How to compare two folders without opening beyond compare window from CLI?

Question

I want to compare two folders and all I have is directory path of two folders. How to use Beyond Compare 4 CLI commands to compare them without actually opening the window. I have been using the below command but it opens up the window every time.

C:\Program Files\Beyond Compare 4\BCompare.exe C:\BeyondC\Folder C:\BeyondC\NoFolder /fv=Folder Compare /silent

How to compare folders without actually opening BeyondCompare window ?

I found [this post](https://www.scootersoftware.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?3094-Using-BC-with-Command-line-scripting). Have you tried? — Sangbok Lee, Apr 02 '17 at 11:08
I found [the answer about `comp`](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1732838/folder-comparisons-via-command-line) too. Is it not your option? — Sangbok Lee, Apr 03 '17 at 07:14

score 5 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 03 '17 at 18:25

You can use a Beyond Compare script to compare two folders and output comparison results to a file.

Script:

criteria timestamp size
load c:\folder1 c:\folder2
expand all
folder-report layout:side-by-side output-to:c:\report.txt

To run the script, pass it as a command line argument with @ in front of the name. The @ character makes Beyond Compare run a file as a script rather than load it for interactive comparison.

bcompare.exe /silent @c:\script.txt

See the Using Beyond Compare > Scripts and Scripting Reference topics in Beyond Compare 4's help file for more on scripting.

How to compare two folders without opening beyond compare window from CLI?

1 Answers1