Linux in a Nutshell, Fifth Edition

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Chapter 3: Linux Commands

This is the Title of the Book, eMatter Edition

Copyright © 2006 O’Reilly & Associates, Inc. All rights reserved.

-v, --version

Print version number of this version of diff.

-w, --ignore-all-space

Ignore all whitespace in files for comparisons.

-W n, --width=n

For two-column output (-y), produce columns with a

maximum width of n characters. Default is 130.

-x regexp, --exclude=regexp

Do not compare files in a directory whose names match

regexp.

-X filename, --exclude-from=filename

Do not compare files in a directory whose names match

patterns described in the file filename.

-y, --side-by-side

Produce two-column output.

-n For context and unified diff, print n lines of context. Same as

specifying a number with -C or -U.

diff3

diff3 [options] file1 file2 file3

Compare three files and report the differences. No more than one

of the files may be given as - (indicating that it is to be read from

standard input). The output is displayed with the following codes:

= = = =

All three files differ.

= = = =1

file1 is different.

= = = =2

file2 is different.

= = = =3

file3 is different.

diff3 is also designed to merge changes in two differing files based

on a common ancestor file (i.e., when two people have made their

own set of changes to the same file). diff3 can find changes

between the ancestor and one of the newer files and generate

output that adds those differences to the other new file. Unmerged ...