DIFF("1") manual page
Table of Contents
diff - compare files line by line
diff [OPTION]... FILES
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.
- -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.
Written
by Paul Eggert, Mike Haertel, David Hayes, Richard Stallman, and Len Tower.
Report bugs to <bug-gnu-utils@gnu.org>.
Copyright © 2002
Free Software Foundation, Inc.
This program comes with NO WARRANTY, to the
extent permitted by law. You may redistribute copies of this program under
the terms of the GNU General Public License. For more information about
these matters, see the file named COPYING.
The full documentation
for diff is maintained as a Texinfo manual. If the info and diff programs
are properly installed at your site, the command
- info diff
should give
you access to the complete manual.
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