diff - Compares text files
diff [-c | -C number | -e | -f | -h | -n] [-bilrstw]
[-Sfile] directory1 directory2
diff [-c | -C number | -e | -f | -h | -n] [-bitw]
file1 file2
diff [-Dstring] [-bitw] file1 file2
Interfaces documented on this reference page conform to
industry standards as follows:
diff: XCU5.0
Refer to the standards(5) reference page for more information
about industry standards and associated tags.
The -c, -C, -e, -f, -h, and -n options are mutually exclusive.
The -r, -s, and -S options can be specified with directory
comparisons only.
The -b, -i, -l, -t, and -w options can be used in combination
with any others and in both file and directory comparisons.
Causes trailing white space at the end of a
line to be treated as a single newline character. Produces
a listing with the default number of lines of context
(3 lines). The output lists the files being compared
and their last modification dates, then lists the differing
lines. Lines that are changed from one file to the
other are marked in both files with an ! (exclamation
point). Changes that lie within the specified number of
lines of each other are grouped together on output. Produces
output that provides number lines of context (where
number is a positive decimal integer). [Tru64
UNIX] Causes diff to create a merged version of file1 and
file2 on the standard output, with C preprocessor controls
included. Thus, a compilation of the result without
defining string is equivalent to compiling file1, while
defining string yields file2. Produces a script of a, c,
d, and s commands for the editor ed, which can recreate
file2 from file1. In connection with -e, the following
shell program can help maintain multiple versions of a
file. Only an ancestral file ($1) and a chain of versionto-version
ed scripts ($2, $3, ...) made by diff need be
on hand. A "latest version" appears on the standard output.
(shift; cat $*; echo '1,$p') | ed - $1
[Tru64 UNIX] Extra commands are added to the output
when comparing directories with -e; the result
is a sh script for converting text files common to
the directories from their state in directory1 to
their state in directory2. Produces a script
similar to that of -e, not useful with ed, and in
the opposite order. [Tru64 UNIX] Performs a
faster comparison. This option only works when the
changed sections are short and well separated, but
it does work on files of any length. The -e and -f
options are not available when you use the -h
option. [Tru64 UNIX] Ignores the case of letters.
For example, A is considered identical to a.
[Tru64 UNIX] Specifies long output format; each
text file diff listing is piped through pr to paginate
it, other differences are remembered and summarized
after all text file differences are
reported. (Directory comparisons only.) [Tru64
UNIX] Produces a script similar to that of -e, but
in the opposite order and with a count of changed
lines on each insert or delete command. This is
the form used by the revision control system (RCS).
Checks files in common subdirectories recursively.
[Tru64 UNIX] Reports identical files, which are
otherwise not mentioned. [Tru64 UNIX] Starts a
directory diff in the middle, beginning with file.
(Directory comparisons only.) [Tru64
UNIX] Expands tabs in output lines. Normal or -c
output adds characters to the front of each line
that can affect the indentation of the original
source lines and make the output listing difficult
to interpret. This option preserves the original
source's indentation. [Tru64 UNIX] Is similar to
-b, but causes whitespace (spaces and tabs) to be
ignored. For example, if ( a == b ) is considered
identical to if(a==b).
The path names of files or directories to be compared. See
the DESCRIPTION section for the permissible combinations.
If any operand is specified as - (hyphen), standard input
is read at that point.
Input Options
If neither file1 nor file2 is a directory, then either can
be given as - (dash), in which case the standard input is
used. If file1 is a directory and file2 is a file, or
vice versa, a file in the specified directory with the
same name as the specified file is used.
If both arguments are directories, diff sorts the contents
of the directories by name, and then runs the regular diff
file algorithm on text files that are different. Binary
files that differ, common subdirectories, and files that
appear in only one directory are also listed.
Output Options [Toc] [Back]
There are several choices for output format. The default
output format contains lines of these forms: number1 a
number2,number3 number1,number2 d number3 number1,number2
c number3,number4
These lines resemble ed commands to convert file1 into
file2. In these lines, the command a indicates that a
line or lines were added to one of the files; d indicates
that a line or lines were deleted; and c indicates that a
line or lines were changed. The numbers after the letters
pertain to file2. In fact, by exchanging a for d and
reading backward one can ascertain equally how to convert
file2 into file1. As in ed, identical pairs where number1
= number2 or number3 = number4 are abbreviated as a single
number.
Following each of these lines come all the lines that are
affected in the first file, flagged by < (left angle
bracket), then all the lines that are affected in the second
file, flagged by > (right angle bracket).
Except in rare circumstances, diff finds the smallest sufficient
set of file differences.
[Tru64 UNIX] Editing scripts produced by the -e or -f
options cannot create lines consisting of a single .
(dot) character. [Tru64 UNIX] Block, character, or FIFO
special files cannot be used with diff because they cause
the command to exit. [Tru64 UNIX] If lines at the end of
a file are changed and other lines added, diff output may
show this as a delete and add, as a change, or as a change
and add. That is, diff is not expected to know what happened.
The following exit values are returned: No differences.
Differences found. An error occurred.
To compare two files, enter: diff chap1.bak chap1
This displays the differences between the files
chap1.bak and chap1. To compare two files, ignoring
differences in the amount of white space,
enter: diff -b prog.c.bak prog.c
If two lines differ only in the number of spaces
and tabs between words, then the diff command considers
them to be the same. To create a file containing
commands that the ed command can use to
reconstruct one file from another, enter: diff -e
ch2 ch2.old > new.old.ed
This creates a file named new.to.old.ed that contains
the ed subcommands to change chap2 back into
the version of the text found in chap2.old. In
most cases, new.to.old.ed is a much smaller file
than chap2.old. You can save disk space by deleting
chap2.old, and you can reconstruct it at any
time by entering: (cat new.old.ed ; echo '1,$p') |
ed - ch2 > ch2.old
The commands in parentheses add 1,$p to the end of
the editing commands sent to the ed editor. The
1,$p causes the ed command to write the file to
standard output after editing it. This modified
command sequence is then piped to the ed command (
| ed ), and the editor reads it as standard input.
The - option causes the ed command not to display
the file size and other extra information, since it
would be mixed with the text of chap2.old.
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES [Toc] [Back] The following environment variables affect the execution
of diff: Provides a default value for the internationalization
variables that are unset or null. If LANG is unset
or null, the corresponding value from the default locale
is used. If any of the internationalization variables
contain an invalid setting, the utility behaves as if none
of the variables had been defined. If set to a non-empty
string value, overrides the values of all the other internationalization
variables. Determines the locale for the
interpretation of sequences of bytes of text data as characters
(for example, single-byte as opposed to multibyte
characters in arguments). Determines the locale for the
format and contents of diagnostic messages written to
standard error. Determines the location of message catalogues
for the processing of LC_MESSAGES. Determines the
locale for affecting the time zone used for calculating
the timestamps written with the -c and -C options.
For the -h option. For the -l option.
Commands: bdiff(1), cmp(1), comm(1), diff3(1), ed(1),
pr(1)
Standards: standards(5)
diff(1)
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