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SOLVED: Compare locations and remove duplicate folders

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IainB:
Well my need is so specific that I doubt something actually exists. And since it's one shot need, I've started to do it manually. A long way to go, several months I guess, of 2511 folders to check :-)
-dikiz (June 12, 2012, 04:13 PM)
--- End quote ---
Apologies for this belated input. I only just saw this comment. I could have replied sooner if I had been looking more closely at this discussion.

What you want to do appears to be a really dead simple exercise that will probably not take you more than a few minutes at most to do using the standard features already built in to xplorer² - that includes sorting and filtering for folders in 2 panes side-by-side, identifying and deleting all the unwanted duplicate folders in B, as per your example above. You can do this for any two folder structures of the Parent-Child sort A + B as per your example. No coding required.
I think you should be able to do this using an evaluation copy - or maybe the free version - of xplorer².
(I'm not sure as I have had the PRO (paid) version for years.)

xplorer² makes this easy due to:
* (a) It being able to sort and display "flat" file/folder lists of your nested folder tree structure ("local search"), and you can filter out files so you only see the folders - which is what you want, because the actual file contents of those folders are apparently irrelevant to what you require to do. Just tested it now. Time: probably take about 5 to 10 sec. for each - (A and then B) - to set the search filter, have the results (the flattened, filtered folders list) displayed in one panel (side) of the "container" window. So both folders' lists flattened, sorted, filtered and displayed side-by-side, showing just the bottom-level folders that you want to compare/delete. Time: (say) 20 sec. max. (New users of xplorer² will probably be slower.)
* (b) It having a sync wizard (invoked using Ctrl-F9) where you select a target panel (I selected the B folder list side first) to highlight all those folder names that are the same in A. Time: about 3 sec.
At which point you press the delete key and all those highlighted folders in B are deleted. Time: about 3 sec.

Finished/Done.

The only things that I could think of that might slow you down are:

* 1. Multiple duplicates: If, on seeing the flattened folder listing, you then discover that you have identical duplicated nested folder/subfolder names in either of the A or B display panels, because you will then have to manually identify them from the flattened folder listing (path can be displayed to help) to establish which ones you may want to rename/keep/delete.
* 2. Varying depths of nested folders: If your folders nest more deeply than the consistent Parent-Child example you give above, in which case deleting folders could be dangerous and not what you want, as it will also delete all subfolders and files of the folders deleted.
* 3. Inconsistent naming standard: If you don't have a consistent naming standard, and especially for the bottom-level folders that you are wanting to compare/delete. This will make the list view filtering trickier.

dikiz:
Thank you IainB. I will look into it this weekend, looks very promising!

dikiz:
Well it really looks like xplorer² can make it! Will probably save my summer from a very stupid and long job :)
Many many thanks !

The only remaining time-consuming task is to un-select all folders (artists) to have only subfolders (releases) selected
SOLVED: Compare locations and remove duplicate folders
Sorting by "emplacement" easily seperate folders from subfolders. But is there a way to quickly unselect folders?

IainB:
That's great! I thought it might be what you probably needed.    :)
In answer to your Q:
I don't think you mentioned subfolders for "releases" in this thread before. Do you mean you have the situation as above in 3. Inconsistent naming standard, or is it 2. Varying depths of nested folders?

Otherwise, if you want to delete some of the folders selected, the quickest way is to turn on Edit-->Sticky selection (hotkey is Alt+S), then the files you have selected can be unselected by just going down (cursor DOWN) them and pressing the spacebar to deselect an already-selected item. The rest of the selected items will remain selected ("sticky select", you see). This saves you from a lot of trouble/mucking about with Shift or Ctrl keys.

If you make a mistake and inadvertently press the spacebar on an unselected item, it will merely become a selected item (the spacebar is a toggle), so you can deselect it the same way.

xplorer² is a seriosuly powerful file management tool. Please do a backup of all your relevant files before doing this, in case you have to repeat it because you made a mistake and deleted something you wanted. It's often easier to start over in such cases.

If there is anything complex you need to do with files, a read through the xplorer² User Manual will generally surprise you with what it can do. I regard it as being rather like a database management system, where the files and folders are components in the database. I probably only know how to use about 20% of the tool's functionality, and learn something new about it every couple of weeks.

dikiz:
Ok it's done! It took me so little time that I felt almost frustrated  :D

To compare only subfolders (releases) and not folders (artists), I sorted them by column location. It groups all folders together and subfolders together. On the pic you can see the limit.
SOLVED: Compare locations and remove duplicate folders
I selected all folders with mouse, then press "delete" on my keyboard. I did that on the right panel too, THEN (and only then) I launched the comparison with CTRL + F9, so that only subfolders were compared. And it worked great!
Thanks a ton IainB, it was definitetly the most helpful assistance I've ever received on a internet forum!

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