Pegasus InfoCorp: Web site design and web software development company

SDIFF (1)

find differences between two files and merge interactively

SYNOPSIS

    sdiff -o outfile [options] from-file to-file

DESCRIPTION

    The sdiff command merges two files and interactively outputs the results to outfile .

    If from-file is a directory and to-file is not, sdiff compares the file in from-file whose file name is that of to-file , and vice versa. from-file and to-file may not both be directories.

    sdiff options begin with - , so normally from-file and to-file may not begin with - . However, -- as an argument by itself treats the remaining arguments as file names even if they begin with - . You may not use - as an input file.

    sdiff without -o (or --output ) produces a side-by-side difference. This usage is obsolete; use diff --side-by-side instead. Below is a summary of all of the options that GNU sdiff accepts. Each option has two equivalent names, one of which is a single letter preceded by - , and the other of which is a long name preceded by -- . Multiple single letter options (unless they take an argument) can be combined into a single command line argument. Long named options can be abbreviated to any unique prefix of their name.

    -a

      Treat all files as text and compare them line-by-line, even if they do not appear to be text.

    -b

      Ignore changes in amount of white space.

    -B

      Ignore changes that just insert or delete blank lines.

    -d

      Change the algorithm to perhaps find a smaller set of changes. This makes sdiff slower (sometimes much slower).

    -H

      Use heuristics to speed handling of large files that have numerous scattered small changes.

    --expand-tabs

      Expand tabs to spaces in the output, to preserve the alignment of tabs in the input files.

    -i

      Ignore changes in case; consider upper- and lower-case to be the same.

    -I regexp

      Ignore changes that just insert or delete lines that match regexp .

    --ignore-all-space

      Ignore white space when comparing lines.

    --ignore-blank-lines

      Ignore changes that just insert or delete blank lines.

    --ignore-case

      Ignore changes in case; consider upper- and lower-case to be the same.

    --ignore-matching-lines= regexp

      Ignore changes that just insert or delete lines that match regexp .

    --ignore-space-change

      Ignore changes in amount of white space.

    -l

    --left-column

      Print only the left column of two common lines.

    --minimal

      Change the algorithm to perhaps find a smaller set of changes. This makes sdiff slower (sometimes much slower).

    -o file

    --output= file

      Put merged output into file . This option is required for merging.

    -s

    --suppress-common-lines

      Do not print common lines.

    --speed-large-files

      Use heuristics to speed handling of large files that have numerous scattered small changes.

    -t

      Expand tabs to spaces in the output, to preserve the alignment of tabs in the input files.

    --text

      Treat all files as text and compare them line-by-line, even if they do not appear to be text.

    -v

    --version

      Output the version number of sdiff .

    -w columns

    --width= columns

      Use an output width of columns . Note that for historical reasons, this option is -W in diff , -w in sdiff .

    -W

      Ignore horizontal white space when comparing lines. Note that for historical reasons, this option is -w in diff , -W in sdiff .

SEE ALSO

DIAGNOSTICS

    An exit status of 0 means no differences were found, 1 means some differences were found, and 2 means trouble.