AT&T UNIX™PC Unix System V Users Manual - tenox

DIFF ( 1) DIFF(l)
NAME
diff - differential file and directory comparator
SYNOPSIS
diff [ -1 ] [ -r ] [ -8 ] [ -cefh ] [ -b ] dirl dir2
diff [ -cefh ) [ -b ] filel file2
diff [ -Dstring ] [ -b ] filel file2
DESCRIPTION
If both arguments are directories, diff sorts the contents of the
directories by name, and then runs the regular file diff algorithm
(described below) on text files which are different. Binary files
which differ, common subdirectories, and files which appear in
only one directory are listed. Options when comparing directories
are:
-1 long output format; each text file diff is piped through
pr(l) to paginate it, other differences are remembered and
summarized after all text file differences are reported.
-r causes application of diff recursively to common subdirectories
encountered.
-8 causes daff to report files which are the same, which are
otherwise not mentioned.
-Sname
starts a directory daff in the middle beginning with file
name.
When run on regular files, and when comparing text files which
differ during directory comparison, diff tells what lines must be
changed in the files to bring them into agreement. Except in rare
circumstances, diff finds a smallest sufficient set of file differences.
If neither file1 nor file2 is a directory, then either may be given as
'-', in which case the standard input is used. If file1 is a directory,
then a file in that directory whose file-name is the same as
the file-name of file2 is used (and vice versa).
There are several options for output format; the default output
format contains lines of these forms:
n1 a n9, n4
n1,n2 d n9
n1, n2 c n9, n4
These lines resemble ed commands to convert file1 into file2. The
numbers after the letters pertain to file2. In fact, by exchanging
'a' for 'd' and reading backward one may ascertain equally how to
convert file2 into file1 . AE. in ed, identical pairs where n1 = n2 or
n9 = n4 are abbreviated as a single number.
Following each of these lines come all the lines that are affected in
the first file flagged by '< ', then all the lines that are affected in
the second file flagged by '>'.
Except for -b, which may be given with any of the others, the
following options are mutually exclusive:
- 1 -