Python in a Nutshell

Name

cmp

Synopsis

cmp(f1,f2,shallow=True,use_statcache=False)

Compares the files named by path strings f1 and f2. If the files seem equal, cmp returns True, otherwise False. If shallow is true, files are deemed equal if their stat tuples are equal. If shallow is false, cmp reads and compares files with equal stat tuples. If use_statcache is false, cmp obtains file information via os.stat; if use_statcache is true, cmp calls statcache.stat instead. cmp remembers what files have already been compared and does not repeat comparisons unless some file has changed, but use_statcache makes cmp believe that no file ever changes.