsis
        wrapper that returns Get-Item on a native command
    .example
        # if you want an error when multiple options are found
        PS> Get-NativeCommand python -OneOrNone
    .example
        # note: this is important, $cmdArgs to be an array not scalar for '@' usage
        $binPy = Get-NativeCommand python
        $cmdArgs = @('--version')
        & $binPy @cmdArgs
    .example
    #>
    [cmdletbinding()]
    param(
        # Name of Native .exe Application
        [Parameter(Mandatory, Position = 0, ValueFromPipeline)]
        [object]$CommandName,

        # One or None: Raise errors when there are more than one match
        [Parameter()][switch]$OneOrNone
    )

    process {
        try {
            $query = Get-Command -Name $CommandName -All -CommandType Application -ea Stop
            | Sort-Object Name

        } catch [CommandNotFoundException] {
            Write-Error "ZeroResults: '$CommandName'"
            return
        }

        if ($OneOrNone -and $query.Count -gt 1) {
            $query | Format-Table -Wrap -AutoSize -Property Name, Version, Source
            Write-Error "OneOrNone: Multiple results for '$CommandName'"
            return
        }

        if ($query.Count -gt 1) {
            $query = $query | Select-Object -First 1
        }

        Write-Debug "Using Item: $($query.Source)"
        $query
    }
}