Annotation of src/usr.bin/diff/diff.1, Revision 1.25
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1.1 deraadt 29: .\"
1.2 deraadt 30: .\" @(#)diff.1 8.1 (Berkeley) 6/30/93
31: .\"
1.16 millert 32: .Dd July 21, 2003
1.1 deraadt 33: .Dt DIFF 1
1.5 jmc 34: .Os
1.1 deraadt 35: .Sh NAME
36: .Nm diff
37: .Nd differential file and directory comparator
38: .Sh SYNOPSIS
39: .Nm diff
1.23 otto 40: .Op Fl abdilpqtTw
1.6 millert 41: .Oo
42: .Fl c | Fl e | Fl f |
1.9 millert 43: .Fl n | Fl u
1.6 millert 44: .Oc
1.16 millert 45: .Op Fl L Ar label
1.6 millert 46: .Ar file1 file2
47: .Nm diff
1.23 otto 48: .Op Fl abdilpqtTw
1.16 millert 49: .Op Fl L Ar label
50: .Fl C Ar number
1.6 millert 51: .Ar file1 file2
52: .Nm diff
1.19 otto 53: .Op Fl abdilqtw
1.16 millert 54: .Fl D Ar string
1.1 deraadt 55: .Ar file1 file2
56: .Nm diff
1.23 otto 57: .Op Fl abdilpqtTw
1.16 millert 58: .Op Fl L Ar label
59: .Fl U Ar number
1.1 deraadt 60: .Ar file1 file2
61: .Nm diff
1.23 otto 62: .Op Fl abdilNPpqtTw
1.6 millert 63: .Oo
64: .Fl c | Fl e | Fl f |
1.9 millert 65: .Fl n | Fl u
1.6 millert 66: .Oc
1.11 millert 67: .Bk -words
1.16 millert 68: .Op Fl L Ar label
1.1 deraadt 69: .Op Fl r
70: .Op Fl s
1.6 millert 71: .Op Fl S Ar name
1.11 millert 72: .Op Fl X Ar file
73: .Op Fl x Ar pattern
74: .Ek
1.1 deraadt 75: .Ar dir1 dir2
76: .Sh DESCRIPTION
77: The
1.5 jmc 78: .Nm
1.1 deraadt 79: utility compares the contents of
80: .Ar file1
81: and
82: .Ar file2
83: and writes to the standard output the list of changes necessary to
84: convert one file into the other.
85: No output is produced if the files are identical.
86: .Pp
1.22 jmc 87: Output options (mutually exclusive):
1.2 deraadt 88: .Bl -tag -width Ds
89: .It Fl c
1.6 millert 90: Produces a diff with 3 lines of context.
1.1 deraadt 91: With
92: .Fl c
93: the output format is modified slightly:
1.21 jmc 94: the output begins with identification of the files involved and
1.1 deraadt 95: their creation dates and then each change is separated
1.21 jmc 96: by a line with fifteen *'s.
1.1 deraadt 97: The lines removed from
98: .Ar file1
1.5 jmc 99: are marked with
100: .Sq \-\ \& ;
101: those added to
1.1 deraadt 102: .Ar file2
1.5 jmc 103: are marked
104: .Sq \+\ \& .
105: Lines which are changed from one file to the other are marked in
106: both files with
107: .Sq !\ \& .
1.19 otto 108: Changes which lie within 3 lines of each other are grouped together on
109: output.
1.2 deraadt 110: .It Fl e
1.5 jmc 111: Produces output in a form suitable as input for the editor utility,
1.1 deraadt 112: .Xr ed 1 ,
113: which can then be used to convert file1 into file2.
114: .Pp
115: Extra commands are added to the output when comparing directories with
116: .Fl e ,
117: so that the result is a
1.5 jmc 118: .Xr sh 1
1.1 deraadt 119: script for converting text files which are common to the two directories
120: from their state in
121: .Ar dir1
122: to their state in
123: .Ar dir2 .
1.2 deraadt 124: .It Fl f
1.5 jmc 125: Identical output to that of the
1.1 deraadt 126: .Fl e
1.5 jmc 127: flag, but in reverse order.
128: It cannot be digested by
1.1 deraadt 129: .Xr ed 1 .
1.2 deraadt 130: .It Fl n
1.5 jmc 131: Produces a script similar to that of
1.1 deraadt 132: .Fl e ,
133: but in the opposite order and with a count of changed lines on each
1.5 jmc 134: insert or delete command.
135: This is the form used by
136: .Xr rcsdiff 1 .
1.13 millert 137: .It Fl q
138: Just print a line when the files differ.
139: Does not output a list of changes.
1.6 millert 140: .It Fl u
141: Produces a
142: .Em unified
143: diff with 3 lines of context.
144: A unified diff is similar to the context diff produced by the
145: .Fl c
146: option.
147: However, unlike with
148: .Fl c ,
149: all lines to be changed (added and/or removed) are present in
150: a single section.
151: .It Fl C Ar number
152: Like
153: .Fl c
154: but produces a diff with
155: .Ar number
156: lines of context.
157: .It Fl D Ar string
1.5 jmc 158: Creates a merged version of
1.1 deraadt 159: .Ar file1
160: and
161: .Ar file2
162: on the standard output, with C preprocessor controls included so that
163: a compilation of the result without defining
164: .Ar string
1.5 jmc 165: is equivalent to compiling
1.1 deraadt 166: .Ar file1 ,
167: while defining
168: .Ar string
169: will yield
170: .Ar file2 .
1.6 millert 171: .It Fl U Ar number
172: Like
173: .Fl u
174: but produces a diff with
175: .Ar number
176: lines of context.
1.2 deraadt 177: .El
1.1 deraadt 178: .Pp
179: Comparison options:
1.2 deraadt 180: .Bl -tag -width Ds
1.11 millert 181: .It Fl a
182: Treat all files as ASCII.
1.2 deraadt 183: .It Fl b
1.5 jmc 184: Causes trailing blanks (spaces and tabs) to be ignored, and other
1.1 deraadt 185: strings of blanks to compare equal.
1.22 jmc 186: .It Fl d
187: Try very hard to produce a diff as small as possible.
188: This may consume a lot of processing power and memory when processing
189: large files with many changes.
1.16 millert 190: .It Fl i
191: Ignores the case of letters.
192: E.g.,
193: .Dq A
194: will compare equal to
195: .Dq a .
1.14 millert 196: .It Fl l
197: Long output format; each text file
198: .Nm diff Ns \'d
199: is piped through
200: .Xr pr 1
201: to paginate it;
202: other differences are remembered and summarized
203: after all text file differences are reported.
1.16 millert 204: .It Fl L Ar label
205: Print
206: .Ar label
207: instead of the first file name and time in the context or unified diff header.
1.23 otto 208: .It Fl p
209: With unified and context diffs, show with each change
210: the first 40 characters of the last line before the context beginning
211: with a letter, an underscore or a dollar sign.
212: For C source code following standard layout conventions, this will
213: show the prototype of the function the change applies to.
1.2 deraadt 214: .It Fl t
1.5 jmc 215: Will expand tabs in output lines.
216: Normal or
1.1 deraadt 217: .Fl c
218: output adds character(s) to the front of each line which may screw up
219: the indentation of the original source lines and make the output listing
1.5 jmc 220: difficult to interpret.
221: This option will preserve the original source's indentation.
1.16 millert 222: .It Fl T
223: Print a tab rather than a space before the rest of the line for the
224: normal, context or unified output formats.
225: This makes the alignment of tabs in the line consistent.
1.2 deraadt 226: .It Fl w
1.5 jmc 227: Is similar to
1.1 deraadt 228: .Fl b
1.5 jmc 229: but causes whitespace (blanks and tabs) to be totally ignored.
230: E.g.,
231: .Dq if (\ \&a == b \&)
232: will compare equal to
233: .Dq if(a==b) .
1.2 deraadt 234: .El
1.1 deraadt 235: .Pp
236: Directory comparison options:
1.2 deraadt 237: .Bl -tag -width Ds
1.11 millert 238: .It Fl N
239: If a file is found in only one directory, act as if it was found in the
240: other directory too but was of zero size.
1.12 millert 241: .It Fl P
242: If a file is found only in
243: .Ar dir2 ,
244: act as if it was found in
245: .Ar dir1
246: too but was of zero size.
1.2 deraadt 247: .It Fl r
1.5 jmc 248: Causes application of
249: .Nm
1.1 deraadt 250: recursively to common subdirectories encountered.
1.2 deraadt 251: .It Fl s
1.5 jmc 252: Causes
253: .Nm
1.1 deraadt 254: to report files which are the same, which are otherwise not mentioned.
1.6 millert 255: .It Fl S Ar name
1.5 jmc 256: Re-starts a directory
257: .Nm
258: in the middle, beginning with file
1.1 deraadt 259: .Ar name .
1.11 millert 260: .It Fl X Ar file
261: Exclude files and subdirectories from comparison whose basenames match
262: lines in
263: .Ar file .
264: Multiple
265: .Fl X
266: options may be specified.
267: .It Fl x Ar pattern
268: Exclude files and subdirectories from comparison whose basenames match
269: .Ar pattern .
270: Patterns are matched using shell-style globbing via
271: .Xr fnmatch 3 .
272: Multiple
273: .Fl x
274: options may be specified.
1.2 deraadt 275: .El
1.1 deraadt 276: .Pp
277: If both arguments are directories,
1.5 jmc 278: .Nm
1.1 deraadt 279: sorts the contents of the directories by name, and then runs the
280: regular file
1.5 jmc 281: .Nm
1.1 deraadt 282: algorithm, producing a change list,
283: on text files which are different.
284: Binary files which differ,
285: common subdirectories, and files which appear in only one directory
286: are described as such.
1.25 ! millert 287: In directory mode only regular files and directories are compared.
! 288: If a non-regular file such as a device special file or FIFO is
! 289: encountered, a diagnostic message is printed.
1.1 deraadt 290: .Pp
291: If only one of
292: .Ar file1
293: and
294: .Ar file2
295: is a directory,
1.5 jmc 296: .Nm
1.1 deraadt 297: is applied to the non-directory file and the file contained in
298: the directory file with a filename that is the same as the
299: last component of the non-directory file.
300: .Pp
1.2 deraadt 301: If either
1.1 deraadt 302: .Ar file1
303: or
304: .Ar file2
305: is
1.2 deraadt 306: .Sq Fl ,
1.1 deraadt 307: the standard input is
308: used in its place.
309: .Ss Output Style
310: The default (without
311: .Fl e ,
312: .Fl c ,
313: or
314: .Fl n
1.5 jmc 315: .\" -C
1.1 deraadt 316: options)
317: output contains lines of these forms, where
318: .Va XX , YY , ZZ , QQ
319: are line numbers respective of file order.
320: .Pp
1.2 deraadt 321: .Bl -tag -width "XX,YYcZZ,QQ" -compact
322: .It Li XX Ns Ic a Ns Li YY
1.1 deraadt 323: At (the end of) line
324: .Va XX
325: of
326: .Ar file1 ,
327: append the contents
328: of line
329: .Va YY
330: of
331: .Ar file2
332: to make them equal.
1.2 deraadt 333: .It Li XX Ns Ic a Ns Li YY,ZZ
1.1 deraadt 334: Same as above, but append the range of lines,
335: .Va YY
336: through
337: .Va ZZ
338: of
339: .Ar file2
340: to line
341: .Va XX
342: of file1.
1.2 deraadt 343: .It Li XX Ns Ic d Ns Li YY
1.1 deraadt 344: At line
345: .Va XX
346: delete
1.5 jmc 347: the line.
348: The value
1.1 deraadt 349: .Va YY
1.5 jmc 350: tells to which line the change would bring
1.1 deraadt 351: .Ar file1
352: in line with
353: .Ar file1 .
1.2 deraadt 354: .It Li XX,YY Ns Ic d Ns Li ZZ
1.1 deraadt 355: Delete the range of lines
356: .Va XX
357: through
358: .Va YY
359: in
360: .Ar file1 .
1.2 deraadt 361: .It Li XX Ns Ic c Ns Li YY
1.1 deraadt 362: Change the line
363: .Va XX
364: in
365: .Ar file1
366: to the line
367: .Va YY
368: in
1.5 jmc 369: .Ar file2 .
1.2 deraadt 370: .It Li XX,YY Ns Ic c Ns Li ZZ
1.1 deraadt 371: Replace the range of specified lines with the line
372: .Va ZZ .
1.2 deraadt 373: .It Li XX,YY Ns Ic c Ns Li ZZ,QQ
1.1 deraadt 374: Replace the range
1.2 deraadt 375: .Va XX , Ns YY
1.1 deraadt 376: from
377: .Ar file1
378: with the range
1.2 deraadt 379: .Va ZZ , Ns QQ
1.1 deraadt 380: from
381: .Ar file2 .
1.2 deraadt 382: .El
1.1 deraadt 383: .Pp
384: These lines resemble
385: .Xr ed 1
386: subcommands to convert
387: .Ar file1
388: into
389: .Ar file2 .
390: The line numbers before the action letters pertain to
391: .Ar file1 ;
392: those after pertain to
393: .Ar file2 .
394: Thus, by exchanging
395: .Ic a
396: for
397: .Ic d
398: and reading the line in reverse order, one can also
399: determine how to convert
400: .Ar file2
401: into
402: .Ar file1 .
403: As in
404: .Xr ed 1 ,
405: identical
406: pairs (where num1 = num2) are abbreviated as a single
407: number.
408: .Sh ENVIRONMENT
1.2 deraadt 409: .Bl -tag -width TMPDIR
410: .It Ev TMPDIR
1.1 deraadt 411: If the environment variable
412: .Ev TMPDIR
413: exists,
1.5 jmc 414: .Nm
1.2 deraadt 415: will use the directory specified by
1.1 deraadt 416: .Ev TMPDIR
1.2 deraadt 417: as the temporary directory.
418: .El
1.1 deraadt 419: .Sh FILES
1.17 millert 420: .Bl -tag -width /tmp/diff.XXXXXXXX -compact
421: .It Pa /tmp/diff.XXXXXXXX
422: Temporary file used when comparing a device or the standard input.
423: Note that the temporary file is unlinked as soon as it is created
424: so it will not show up in a directory listing.
1.2 deraadt 425: .El
1.1 deraadt 426: .Sh DIAGNOSTICS
427: The
1.5 jmc 428: .Nm
1.1 deraadt 429: utility exits with one of the following values:
1.2 deraadt 430: .Pp
431: .Bl -tag -width Ds -compact -offset indent
432: .It \&0
1.1 deraadt 433: No differences were found.
1.2 deraadt 434: .It \&1
1.1 deraadt 435: Differences were found.
1.5 jmc 436: .It \*[Gt]\&1
1.1 deraadt 437: An error occurred.
1.2 deraadt 438: .El
1.5 jmc 439: .Sh SEE ALSO
440: .Xr cmp 1 ,
441: .Xr comm 1 ,
442: .Xr diff3 1 ,
1.11 millert 443: .Xr ed 1 ,
1.14 millert 444: .Xr pr 1 ,
1.11 millert 445: .Xr fnmatch 3
1.15 millert 446: .Sh STANDARDS
447: The
448: .Nm
449: utility is expected to be a superset of the
1.24 jmc 450: .St -p1003.1-2001
1.15 millert 451: specification.
1.5 jmc 452: .Sh HISTORY
453: A
454: .Nm
455: command appeared in
456: .At v6 .
1.1 deraadt 457: .Sh BUGS
458: When comparing directories with the
459: .Fl b ,
460: .Fl w
461: or
462: .Fl i
463: options specified,
1.5 jmc 464: .Nm
1.1 deraadt 465: first compares the files ala
1.5 jmc 466: .Xr cmp 1 ,
1.1 deraadt 467: and then decides to run the
1.5 jmc 468: .Nm
1.1 deraadt 469: algorithm if they are not equal.
470: This may cause a small amount of spurious output if the files
471: then turn out to be identical because the only differences are
1.5 jmc 472: insignificant whitespace or case differences.
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