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DIFF

Section: User Commands (1)
Updated: May 2017
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NAME

diff - compare files line by line

SYNOPSIS

diff [OPTION]... FILES

DESCRIPTION

Compare FILES line by line.

Mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for short options too.

--normal: output a normal diff (the default)
-q, --brief: report only when files differ
-s, --report-identical-files: report when two files are the same
-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
-e, --ed: output an ed script
-n, --rcs: output an RCS format diff
-y, --side-by-side: output in two columns
-W, --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
-p, --show-c-function: show which C function each change is in
-F, --show-function-line=RE: show the most recent line matching RE
--label LABEL: use LABEL instead of file name and timestamp (can be repeated)
-t, --expand-tabs: expand tabs to spaces in output
-T, --initial-tab: make tabs line up by prepending a tab
--tabsize=NUM: tab stops every NUM (default 8) print columns
--suppress-blank-empty: suppress space or tab before empty output lines
-l, --paginate: pass output through 'pr' to paginate it
-r, --recursive: recursively compare any subdirectories found
--no-dereference: don't follow symbolic links
-N, --new-file: treat absent files as empty
--unidirectional-new-file: treat absent first files as empty
--ignore-file-name-case: ignore case when comparing file names
--no-ignore-file-name-case: consider case when comparing file names
-x, --exclude=PAT: exclude files that match PAT
-X, --exclude-from=FILE: exclude files that match any pattern in FILE
-S, --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
-i, --ignore-case: ignore case differences in file contents
-E, --ignore-tab-expansion: ignore changes due to tab expansion
-Z, --ignore-trailing-space: ignore white space at line end
-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 where lines are all blank
-I, --ignore-matching-lines=RE: ignore changes where all lines match RE
-a, --text: treat all files as text
--strip-trailing-cr: strip trailing carriage return on input
-D, --ifdef=NAME: output merged file with '#ifdef NAME' diffs
--GTYPE-group-format=GFMT: format GTYPE input groups with GFMT
--line-format=LFMT: format all input lines with LFMT
--LTYPE-line-format=LFMT: format LTYPE input lines with LFMT
: These format options provide fine-grained control over the output
: of diff, generalizing -D/--ifdef.
LTYPE is 'old', 'new', or 'unchanged'.: GTYPE is LTYPE or 'changed'.
: GFMT (only) 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
%(A=B?T:E): if A equals B then T else E
: LFMT (only) 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
: Both GFMT and LFMT may contain:
%%: %
%c'C': the single character C
%c'\OOO': the character with octal code OOO
C: the character C (other characters represent themselves)
-d, --minimal: try hard to find a smaller set of changes
--horizon-lines=NUM: keep NUM lines of the common prefix and suffix
--speed-large-files: assume large files and many scattered small changes
--color[=WHEN]: colorize the output; WHEN can be 'never', 'always', or 'auto' (the default)
--palette=PALETTE: the colors to use when --color is active; PALETTE is a colon-separated list of terminfo capabilities
--help: display this help and exit
-v, --version: output version information and exit

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 FILE(s). 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-diffutils@gnu.org
GNU diffutils home page: <http://www.gnu.org/software/diffutils/>
General help using GNU software: <http://www.gnu.org/gethelp/>

COPYRIGHT

Copyright © 2017 Free Software Foundation, Inc. License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it. There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.