borg/docs/man/borg-diff.1

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.TH "BORG-DIFF" "1" "2025-04-18" "" "borg backup tool"
.SH NAME
borg-diff \- Diff contents of two archives
.SH SYNOPSIS
.sp
borg [common options] diff [options] REPO::ARCHIVE1 ARCHIVE2 [PATH...]
.SH DESCRIPTION
.sp
This command finds differences (file contents, user/group/mode) between archives.
.sp
A repository location and an archive name must be specified for REPO::ARCHIVE1.
ARCHIVE2 is just another archive name in same repository (no repository location
allowed).
.sp
For archives created with Borg 1.1 or newer diff automatically detects whether
the archives are created with the same chunker params. If so, only chunk IDs
are compared, which is very fast.
.sp
For archives prior to Borg 1.1 chunk contents are compared by default.
If you did not create the archives with different chunker params,
pass \fB\-\-same\-chunker\-params\fP\&.
Note that the chunker params changed from Borg 0.xx to 1.0.
.sp
For more help on include/exclude patterns, see the \fIborg_patterns\fP command output.
.SH OPTIONS
.sp
See \fIborg\-common(1)\fP for common options of Borg commands.
.SS arguments
.INDENT 0.0
.TP
.B REPO::ARCHIVE1
repository location and ARCHIVE1 name
.TP
.B ARCHIVE2
ARCHIVE2 name (no repository location allowed)
.TP
.B PATH
paths of items inside the archives to compare; patterns are supported
.UNINDENT
.SS options
.INDENT 0.0
.TP
.B  \-\-numeric\-owner
deprecated, use \fB\-\-numeric\-ids\fP instead
.TP
.B  \-\-numeric\-ids
only consider numeric user and group identifiers
.TP
.B  \-\-same\-chunker\-params
Override check of chunker parameters.
.TP
.B  \-\-sort
Sort the output lines by file path.
.TP
.B  \-\-content\-only
Only compare differences in content (exclude metadata differences)
.TP
.B  \-\-json\-lines
Format output as JSON Lines.
.UNINDENT
.SS Include/Exclude options
.INDENT 0.0
.TP
.BI \-e \ PATTERN\fR,\fB \ \-\-exclude \ PATTERN
exclude paths matching PATTERN
.TP
.BI \-\-exclude\-from \ EXCLUDEFILE
read exclude patterns from EXCLUDEFILE, one per line
.TP
.BI \-\-pattern \ PATTERN
include/exclude paths matching PATTERN
.TP
.BI \-\-patterns\-from \ PATTERNFILE
read include/exclude patterns from PATTERNFILE, one per line
.UNINDENT
.SH EXAMPLES
.INDENT 0.0
.INDENT 3.5
.sp
.EX
$ borg init \-e=none testrepo
$ mkdir testdir
$ cd testdir
$ echo asdf > file1
$ dd if=/dev/urandom bs=1M count=4 > file2
$ touch file3
$ borg create ../testrepo::archive1 .

$ chmod a+x file1
$ echo \(dqsomething\(dq >> file2
$ borg create ../testrepo::archive2 .

$ echo \(dqtesting 123\(dq >> file1
$ rm file3
$ touch file4
$ borg create ../testrepo::archive3 .

$ cd ..
$ borg diff testrepo::archive1 archive2
[\-rw\-r\-\-r\-\- \-> \-rwxr\-xr\-x] file1
   +135 B    \-252 B file2

$ borg diff testrepo::archive2 archive3
    +17 B      \-5 B file1
added           0 B file4
removed         0 B file3

$ borg diff testrepo::archive1 archive3
    +17 B      \-5 B [\-rw\-r\-\-r\-\- \-> \-rwxr\-xr\-x] file1
   +135 B    \-252 B file2
added           0 B file4
removed         0 B file3

$ borg diff \-\-json\-lines testrepo::archive1 archive3
{\(dqpath\(dq: \(dqfile1\(dq, \(dqchanges\(dq: [{\(dqtype\(dq: \(dqmodified\(dq, \(dqadded\(dq: 17, \(dqremoved\(dq: 5}, {\(dqtype\(dq: \(dqmode\(dq, \(dqold_mode\(dq: \(dq\-rw\-r\-\-r\-\-\(dq, \(dqnew_mode\(dq: \(dq\-rwxr\-xr\-x\(dq}]}
{\(dqpath\(dq: \(dqfile2\(dq, \(dqchanges\(dq: [{\(dqtype\(dq: \(dqmodified\(dq, \(dqadded\(dq: 135, \(dqremoved\(dq: 252}]}
{\(dqpath\(dq: \(dqfile4\(dq, \(dqchanges\(dq: [{\(dqtype\(dq: \(dqadded\(dq, \(dqsize\(dq: 0}]}
{\(dqpath\(dq: \(dqfile3\(dq, \(dqchanges\(dq: [{\(dqtype\(dq: \(dqremoved\(dq, \(dqsize\(dq: 0}]
.EE
.UNINDENT
.UNINDENT
.SH SEE ALSO
.sp
\fIborg\-common(1)\fP
.SH AUTHOR
The Borg Collective
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