Updated: 28 September 2026 · Applies to: AlmaLinux 9, Rocky Linux 9, Ubuntu 24.04 and Debian 12
Compare two files or folders to see what changed:
diff file1 file2 # line-by-line differences diff -u file1 file2 # unified format (easier to read) diff -r dir1 dir2 # compare folders recursively cmp file1 file2 # are two (binary) files identical? md5sum file1 file2 # compare checksums
Graphical tools such as meld or vimdiff show differences side by side on a desktop.
