source: trunk/diffutils/man/diff.1@ 2693

Last change on this file since 2693 was 2556, checked in by bird, 20 years ago

diffutils 2.8.1

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1.\" DO NOT MODIFY THIS FILE! It was generated by help2man 1.27.
2.TH DIFF "1" "April 2002" "diffutils 2.8.1" "User Commands"
3.SH NAME
4diff \- compare files line by line
5.SH SYNOPSIS
6.B diff
7[\fIOPTION\fR]... \fIFILES\fR
8.SH DESCRIPTION
9Compare files line by line.
10.TP
11\fB\-i\fR \fB\-\-ignore\-case\fR
12Ignore case differences in file contents.
13.TP
14\fB\-\-ignore\-file\-name\-case\fR
15Ignore case when comparing file names.
16.TP
17\fB\-\-no\-ignore\-file\-name\-case\fR
18Consider case when comparing file names.
19.TP
20\fB\-E\fR \fB\-\-ignore\-tab\-expansion\fR
21Ignore changes due to tab expansion.
22.TP
23\fB\-b\fR \fB\-\-ignore\-space\-change\fR
24Ignore changes in the amount of white space.
25.TP
26\fB\-w\fR \fB\-\-ignore\-all\-space\fR
27Ignore all white space.
28.TP
29\fB\-B\fR \fB\-\-ignore\-blank\-lines\fR
30Ignore changes whose lines are all blank.
31.TP
32\fB\-I\fR RE \fB\-\-ignore\-matching\-lines\fR=\fIRE\fR
33Ignore changes whose lines all match RE.
34.TP
35\fB\-\-strip\-trailing\-cr\fR
36Strip trailing carriage return on input.
37.TP
38\fB\-a\fR \fB\-\-text\fR
39Treat all files as text.
40.TP
41\fB\-c\fR \fB\-C\fR NUM \fB\-\-context\fR[=\fINUM\fR]
42Output NUM (default 3) lines of copied context.
43.TP
44\fB\-u\fR \fB\-U\fR NUM \fB\-\-unified\fR[=\fINUM\fR]
45Output NUM (default 3) lines of unified context.
46.TP
47\fB\-\-label\fR LABEL
48Use LABEL instead of file name.
49.TP
50\fB\-p\fR \fB\-\-show\-c\-function\fR
51Show which C function each change is in.
52.TP
53\fB\-F\fR RE \fB\-\-show\-function\-line\fR=\fIRE\fR
54Show the most recent line matching RE.
55.TP
56\fB\-q\fR \fB\-\-brief\fR
57Output only whether files differ.
58.TP
59\fB\-e\fR \fB\-\-ed\fR
60Output an ed script.
61.TP
62\fB\-\-normal\fR
63Output a normal diff.
64.TP
65\fB\-n\fR \fB\-\-rcs\fR
66Output an RCS format diff.
67.TP
68\fB\-y\fR \fB\-\-side\-by\-side\fR
69Output in two columns.
70.TP
71\fB\-W\fR NUM \fB\-\-width\fR=\fINUM\fR
72Output at most NUM (default 130) print columns.
73.TP
74\fB\-\-left\-column\fR
75Output only the left column of common lines.
76.TP
77\fB\-\-suppress\-common\-lines\fR
78Do not output common lines.
79.TP
80\fB\-D\fR NAME \fB\-\-ifdef\fR=\fINAME\fR
81Output merged file to show `#ifdef NAME' diffs.
82.TP
83\fB\-\-GTYPE\-group\-format\fR=\fIGFMT\fR
84Similar, but format GTYPE input groups with GFMT.
85.TP
86\fB\-\-line\-format\fR=\fILFMT\fR
87Similar, but format all input lines with LFMT.
88.TP
89\fB\-\-LTYPE\-line\-format\fR=\fILFMT\fR
90Similar, but format LTYPE input lines with LFMT.
91.TP
92LTYPE is `old', `new', or `unchanged'.
93GTYPE is LTYPE or `changed'.
94.IP
95GFMT may contain:
96.TP
97%<
98lines from FILE1
99.TP
100%>
101lines from FILE2
102.TP
103%=
104lines common to FILE1 and FILE2
105.TP
106%[-][WIDTH][.[PREC]]{doxX}LETTER
107printf-style spec for LETTER
108.IP
109LETTERs are as follows for new group, lower case for old group:
110.TP
111F
112first line number
113.TP
114L
115last line number
116.TP
117N
118number of lines = L-F+1
119.TP
120E
121F-1
122.TP
123M
124L+1
125.IP
126LFMT may contain:
127.TP
128%L
129contents of line
130.TP
131%l
132contents of line, excluding any trailing newline
133.TP
134%[-][WIDTH][.[PREC]]{doxX}n
135printf-style spec for input line number
136.IP
137Either GFMT or LFMT may contain:
138.TP
139%%
140%
141.TP
142%c'C'
143the single character C
144.TP
145%c'\eOOO'
146the character with octal code OOO
147.TP
148\fB\-l\fR \fB\-\-paginate\fR
149Pass the output through `pr' to paginate it.
150.TP
151\fB\-t\fR \fB\-\-expand\-tabs\fR
152Expand tabs to spaces in output.
153.TP
154\fB\-T\fR \fB\-\-initial\-tab\fR
155Make tabs line up by prepending a tab.
156.TP
157\fB\-r\fR \fB\-\-recursive\fR
158Recursively compare any subdirectories found.
159.TP
160\fB\-N\fR \fB\-\-new\-file\fR
161Treat absent files as empty.
162.TP
163\fB\-\-unidirectional\-new\-file\fR
164Treat absent first files as empty.
165.TP
166\fB\-s\fR \fB\-\-report\-identical\-files\fR
167Report when two files are the same.
168.TP
169\fB\-x\fR PAT \fB\-\-exclude\fR=\fIPAT\fR
170Exclude files that match PAT.
171.TP
172\fB\-X\fR FILE \fB\-\-exclude\-from\fR=\fIFILE\fR
173Exclude files that match any pattern in FILE.
174.TP
175\fB\-S\fR FILE \fB\-\-starting\-file\fR=\fIFILE\fR
176Start with FILE when comparing directories.
177.TP
178\fB\-\-from\-file\fR=\fIFILE1\fR
179Compare FILE1 to all operands. FILE1 can be a directory.
180.TP
181\fB\-\-to\-file\fR=\fIFILE2\fR
182Compare all operands to FILE2. FILE2 can be a directory.
183.TP
184\fB\-\-horizon\-lines\fR=\fINUM\fR
185Keep NUM lines of the common prefix and suffix.
186.TP
187\fB\-d\fR \fB\-\-minimal\fR
188Try hard to find a smaller set of changes.
189.TP
190\fB\-\-speed\-large\-files\fR
191Assume large files and many scattered small changes.
192.TP
193\fB\-v\fR \fB\-\-version\fR