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Name

Synopsis

Description

-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.

Author

Reporting Bugs

Copyright

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.

See Also

info diff

should give you access to the complete manual.

Table of Contents

• Name
• Synopsis
• Description
• Author
• Reporting Bugs
• Copyright
• See Also