xref: /freebsd/contrib/diff/man/diff.1 (revision 0d66206fff44f864ea8a4b220c3a53b4caa959a0)
DO NOT MODIFY THIS FILE! It was generated by help2man 1.33.
DIFF "1" "April 2004" "diffutils 2.8.7" "User Commands"
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'\eOOO' 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.

-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 \(co 2004 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

This is free software; see the source for copying conditions. There is NO warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

"SEE ALSO"
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.