[[yurttas/PL/SL/python/docs/core-python-programming/doc/152/lib/module-cmpcache.html|]]

[[yurttas/PL/SL/python/docs/core-python-programming/doc/152/lib/allos.html|]]

[[yurttas/PL/SL/python/docs/core-python-programming/doc/152/lib/module-statvfs.html|]]

Python Library Reference

[[yurttas/PL/SL/python/docs/core-python-programming/doc/152/lib/contents.html|]]

[[yurttas/PL/SL/python/docs/core-python-programming/doc/152/lib/modindex.html|]]

[[yurttas/PL/SL/python/docs/core-python-programming/doc/152/lib/genindex.html|]]

Next: 6.8 cmpcache Up: 6. Generic Operating System Previous: 6.6 statvfs

6.7 `cmp` -- File comparisons

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

The cmp module defines the following function:

cmp (f1, f2)

Compare two files given as names. The following tricks are used to optimize the comparisons:

Files with identical type, size and mtime are assumed equal.
Files with different type or size are never equal.
The module only compares files it already compared if their signature (type, size and mtime) changed.
No external programs are called.

Example:

>>> import cmp
>>> cmp.cmp('libundoc.tex', 'libundoc.tex')
1
>>> cmp.cmp('libundoc.tex', 'lib.tex')
0