1.\" $OpenBSD: diff.1,v 1.47 2015/11/24 19:35:41 jmc Exp $ 2.\" 3.\" Copyright (c) 1980, 1990, 1993 4.\" The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. 5.\" 6.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without 7.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions 8.\" are met: 9.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright 10.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. 11.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright 12.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the 13.\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. 14.\" 3. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors 15.\" may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software 16.\" without specific prior written permission. 17.\" 18.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND 19.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE 20.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE 21.\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE 22.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL 23.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS 24.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) 25.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT 26.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY 27.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF 28.\" SUCH DAMAGE. 29.\" 30.\" @(#)diff.1 8.1 (Berkeley) 6/30/93 31.\" $FreeBSD$ 32.\" 33.Dd June 19, 2020 34.Dt DIFF 1 35.Os 36.Sh NAME 37.Nm diff 38.Nd differential file and directory comparator 39.Sh SYNOPSIS 40.Nm diff 41.Op Fl aBbdipTtw 42.Oo 43.Fl c | e | f | 44.Fl n | q | u | y 45.Oc 46.Op Fl -brief 47.Op Fl -color Ns = Ns Ar when 48.Op Fl -changed-group-format Ar GFMT 49.Op Fl -ed 50.Op Fl -expand-tabs 51.Op Fl -forward-ed 52.Op Fl -ignore-all-space 53.Op Fl -ignore-case 54.Op Fl -ignore-space-change 55.Op Fl -initial-tab 56.Op Fl -minimal 57.Op Fl -no-ignore-file-name-case 58.Op Fl -normal 59.Op Fl -rcs 60.Op Fl -show-c-function 61.Op Fl -starting-file 62.Op Fl -speed-large-files 63.Op Fl -strip-trailing-cr 64.Op Fl -tabsize Ar number 65.Op Fl -text 66.Op Fl -unified 67.Op Fl I Ar pattern | Fl -ignore-matching-lines Ar pattern 68.Op Fl F Ar pattern | Fl -show-function-line Ar pattern 69.Op Fl L Ar label | Fl -label Ar label 70.Ar file1 file2 71.Nm diff 72.Op Fl aBbdilpTtw 73.Op Fl I Ar pattern | Fl -ignore-matching-lines Ar pattern 74.Op Fl F Ar pattern | Fl -show-function-line Ar pattern 75.Op Fl L Ar label | Fl -label Ar label 76.Op Fl -brief 77.Op Fl -color Ns = Ns Ar when 78.Op Fl -changed-group-format Ar GFMT 79.Op Fl -ed 80.Op Fl -expand-tabs 81.Op Fl -forward-ed 82.Op Fl -ignore-all-space 83.Op Fl -ignore-case 84.Op Fl -ignore-space-change 85.Op Fl -initial-tab 86.Op Fl -minimal 87.Op Fl -no-ignore-file-name-case 88.Op Fl -normal 89.Op Fl -paginate 90.Op Fl -rcs 91.Op Fl -show-c-function 92.Op Fl -speed-large-files 93.Op Fl -starting-file 94.Op Fl -strip-trailing-cr 95.Op Fl -tabsize Ar number 96.Op Fl -text 97.Fl C Ar number | -context Ar number 98.Ar file1 file2 99.Nm diff 100.Op Fl aBbdiltw 101.Op Fl I Ar pattern | Fl -ignore-matching-lines Ar pattern 102.Op Fl -brief 103.Op Fl -color Ns = Ns Ar when 104.Op Fl -changed-group-format Ar GFMT 105.Op Fl -ed 106.Op Fl -expand-tabs 107.Op Fl -forward-ed 108.Op Fl -ignore-all-space 109.Op Fl -ignore-case 110.Op Fl -ignore-space-change 111.Op Fl -initial-tab 112.Op Fl -minimal 113.Op Fl -no-ignore-file-name-case 114.Op Fl -normal 115.Op Fl -paginate 116.Op Fl -rcs 117.Op Fl -show-c-function 118.Op Fl -speed-large-files 119.Op Fl -starting-file 120.Op Fl -strip-trailing-cr 121.Op Fl -tabsize Ar number 122.Op Fl -text 123.Fl D Ar string | Fl -ifdef Ar string 124.Ar file1 file2 125.Nm diff 126.Op Fl aBbdilpTtw 127.Op Fl I Ar pattern | Fl -ignore-matching-lines Ar pattern 128.Op Fl F Ar pattern | Fl -show-function-line Ar pattern 129.Op Fl L Ar label | Fl -label Ar label 130.Op Fl -brief 131.Op Fl -color Ns = Ns Ar when 132.Op Fl -changed-group-format Ar GFMT 133.Op Fl -ed 134.Op Fl -expand-tabs 135.Op Fl -forward-ed 136.Op Fl -ignore-all-space 137.Op Fl -ignore-case 138.Op Fl -ignore-space-change 139.Op Fl -initial-tab 140.Op Fl -minimal 141.Op Fl -no-ignore-file-name-case 142.Op Fl -normal 143.Op Fl -paginate 144.Op Fl -rcs 145.Op Fl -show-c-function 146.Op Fl -speed-large-files 147.Op Fl -starting-file 148.Op Fl -strip-trailing-cr 149.Op Fl -tabsize Ar number 150.Op Fl -text 151.Fl U Ar number | Fl -unified Ar number 152.Ar file1 file2 153.Nm diff 154.Op Fl aBbdilNPprsTtw 155.Oo 156.Fl c | e | f | 157.Fl n | q | u 158.Oc 159.Op Fl -brief 160.Op Fl -color Ns = Ns Ar when 161.Op Fl -changed-group-format Ar GFMT 162.Op Fl -context 163.Op Fl -ed 164.Op Fl -expand-tabs 165.Op Fl -forward-ed 166.Op Fl -ignore-all-space 167.Op Fl -ignore-case 168.Op Fl -ignore-space-change 169.Op Fl -initial-tab 170.Op Fl -minimal 171.Op Fl -new-file 172.Op Fl -no-ignore-file-name-case 173.Op Fl -normal 174.Op Fl -paginate 175.Op Fl -rcs 176.Op Fl -recursive 177.Op Fl -report-identical-files 178.Op Fl -show-c-function 179.Op Fl -speed-large-files 180.Op Fl -strip-trailing-cr 181.Op Fl -tabsize Ar number 182.Op Fl -text 183.Op Fl -unidirectional-new-file 184.Op Fl -unified 185.Op Fl I Ar pattern | Fl -ignore-matching-lines Ar pattern 186.Op Fl F Ar pattern | Fl -show-function-line Ar pattern 187.Bk -words 188.Op Fl L Ar label | Fl -label Ar label 189.Op Fl S Ar name | Fl -starting-file Ar name 190.Op Fl X Ar file | Fl -exclude-from Ar file 191.Op Fl x Ar pattern | Fl -exclude Ar pattern 192.Ek 193.Ar dir1 dir2 194.Nm diff 195.Op Fl aBbditwW 196.Op Fl -color Ns = Ns Ar when 197.Op Fl -expand-tabs 198.Op Fl -ignore-all-blanks 199.Op Fl -ignore-blank-lines 200.Op Fl -ignore-case 201.Op Fl -minimal 202.Op Fl -no-ignore-file-name-case 203.Op Fl -strip-trailing-cr 204.Op Fl -suppress-common-lines 205.Op Fl -tabsize Ar number 206.Op Fl -text 207.Op Fl -width 208.Fl y | Fl -side-by-side 209.Ar file1 file2 210.Sh DESCRIPTION 211The 212.Nm 213utility compares the contents of 214.Ar file1 215and 216.Ar file2 217and writes to the standard output the list of changes necessary to 218convert one file into the other. 219No output is produced if the files are identical. 220.Pp 221Output options (mutually exclusive): 222.Bl -tag -width Ds 223.It Fl C Ar number Fl -context Ar number 224Like 225.Fl c 226but produces a diff with 227.Ar number 228lines of context. 229.It Fl c 230Produces a diff with 3 lines of context. 231With 232.Fl c 233the output format is modified slightly: 234the output begins with identification of the files involved and 235their creation dates and then each change is separated 236by a line with fifteen 237.Li * Ns 's . 238The lines removed from 239.Ar file1 240are marked with 241.Sq \&-\ \& ; 242those added to 243.Ar file2 244are marked 245.Sq +\ \& . 246Lines which are changed from one file to the other are marked in 247both files with 248.Sq !\ \& . 249Changes which lie within 3 lines of each other are grouped together on 250output. 251.It Fl D Ar string Fl -ifdef Ar string 252Creates a merged version of 253.Ar file1 254and 255.Ar file2 256on the standard output, with C preprocessor controls included so that 257a compilation of the result without defining 258.Ar string 259is equivalent to compiling 260.Ar file1 , 261while defining 262.Ar string 263will yield 264.Ar file2 . 265.It Fl e -ed 266Produces output in a form suitable as input for the editor utility, 267.Xr ed 1 , 268which can then be used to convert file1 into file2. 269.Pp 270Extra commands are added to the output when comparing directories with 271.Fl e , 272so that the result is a 273.Xr sh 1 274script for converting text files which are common to the two directories 275from their state in 276.Ar dir1 277to their state in 278.Ar dir2 . 279.It Fl f -forward-ed 280Identical output to that of the 281.Fl e 282flag, but in reverse order. 283It cannot be digested by 284.Xr ed 1 . 285.It Fl n 286Produces a script similar to that of 287.Fl e , 288but in the opposite order and with a count of changed lines on each 289insert or delete command. 290This is the form used by rcsdiff. 291.It Fl q -brief 292Just print a line when the files differ. 293Does not output a list of changes. 294.It Fl U Ar number Fl -unified Ar number 295Like 296.Fl u 297but produces a diff with 298.Ar number 299lines of context. 300.It Fl u 301Produces a 302.Em unified 303diff with 3 lines of context. 304A unified diff is similar to the context diff produced by the 305.Fl c 306option. 307However, unlike with 308.Fl c , 309all lines to be changed (added and/or removed) are present in 310a single section. 311.It Fl y Fl -side-by-side 312Output in two columns with a marker between them. 313The marker can be one 314of the following: 315.Pp 316.Bl -tag -width Ds -offset indent -compact 317.It space 318Corresponding lines are identical. 319.It '|' 320Corresponding lines are different. 321.It '<' 322Files differ and only the first file contains the line. 323.It '>' 324Files differ and only the second file contains the line. 325.El 326.El 327.Pp 328Comparison options: 329.Bl -tag -width Ds 330.It Fl a -text 331Treat all files as ASCII text. 332Normally 333.Nm 334will simply print 335.Dq Binary files ... differ 336if files contain binary characters. 337Use of this option forces 338.Nm 339to produce a diff. 340.It Fl B Fl -ignore-blank-lines 341Causes chunks that include only blank lines to be ignored. 342.It Fl b -ignore-space-change 343Causes trailing blanks (spaces and tabs) to be ignored, and other 344strings of blanks to compare equal. 345.It Fl -color= Ns Oo Ar when Oc 346Color the additions green, and removals red, or the value in the 347.Ev DIFFCOLORS 348environment variable. 349The possible values of 350.Ar when 351are 352.Dq Cm never , 353.Dq Cm always 354and 355.Dq Cm auto . 356.Cm auto 357will use color if the output is a tty and the 358.Ev COLORTERM 359environment variable is set to a non-empty string. 360.It Fl d -minimal 361Try very hard to produce a diff as small as possible. 362This may consume a lot of processing power and memory when processing 363large files with many changes. 364.It Fl F Ar pattern, Fl -show-function-line Ar pattern 365Like 366.Fl p, 367but display the last line that matches provided pattern. 368.It Fl I Ar pattern Fl -ignore-matching-lines Ar pattern 369Ignores changes, insertions, and deletions whose lines match the 370extended regular expression 371.Ar pattern . 372Multiple 373.Fl I 374patterns may be specified. 375All lines in the change must match some pattern for the change to be 376ignored. 377See 378.Xr re_format 7 379for more information on regular expression patterns. 380.It Fl i -ignore-case 381Ignores the case of letters. 382E.g., 383.Dq A 384will compare equal to 385.Dq a . 386.It Fl l -paginate 387Pass the output through 388.Xr pr 1 389to paginate it. 390.It Fl L Ar label Fl -label Ar label 391Print 392.Ar label 393instead of the first (and second, if this option is specified twice) 394file name and time in the context or unified diff header. 395.It Fl p -show-c-function 396With unified and context diffs, show with each change 397the first 40 characters of the last line before the context beginning 398with a letter, an underscore or a dollar sign. 399For C and Objective-C source code following standard layout conventions, this 400will show the prototype of the function the change applies to. 401.It Fl T -initial-tab 402Print a tab rather than a space before the rest of the line for the 403normal, context or unified output formats. 404This makes the alignment of tabs in the line consistent. 405.It Fl t -expand-tabs 406Will expand tabs in output lines. 407Normal or 408.Fl c 409output adds character(s) to the front of each line which may screw up 410the indentation of the original source lines and make the output listing 411difficult to interpret. 412This option will preserve the original source's indentation. 413.It Fl w -ignore-all-blanks 414Is similar to 415.Fl b -ignore-space-change 416but causes whitespace (blanks and tabs) to be totally ignored. 417E.g., 418.Dq if (\ \&a == b \&) 419will compare equal to 420.Dq if(a==b) . 421.It Fl W Ar number Fl -width Ar number 422Output at most 423.Ar number 424columns when using side by side format. 425The default value is 130. 426.It Fl -changed-group-format Ar GFMT 427Format input groups in the provided 428.Pp 429the format is a string with special keywords: 430.Bl -tag -width %< 431.It %< 432lines from FILE1 433.It %< 434lines from FILE2 435.El 436.It Fl -ignore-file-name-case 437ignore case when comparing file names 438.It Fl -no-ignore-file-name-case 439do not ignore case wen comparing file names (default) 440.It Fl -normal 441default diff output 442.It Fl -speed-large-files 443stub option for compatibility with GNU diff 444.It Fl -strip-trailing-cr 445strip carriage return on input files 446.It Fl -suppress-common-lines 447Do not output common lines when using the side by side format 448.It Fl -tabsize Ar number 449Number of spaces representing a tab (default 8) 450.El 451.Pp 452Directory comparison options: 453.Bl -tag -width Ds 454.It Fl N -new-file 455If a file is found in only one directory, act as if it was found in the 456other directory too but was of zero size. 457.It Fl P -unidirectional-new-file 458If a file is found only in 459.Ar dir2 , 460act as if it was found in 461.Ar dir1 462too but was of zero size. 463.It Fl r -recursive 464Causes application of 465.Nm 466recursively to common subdirectories encountered. 467.It Fl S Ar name Fl -starting-file Ar name 468Re-starts a directory 469.Nm 470in the middle, beginning with file 471.Ar name . 472.It Fl s -report-identical-files 473Causes 474.Nm 475to report files which are the same, which are otherwise not mentioned. 476.It Fl X Ar file Fl -exclude-from Ar file 477Exclude files and subdirectories from comparison whose basenames match 478lines in 479.Ar file . 480Multiple 481.Fl X 482options may be specified. 483.It Fl x Ar pattern Fl -exclude Ar pattern 484Exclude files and subdirectories from comparison whose basenames match 485.Ar pattern . 486Patterns are matched using shell-style globbing via 487.Xr fnmatch 3 . 488Multiple 489.Fl x 490options may be specified. 491.El 492.Pp 493If both arguments are directories, 494.Nm 495sorts the contents of the directories by name, and then runs the 496regular file 497.Nm 498algorithm, producing a change list, 499on text files which are different. 500Binary files which differ, 501common subdirectories, and files which appear in only one directory 502are described as such. 503In directory mode only regular files and directories are compared. 504If a non-regular file such as a device special file or FIFO is encountered, 505a diagnostic message is printed. 506.Pp 507If only one of 508.Ar file1 509and 510.Ar file2 511is a directory, 512.Nm 513is applied to the non-directory file and the file contained in 514the directory file with a filename that is the same as the 515last component of the non-directory file. 516.Pp 517If either 518.Ar file1 519or 520.Ar file2 521is 522.Sq - , 523the standard input is 524used in its place. 525.Ss Output Style 526The default (without 527.Fl e , 528.Fl c , 529or 530.Fl n -rcs 531.\" -C 532options) 533output contains lines of these forms, where 534.Va XX , YY , ZZ , QQ 535are line numbers respective of file order. 536.Pp 537.Bl -tag -width "XX,YYcZZ,QQ" -compact 538.It Li XX Ns Ic a Ns Li YY 539At (the end of) line 540.Va XX 541of 542.Ar file1 , 543append the contents 544of line 545.Va YY 546of 547.Ar file2 548to make them equal. 549.It Li XX Ns Ic a Ns Li YY,ZZ 550Same as above, but append the range of lines, 551.Va YY 552through 553.Va ZZ 554of 555.Ar file2 556to line 557.Va XX 558of file1. 559.It Li XX Ns Ic d Ns Li YY 560At line 561.Va XX 562delete 563the line. 564The value 565.Va YY 566tells to which line the change would bring 567.Ar file1 568in line with 569.Ar file2 . 570.It Li XX,YY Ns Ic d Ns Li ZZ 571Delete the range of lines 572.Va XX 573through 574.Va YY 575in 576.Ar file1 . 577.It Li XX Ns Ic c Ns Li YY 578Change the line 579.Va XX 580in 581.Ar file1 582to the line 583.Va YY 584in 585.Ar file2 . 586.It Li XX,YY Ns Ic c Ns Li ZZ 587Replace the range of specified lines with the line 588.Va ZZ . 589.It Li XX,YY Ns Ic c Ns Li ZZ,QQ 590Replace the range 591.Va XX , Ns Va YY 592from 593.Ar file1 594with the range 595.Va ZZ , Ns Va QQ 596from 597.Ar file2 . 598.El 599.Pp 600These lines resemble 601.Xr ed 1 602subcommands to convert 603.Ar file1 604into 605.Ar file2 . 606The line numbers before the action letters pertain to 607.Ar file1 ; 608those after pertain to 609.Ar file2 . 610Thus, by exchanging 611.Ic a 612for 613.Ic d 614and reading the line in reverse order, one can also 615determine how to convert 616.Ar file2 617into 618.Ar file1 . 619As in 620.Xr ed 1 , 621identical 622pairs (where num1 = num2) are abbreviated as a single 623number. 624.Sh ENVIRONMENT 625.Bl -tag -width DIFFCOLORS 626.It Ev DIFFCOLORS 627The value of this variable is the form 628.Ar add Ns : Ns Ar rm , 629where 630.Ar add 631is the ASCII escape sequence for additions and 632.Ar rm 633is the ASCII escape sequence for deletions. 634If this is unset, 635.Nm 636uses green for additions and red for removals. 637.El 638.Sh FILES 639.Bl -tag -width /tmp/diff.XXXXXXXX -compact 640.It Pa /tmp/diff.XXXXXXXX 641Temporary file used when comparing a device or the standard input. 642Note that the temporary file is unlinked as soon as it is created 643so it will not show up in a directory listing. 644.El 645.Sh EXIT STATUS 646The 647.Nm 648utility exits with one of the following values: 649.Pp 650.Bl -tag -width Ds -offset indent -compact 651.It 0 652No differences were found. 653.It 1 654Differences were found. 655.It >1 656An error occurred. 657.El 658.Sh EXAMPLES 659Compare 660.Pa old_dir 661and 662.Pa new_dir 663recursively generating an unified diff and treating files found only in one 664of those directories as new files: 665.Bd -literal -offset indent 666$ diff -ruN /path/to/old_dir /path/to/new_dir 667.Ed 668.Pp 669Same as above but excluding files matching the expressions 670.Dq *.h 671and 672.Dq *.c : 673.Bd -literal -offset indent 674$ diff -ruN -x '*.h' -x '*.c' /path/to/old_dir /path/to/new_dir 675.Ed 676.Pp 677Show a single line indicating if the files differ: 678.Bd -literal -offset indent 679$ diff -q /boot/loader.conf /boot/defaults/loader.conf 680Files /boot/loader.conf and /boot/defaults/loader.conf differ 681.Ed 682.Pp 683Assuming a file named 684.Pa example.txt 685with the following contents: 686.Bd -literal -offset indent 687FreeBSD is an operating system 688Linux is a kernel 689OpenBSD is an operating system 690.Ed 691.Pp 692Compare stdin with 693.Pa example.txt 694excluding from the comparison those lines containing either 695.Qq Linux 696or 697.Qq Open : 698.Bd -literal -offset indent 699$ echo "FreeBSD is an operating system" | diff -q -I 'Linux|Open' example.txt - 700.Ed 701.Sh SEE ALSO 702.Xr cmp 1 , 703.Xr comm 1 , 704.Xr diff3 1 , 705.Xr ed 1 , 706.Xr patch 1 , 707.Xr pr 1 , 708.Xr sdiff 1 709.Rs 710.%A James W. Hunt 711.%A M. Douglas McIlroy 712.%T "An Algorithm for Differential File Comparison" 713.%J Computing Science Technical Report 714.%Q Bell Laboratories 41 715.%D June 1976 716.Re 717.Sh STANDARDS 718The 719.Nm 720utility is compliant with the 721.St -p1003.1-2008 722specification. 723.Pp 724The flags 725.Op Fl aDdIiLlNnPpqSsTtwXxy 726are extensions to that specification. 727.Sh HISTORY 728A 729.Nm 730command appeared in 731.At v6 . 732