Doc/lib/libfilecmp.tex

\section{\module{filecmp} ---
         File Comparisons}

\declaremodule{standard}{filecmp}
\sectionauthor{Moshe Zadka}{mzadka@geocities.com}
\modulesynopsis{Compare files efficiently.}

The \module{filecmp} module defines a function to compare files, taking all
sort of short-cuts to make it a highly efficient operation.

The \module{filecmp} module defines the following function:

\begin{funcdesc}{cmp}{f1, f2\optional{, shallow\optional{, use_statcache}}}
Compare the files named \var{f1} and \var{f2}, returning \code{1}
if they seem equal, \code{0} otherwise.

Unless \var{shallow} is given and is false, files with identical
\function{os.stat()} signatures are taken to be equal. If
\var{use_statcache} is given and is true,
\function{statcache.stat()} will be called rather then \var{os.stat()}.

Files that were compared using this function will not be compared again
unless their \function{os.stat()} signature changes. Note that using
\var{use_statcache} true will cause the cache invalidation mechanism to 
fail --- the stale stat value will be used from \refmodule{statcache}'s 
cache.

Note that no external programs are called from this module giving it
portability and efficiency.
\end{funcdesc}

Example:

\begin{verbatim}
>>> import filecmp
>>> filecmp.cmp('libundoc.tex', 'libundoc.tex')
1
>>> filecmp.cmp('libundoc.tex', 'lib.tex')
0
\end{verbatim}