Ignore filenames

[bcdewul]

There is this old thread, titled: "Files with same content but differnt file names" (way back in 2008(
http://www.scootersoftware.com/vbull...rnt-file-names

that ends with
//
An option that ignores file names is still on our wish list for a future release.
//

Frankly, I have facing the same issue at regular intervals and managed to handle matters whilst not using BC, e.g. by using 3rd party duplicate file finders.

It would be nice though if BC had an option to ignore filenames when comparing.

After almost 8 years, is this still on the wishlist?
(or am I overlooking the option)

Thanks
=

[Aaron]

Hello,

It is something still on our wishlist, and isn't an option you've overlooked. As you've found, there are other software packages that specialize and perform only this task as their sole purpose. It is not trivial to perform duplicate file finding quickly and accurately, and with the required UI creation. It's something we'd like to tackle as a compliment to BC's current comparison utility, but it is a large project.

We've been fairly busy over the last 8 years, and our changelog can be reviewed for what is included in our regular updates:
http://www.scootersoftware.com/downl...?zz=v4whatsnew
Or for a detailed list:
BC4: http://www.scootersoftware.com/downl...zz=v4changelog
BC3: http://www.scootersoftware.com/ChangeLog.txt

[bcdewul]

Thanks.
I understand.
That said, if 'ignore filenames' when comparing (i.e. just CRC or CRC+date) would have been an option within Beyond Compare, then one does not need 3rd party duplicate file finders. It is and old request, but maybe there is not so much support for this request, so it remains low on the prio list..

Thanks again.
=

[Aaron]

There has been a fair amount of request for the feature, but it is non-trivial to research and implement. Other large projects (such as 64bit support) take up a lot of resources, and we can only tackle so many at a time. CRC alignment is one method we've looked into and considered; I'll bump our wishlist entry with your request.

[bcdewul]

Sadly enough, it is still not available.
Comparing two different folders, CRC wise many files are identical, the difference is only the name.
I wish there was a check on CRC only (i.e. ignoring the filename) so I would know which ones are duplicate and can be deleted.
Will now use a duplicate file check for that.
=

[drewster]

Is this request to do comparisons based on time (including current features like ignoring DST or diffs within a certain range) and/or size? I don't know what all goes into CRC. I'm not saying I think this should be easier; but if I understand correctly, I can see the benefit. For now, as long as my files are in the same folder it's easy when viewing differences to see the files on both sides (in blue) and comparing size & date to ensure I need to rename one.

I can see BC being even more helpful if it aligned the two files and gave an option to rename file on one side with the name from the other side.

[Aaron]

Yup, exactly. However, our current alignment is based entirely on the file name matches. Other data is used for the comparison but not the alignment. This request is to expand that behavior and align on other criteria.

[bcdewul]

Hello,

It is something still on our wishlist, and isn't an option you've overlooked. As you've found, there are other software packages that specialize and perform only this task as their sole purpose. It is not trivial to perform duplicate file finding quickly and accurately, and with the required UI creation. It's something we'd like to tackle as a compliment to BC's current comparison utility, but it is a large project.

We've been fairly busy over the last 8 years, and our changelog can be reviewed for what is included in our regular updates:
http://www.scootersoftware.com/downl...?zz=v4whatsnew
Or for a detailed list:
BC4: http://www.scootersoftware.com/downl...zz=v4changelog
BC3: http://www.scootersoftware.com/ChangeLog.txt

Probably it is never going to be implemented....

[Aaron]

Our apologies for making this feel like a wait. While it's on our wishlist, it's a long term project and not something with a quick turnaround.

[bcdewul]

I've been checking out some other 'compare'/'sync'-tools. It seems that all of them are including the file names into the comparison, i.e. there is no way to exclude that and to just compare on other elements (like hash only). So, excluding file name comparison would be rather unique then...

I have two folders, with a small difference in size.
However, the names are different, because in one folder the files have been renamed...

Well, anyway, I've made my point.

[miles]

I was faced with a similar problem recently (two likely identical directories of PDF files, though filenames differed) and discovered that Beyond Compare does not offer an "ignore filenames" option yet (by finding this post via a Google search).

So here's what I did instead:

1. crc32 /path/to/first/dir/*.pdf | cut -f1 > first-dir.txt

2. crc32 /path/to/second/dir/*.pdf | cut -f1 > second-dir.txt

3. Beyond Compare > Text Compare > compared first-dir.txt and second-dir.txt

Turned out that 4 of 70 files did indeed differ slightly. This approach saved me a lot of time; hope it might help someone else too.

EDIT: Sorry - forgot to mention that the filenames were similar enough to be in the same order. If yours aren't, just add sort after the cut command in steps 1 and 2, e.g.:

crc32 /path/to/first/dir/*.pdf | cut -f1 | sort > first-dir.txt