Manual - Section 1: diff

NAME

diff - compare files line by line

SYNOPSIS

diff [OPTION]... FILES

DESCRIPTION

Compare files line by line.

-i --ignore-case

Ignore case differences in file contents.

--ignore-file-name-case

Ignore case when comparing file names.

--no-ignore-file-name-case

Consider case when comparing file names.

-E --ignore-tab-expansion

Ignore changes due to tab expansion.

-b --ignore-space-change

Ignore changes in the amount of white space.

-w --ignore-all-space

Ignore all white space.

-B --ignore-blank-lines

Ignore changes whose lines are all blank.

-I RE --ignore-matching-lines=RE

Ignore changes whose lines all match RE.

--strip-trailing-cr

Strip trailing carriage return on input.

-a --text Treat all files as text.

-c -C NUM --context[=NUM]

Output NUM (default 3) lines of copied context.

-u -U NUM --unified[=NUM]

Output NUM (default 3) lines of unified context.

--label LABEL

Use LABEL instead of file name.

-p --show-c-function

Show which C function each change is in.

-F RE --show-function-line=RE

Show the most recent line matching RE.

-q --brief

Output only whether files differ.

-e --ed Output an ed script.

--normal

Output a normal diff.

-n --rcs Output an RCS format diff.

-y --side-by-side

Output in two columns.

-W NUM --width=NUM

Output at most NUM (default 130) print columns.

--left-column

Output only the left column of common lines.

--suppress-common-lines

Do not output common lines.

-D NAME --ifdef=NAME

Output merged file to show ‘#ifdef NAME’ diffs.

--GTYPE-group-format=GFMT

Similar, but format GTYPE input groups with GFMT.

--line-format=LFMT

Similar, but format all input lines with LFMT.

--LTYPE-line-format=LFMT

Similar, but format LTYPE input lines with LFMT.

LTYPE is ‘old’, ‘new’, or ‘unchanged’.

GTYPE is LTYPE or ‘changed’.

GFMT may contain:

%< lines from FILE1

%> lines from FILE2

%= lines common to FILE1 and FILE2

%[-][WIDTH][.[PREC]]{doxX}LETTER

printf-style spec for LETTER

LETTERs are as follows for new group, lower case for old group:

F first line number

L last line number

N number of lines = L-F+1

E F-1

M L+1

LFMT may contain:

%L contents of line

%l contents of line, excluding any trailing newline

%[-][WIDTH][.[PREC]]{doxX}n

printf-style spec for input line number

Either GFMT or LFMT may contain:

%% %

%c’C’ the single character C

%c’\OOO’ the character with octal code OOO

-l --paginate

Pass the output through ‘pr’ to paginate it.

-t --expand-tabs

Expand tabs to spaces in output.

-T --initial-tab

Make tabs line up by prepending a tab.

--tabsize=NUM

Tab stops are every NUM (default 8) print columns.

--suppress-blank-empty

Suppress space or tab before empty output lines.

-r --recursive

Recursively compare any subdirectories found.

-N --new-file

Treat absent files as empty.

--unidirectional-new-file

Treat absent first files as empty.

-s --report-identical-files

Report when two files are the same.

-x PAT --exclude=PAT

Exclude files that match PAT.

-X FILE --exclude-from=FILE

Exclude files that match any pattern in FILE.

-S FILE --starting-file=FILE

Start with FILE when comparing directories.

--from-file=FILE1

Compare FILE1 to all operands. FILE1 can be a directory.

--to-file=FILE2

Compare all operands to FILE2. FILE2 can be a directory.

--horizon-lines=NUM

Keep NUM lines of the common prefix and suffix.

-d --minimal

Try hard to find a smaller set of changes.

--speed-large-files

Assume large files and many scattered small changes.

-v --version

Output version info.

--help Output this help.

FILES are ‘FILE1 FILE2’ or ‘DIR1 DIR2’ or ‘DIR FILE...’ or ‘FILE... DIR’. If --from-file or --to-file is given, there are no restrictions on FILES. If a FILE is ‘-’, read standard input. Exit status is 0 if inputs are the same, 1 if different, 2 if trouble.

AUTHOR

Written by Paul Eggert, Mike Haertel, David Hayes, Richard Stallman, and Len Tower.

REPORTING BUGS

Report bugs to <bug-gnu-utils@gnu.org>.

COPYRIGHT

Copyright © 2007 Free Software Foundation, Inc. License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html> This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it. There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.