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<title>diff(1) - Plan 9 from User Space</title>
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<tr><td width=20><td><b>DIFF(1)</b><td align=right><b>DIFF(1)</b>
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<p><font size=+1><b>NAME </b></font><br>
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diff – differential file comparator<br>
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<p><font size=+1><b>SYNOPSIS </b></font><br>
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<tt><font size=+1>diff</font></tt> [ <tt><font size=+1>−efmnbwr</font></tt> ] file1 ... file2<br>
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<p><font size=+1><b>DESCRIPTION </b></font><br>
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<i>Diff</i> tells what lines must be changed in two files to bring them
into agreement. If one file is a directory, then a file in that
directory with basename the same as that of the other file is
used. If both files are directories, similarly named files in
the two directories are compared by the method of <i>diff</i> for text
files and
<a href="../man1/cmp.html"><i>cmp</i>(1)</a> otherwise. If more than two file names are given, then
each argument is compared to the last argument as above. The <tt><font size=+1>−r</font></tt>
option causes <i>diff</i> to process similarly named subdirectories recursively.
When processing more than one file, <i>diff</i> prefixes file differences
with a single line listing the two differing files, in
the form of a <i>diff</i> command line. The <tt><font size=+1>−m</font></tt> flag causes this behavior
even when processing single files.
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The normal output contains lines of these forms:<br>
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<i>n1</i> <tt><font size=+1>a</font></tt> <i>n3,n4<br>
n1,n2</i> <tt><font size=+1>d</font></tt> <i>n3<br>
n1,n2</i> <tt><font size=+1>c</font></tt> <i>n3,n4
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</i>
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These lines resemble <i>ed</i> commands to convert <i>file1</i> into <i>file2</i>.
The numbers after the letters pertain to <i>file2</i>. In fact, by exchanging
‘a’ for ‘d’ and reading backward one may ascertain equally how
to convert <i>file2</i> into <i>file1</i>. As in <i>ed</i>, identical pairs where <i>n1</i>
= <i>n2</i> or <i>n3</i> = <i>n4</i> are abbreviated as a single number.
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Following each of these lines come all the lines that are affected
in the first file flagged by ‘<’, then all the lines that are affected
in the second file flagged by ‘>’.
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The <tt><font size=+1>−b</font></tt> option causes trailing blanks (spaces and tabs) to be ignored
and other strings of blanks to compare equal. The <tt><font size=+1>−w</font></tt> option causes
all white-space to be removed from input lines before applying
the difference algorithm.
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The <tt><font size=+1>−n</font></tt> option prefixes each range with <i>file</i><tt><font size=+1>:</font></tt> and inserts a space
around the <tt><font size=+1>a</font></tt>, <tt><font size=+1>c</font></tt>, and <tt><font size=+1>d</font></tt> verbs. The <tt><font size=+1>−e</font></tt> option produces a script
of <i>a, c</i> and <i>d</i> commands for the editor <i>ed</i>, which will recreate
<i>file2</i> from <i>file1</i>. The <tt><font size=+1>−f</font></tt> option produces a similar script, not
useful with <i>ed</i>, in the opposite order. It may, however, be useful
as
input to a stream-oriented post-processor.
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Except in rare circumstances, <i>diff</i> finds a smallest sufficient
set of file differences.<br>
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<p><font size=+1><b>FILES </b></font><br>
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<tt><font size=+1>/tmp/diff[12]<br>
</font></tt>
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<p><font size=+1><b>SOURCE </b></font><br>
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<tt><font size=+1>/usr/local/plan9/src/cmd/diff<br>
</font></tt>
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<p><font size=+1><b>SEE ALSO </b></font><br>
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<a href="../man1/cmp.html"><i>cmp</i>(1)</a>, <a href="../man1/comm.html"><i>comm</i>(1)</a>, <a href="../man1/ed.html"><i>ed</i>(1)</a><br>
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<p><font size=+1><b>DIAGNOSTICS </b></font><br>
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Exit status is the empty string for no differences, <tt><font size=+1>some</font></tt> for some,
and <tt><font size=+1>error</font></tt> for trouble.<br>
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<p><font size=+1><b>BUGS </b></font><br>
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Editing scripts produced under the <tt><font size=+1>−e</font></tt> or <tt><font size=+1>−f</font></tt> option are naive about
creating lines consisting of a single ‘.’.
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When running <i>diff</i> on directories, the notion of what is a text
file is open to debate.<br>
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