1.\" $OpenBSD: diff.1,v 1.47 2015/11/24 19:35:41 jmc Exp $ 2.\" 3.\" Copyright (c) 1980, 1990, 1993 4.\" The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. 5.\" 6.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without 7.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions 8.\" are met: 9.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright 10.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. 11.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright 12.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the 13.\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. 14.\" 3. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors 15.\" may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software 16.\" without specific prior written permission. 17.\" 18.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND 19.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE 20.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE 21.\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE 22.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL 23.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS 24.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) 25.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT 26.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY 27.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF 28.\" SUCH DAMAGE. 29.\" 30.\" @(#)diff.1 8.1 (Berkeley) 6/30/93 31.\" $FreeBSD$ 32.\" 33.Dd June 1, 2020 34.Dt DIFF 1 35.Os 36.Sh NAME 37.Nm diff 38.Nd differential file and directory comparator 39.Sh SYNOPSIS 40.Nm diff 41.Op Fl aBbdipTtw 42.Oo 43.Fl c | e | f | 44.Fl n | q | u | y 45.Oc 46.Op Fl -brief 47.Op Fl -changed-group-format Ar GFMT 48.Op Fl -ed 49.Op Fl -expand-tabs 50.Op Fl -forward-ed 51.Op Fl -ignore-all-space 52.Op Fl -ignore-case 53.Op Fl -ignore-space-change 54.Op Fl -initial-tab 55.Op Fl -minimal 56.Op Fl -no-ignore-file-name-case 57.Op Fl -normal 58.Op Fl -rcs 59.Op Fl -show-c-function 60.Op Fl -starting-file 61.Op Fl -speed-large-files 62.Op Fl -strip-trailing-cr 63.Op Fl -tabsize Ar number 64.Op Fl -text 65.Op Fl -unified 66.Op Fl I Ar pattern | Fl -ignore-matching-lines Ar pattern 67.Op Fl L Ar label | Fl -label Ar label 68.Ar file1 file2 69.Nm diff 70.Op Fl aBbdilpTtw 71.Op Fl I Ar pattern | Fl -ignore-matching-lines Ar pattern 72.Op Fl L Ar label | Fl -label Ar label 73.Op Fl -brief 74.Op Fl -changed-group-format Ar GFMT 75.Op Fl -ed 76.Op Fl -expand-tabs 77.Op Fl -forward-ed 78.Op Fl -ignore-all-space 79.Op Fl -ignore-case 80.Op Fl -ignore-space-change 81.Op Fl -initial-tab 82.Op Fl -minimal 83.Op Fl -no-ignore-file-name-case 84.Op Fl -normal 85.Op Fl -paginate 86.Op Fl -rcs 87.Op Fl -show-c-function 88.Op Fl -speed-large-files 89.Op Fl -starting-file 90.Op Fl -strip-trailing-cr 91.Op Fl -tabsize Ar number 92.Op Fl -text 93.Fl C Ar number | -context Ar number 94.Ar file1 file2 95.Nm diff 96.Op Fl aBbdiltw 97.Op Fl I Ar pattern | Fl -ignore-matching-lines Ar pattern 98.Op Fl -brief 99.Op Fl -changed-group-format Ar GFMT 100.Op Fl -ed 101.Op Fl -expand-tabs 102.Op Fl -forward-ed 103.Op Fl -ignore-all-space 104.Op Fl -ignore-case 105.Op Fl -ignore-space-change 106.Op Fl -initial-tab 107.Op Fl -minimal 108.Op Fl -no-ignore-file-name-case 109.Op Fl -normal 110.Op Fl -paginate 111.Op Fl -rcs 112.Op Fl -show-c-function 113.Op Fl -speed-large-files 114.Op Fl -starting-file 115.Op Fl -strip-trailing-cr 116.Op Fl -tabsize Ar number 117.Op Fl -text 118.Fl D Ar string | Fl -ifdef Ar string 119.Ar file1 file2 120.Nm diff 121.Op Fl aBbdilpTtw 122.Op Fl I Ar pattern | Fl -ignore-matching-lines Ar pattern 123.Op Fl L Ar label | Fl -label Ar label 124.Op Fl -brief 125.Op Fl -changed-group-format Ar GFMT 126.Op Fl -ed 127.Op Fl -expand-tabs 128.Op Fl -forward-ed 129.Op Fl -ignore-all-space 130.Op Fl -ignore-case 131.Op Fl -ignore-space-change 132.Op Fl -initial-tab 133.Op Fl -minimal 134.Op Fl -no-ignore-file-name-case 135.Op Fl -normal 136.Op Fl -paginate 137.Op Fl -rcs 138.Op Fl -show-c-function 139.Op Fl -speed-large-files 140.Op Fl -starting-file 141.Op Fl -strip-trailing-cr 142.Op Fl -tabsize Ar number 143.Op Fl -text 144.Fl U Ar number | Fl -unified Ar number 145.Ar file1 file2 146.Nm diff 147.Op Fl aBbdilNPprsTtw 148.Oo 149.Fl c | e | f | 150.Fl n | q | u 151.Oc 152.Op Fl -brief 153.Op Fl -changed-group-format Ar GFMT 154.Op Fl -context 155.Op Fl -ed 156.Op Fl -expand-tabs 157.Op Fl -forward-ed 158.Op Fl -ignore-all-space 159.Op Fl -ignore-case 160.Op Fl -ignore-space-change 161.Op Fl -initial-tab 162.Op Fl -minimal 163.Op Fl -new-file 164.Op Fl -no-ignore-file-name-case 165.Op Fl -normal 166.Op Fl -paginate 167.Op Fl -rcs 168.Op Fl -recursive 169.Op Fl -report-identical-files 170.Op Fl -show-c-function 171.Op Fl -speed-large-files 172.Op Fl -strip-trailing-cr 173.Op Fl -tabsize Ar number 174.Op Fl -text 175.Op Fl -unidirectional-new-file 176.Op Fl -unified 177.Op Fl I Ar pattern | Fl -ignore-matching-lines Ar pattern 178.Bk -words 179.Op Fl L Ar label | Fl -label Ar label 180.Op Fl S Ar name | Fl -starting-file Ar name 181.Op Fl X Ar file | Fl -exclude-from Ar file 182.Op Fl x Ar pattern | Fl -exclude Ar pattern 183.Ek 184.Ar dir1 dir2 185.Nm diff 186.Op Fl aBbditwW 187.Op Fl -expand-tabs 188.Op Fl -ignore-all-blanks 189.Op Fl -ignore-blank-lines 190.Op Fl -ignore-case 191.Op Fl -minimal 192.Op Fl -no-ignore-file-name-case 193.Op Fl -strip-trailing-cr 194.Op Fl -suppress-common-lines 195.Op Fl -tabsize Ar number 196.Op Fl -text 197.Op Fl -width 198.Fl y | Fl -side-by-side 199.Ar file1 file2 200.Sh DESCRIPTION 201The 202.Nm 203utility compares the contents of 204.Ar file1 205and 206.Ar file2 207and writes to the standard output the list of changes necessary to 208convert one file into the other. 209No output is produced if the files are identical. 210.Pp 211Output options (mutually exclusive): 212.Bl -tag -width Ds 213.It Fl C Ar number Fl -context Ar number 214Like 215.Fl c 216but produces a diff with 217.Ar number 218lines of context. 219.It Fl c 220Produces a diff with 3 lines of context. 221With 222.Fl c 223the output format is modified slightly: 224the output begins with identification of the files involved and 225their creation dates and then each change is separated 226by a line with fifteen 227.Li * Ns 's . 228The lines removed from 229.Ar file1 230are marked with 231.Sq \&-\ \& ; 232those added to 233.Ar file2 234are marked 235.Sq +\ \& . 236Lines which are changed from one file to the other are marked in 237both files with 238.Sq !\ \& . 239Changes which lie within 3 lines of each other are grouped together on 240output. 241.It Fl D Ar string Fl -ifdef Ar string 242Creates a merged version of 243.Ar file1 244and 245.Ar file2 246on the standard output, with C preprocessor controls included so that 247a compilation of the result without defining 248.Ar string 249is equivalent to compiling 250.Ar file1 , 251while defining 252.Ar string 253will yield 254.Ar file2 . 255.It Fl e -ed 256Produces output in a form suitable as input for the editor utility, 257.Xr ed 1 , 258which can then be used to convert file1 into file2. 259.Pp 260Extra commands are added to the output when comparing directories with 261.Fl e , 262so that the result is a 263.Xr sh 1 264script for converting text files which are common to the two directories 265from their state in 266.Ar dir1 267to their state in 268.Ar dir2 . 269.It Fl f -forward-ed 270Identical output to that of the 271.Fl e 272flag, but in reverse order. 273It cannot be digested by 274.Xr ed 1 . 275.It Fl n 276Produces a script similar to that of 277.Fl e , 278but in the opposite order and with a count of changed lines on each 279insert or delete command. 280This is the form used by 281.Xr rcsdiff 1 . 282.It Fl q -brief 283Just print a line when the files differ. 284Does not output a list of changes. 285.It Fl U Ar number Fl -unified Ar number 286Like 287.Fl u 288but produces a diff with 289.Ar number 290lines of context. 291.It Fl u 292Produces a 293.Em unified 294diff with 3 lines of context. 295A unified diff is similar to the context diff produced by the 296.Fl c 297option. 298However, unlike with 299.Fl c , 300all lines to be changed (added and/or removed) are present in 301a single section. 302.It Fl y Fl -side-by-side 303Output in two columns with a marker between them. 304The marker can be one 305of the following: 306.Pp 307.Bl -tag -width Ds -offset indent -compact 308.It space 309Corresponding lines are identical. 310.It '|' 311Corresponding lines are different. 312.It '<' 313Files differ and only the first file contains the line. 314.It '>' 315Files differ and only the second file contains the line. 316.El 317.El 318.Pp 319Comparison options: 320.Bl -tag -width Ds 321.It Fl a -text 322Treat all files as ASCII text. 323Normally 324.Nm 325will simply print 326.Dq Binary files ... differ 327if files contain binary characters. 328Use of this option forces 329.Nm 330to produce a diff. 331.It Fl B Fl -ignore-blank-lines 332Causes chunks that include only blank lines to be ignored. 333.It Fl b -ignore-space-change 334Causes trailing blanks (spaces and tabs) to be ignored, and other 335strings of blanks to compare equal. 336.It Fl d -minimal 337Try very hard to produce a diff as small as possible. 338This may consume a lot of processing power and memory when processing 339large files with many changes. 340.It Fl I Ar pattern Fl -ignore-matching-lines Ar pattern 341Ignores changes, insertions, and deletions whose lines match the 342extended regular expression 343.Ar pattern . 344Multiple 345.Fl I 346patterns may be specified. 347All lines in the change must match some pattern for the change to be 348ignored. 349See 350.Xr re_format 7 351for more information on regular expression patterns. 352.It Fl i -ignore-case 353Ignores the case of letters. 354E.g., 355.Dq A 356will compare equal to 357.Dq a . 358.It Fl l -paginate 359Pass the output through 360.Xr pr 1 361to paginate it. 362.It Fl L Ar label Fl -label Ar label 363Print 364.Ar label 365instead of the first (and second, if this option is specified twice) 366file name and time in the context or unified diff header. 367.It Fl p -show-c-function 368With unified and context diffs, show with each change 369the first 40 characters of the last line before the context beginning 370with a letter, an underscore or a dollar sign. 371For C source code following standard layout conventions, this will 372show the prototype of the function the change applies to. 373.It Fl T -initial-tab 374Print a tab rather than a space before the rest of the line for the 375normal, context or unified output formats. 376This makes the alignment of tabs in the line consistent. 377.It Fl t -expand-tabs 378Will expand tabs in output lines. 379Normal or 380.Fl c 381output adds character(s) to the front of each line which may screw up 382the indentation of the original source lines and make the output listing 383difficult to interpret. 384This option will preserve the original source's indentation. 385.It Fl w -ignore-all-blanks 386Is similar to 387.Fl b -ignore-space-change 388but causes whitespace (blanks and tabs) to be totally ignored. 389E.g., 390.Dq if (\ \&a == b \&) 391will compare equal to 392.Dq if(a==b) . 393.It Fl W Ar number Fl -width Ar number 394Output at most 395.Ar number 396columns when using side by side format. 397The default value is 130. 398.It Fl -changed-group-format Ar GFMT 399Format input groups in the provided 400.Pp 401the format is a string with special keywords: 402.Bl -tag -width %< 403.It %< 404lines from FILE1 405.It %< 406lines from FILE2 407.El 408.It Fl -ignore-file-name-case 409ignore case when comparing file names 410.It Fl -no-ignore-file-name-case 411do not ignore case wen comparing file names (default) 412.It Fl -normal 413default diff output 414.It Fl -speed-large-files 415stub option for compatibility with GNU diff 416.It Fl -strip-trailing-cr 417strip carriage return on input files 418.It Fl -suppress-common-lines 419Do not output common lines when using the side by side format 420.It Fl -tabsize Ar number 421Number of spaces representing a tab (default 8) 422.El 423.Pp 424Directory comparison options: 425.Bl -tag -width Ds 426.It Fl N -new-file 427If a file is found in only one directory, act as if it was found in the 428other directory too but was of zero size. 429.It Fl P -unidirectional-new-file 430If a file is found only in 431.Ar dir2 , 432act as if it was found in 433.Ar dir1 434too but was of zero size. 435.It Fl r -recursive 436Causes application of 437.Nm 438recursively to common subdirectories encountered. 439.It Fl S Ar name Fl -starting-file Ar name 440Re-starts a directory 441.Nm 442in the middle, beginning with file 443.Ar name . 444.It Fl s -report-identical-files 445Causes 446.Nm 447to report files which are the same, which are otherwise not mentioned. 448.It Fl X Ar file Fl -exclude-from Ar file 449Exclude files and subdirectories from comparison whose basenames match 450lines in 451.Ar file . 452Multiple 453.Fl X 454options may be specified. 455.It Fl x Ar pattern Fl -exclude Ar pattern 456Exclude files and subdirectories from comparison whose basenames match 457.Ar pattern . 458Patterns are matched using shell-style globbing via 459.Xr fnmatch 3 . 460Multiple 461.Fl x 462options may be specified. 463.El 464.Pp 465If both arguments are directories, 466.Nm 467sorts the contents of the directories by name, and then runs the 468regular file 469.Nm 470algorithm, producing a change list, 471on text files which are different. 472Binary files which differ, 473common subdirectories, and files which appear in only one directory 474are described as such. 475In directory mode only regular files and directories are compared. 476If a non-regular file such as a device special file or FIFO is encountered, 477a diagnostic message is printed. 478.Pp 479If only one of 480.Ar file1 481and 482.Ar file2 483is a directory, 484.Nm 485is applied to the non-directory file and the file contained in 486the directory file with a filename that is the same as the 487last component of the non-directory file. 488.Pp 489If either 490.Ar file1 491or 492.Ar file2 493is 494.Sq - , 495the standard input is 496used in its place. 497.Ss Output Style 498The default (without 499.Fl e , 500.Fl c , 501or 502.Fl n -rcs 503.\" -C 504options) 505output contains lines of these forms, where 506.Va XX , YY , ZZ , QQ 507are line numbers respective of file order. 508.Pp 509.Bl -tag -width "XX,YYcZZ,QQ" -compact 510.It Li XX Ns Ic a Ns Li YY 511At (the end of) line 512.Va XX 513of 514.Ar file1 , 515append the contents 516of line 517.Va YY 518of 519.Ar file2 520to make them equal. 521.It Li XX Ns Ic a Ns Li YY,ZZ 522Same as above, but append the range of lines, 523.Va YY 524through 525.Va ZZ 526of 527.Ar file2 528to line 529.Va XX 530of file1. 531.It Li XX Ns Ic d Ns Li YY 532At line 533.Va XX 534delete 535the line. 536The value 537.Va YY 538tells to which line the change would bring 539.Ar file1 540in line with 541.Ar file2 . 542.It Li XX,YY Ns Ic d Ns Li ZZ 543Delete the range of lines 544.Va XX 545through 546.Va YY 547in 548.Ar file1 . 549.It Li XX Ns Ic c Ns Li YY 550Change the line 551.Va XX 552in 553.Ar file1 554to the line 555.Va YY 556in 557.Ar file2 . 558.It Li XX,YY Ns Ic c Ns Li ZZ 559Replace the range of specified lines with the line 560.Va ZZ . 561.It Li XX,YY Ns Ic c Ns Li ZZ,QQ 562Replace the range 563.Va XX , Ns Va YY 564from 565.Ar file1 566with the range 567.Va ZZ , Ns Va QQ 568from 569.Ar file2 . 570.El 571.Pp 572These lines resemble 573.Xr ed 1 574subcommands to convert 575.Ar file1 576into 577.Ar file2 . 578The line numbers before the action letters pertain to 579.Ar file1 ; 580those after pertain to 581.Ar file2 . 582Thus, by exchanging 583.Ic a 584for 585.Ic d 586and reading the line in reverse order, one can also 587determine how to convert 588.Ar file2 589into 590.Ar file1 . 591As in 592.Xr ed 1 , 593identical 594pairs (where num1 = num2) are abbreviated as a single 595number. 596.Sh FILES 597.Bl -tag -width /tmp/diff.XXXXXXXX -compact 598.It Pa /tmp/diff.XXXXXXXX 599Temporary file used when comparing a device or the standard input. 600Note that the temporary file is unlinked as soon as it is created 601so it will not show up in a directory listing. 602.El 603.Sh EXIT STATUS 604The 605.Nm 606utility exits with one of the following values: 607.Pp 608.Bl -tag -width Ds -offset indent -compact 609.It 0 610No differences were found. 611.It 1 612Differences were found. 613.It >1 614An error occurred. 615.El 616.Sh SEE ALSO 617.Xr cmp 1 , 618.Xr comm 1 , 619.Xr diff3 1 , 620.Xr ed 1 , 621.Xr patch 1 , 622.Xr pr 1 , 623.Xr sdiff 1 624.Rs 625.%A James W. Hunt 626.%A M. Douglas McIlroy 627.%T "An Algorithm for Differential File Comparison" 628.%J Computing Science Technical Report 629.%Q Bell Laboratories 41 630.%D June 1976 631.Re 632.Sh STANDARDS 633The 634.Nm 635utility is compliant with the 636.St -p1003.1-2008 637specification. 638.Pp 639The flags 640.Op Fl aDdIiLlNnPpqSsTtwXxy 641are extensions to that specification. 642.Sh HISTORY 643A 644.Nm 645command appeared in 646.At v6 . 647