Unix in a Nutshell, 4th Edition

Name

patch

Synopsis

    patch [options] [original [patchfile]]

Apply the patches specified in patchfile to original. Replace the original with the new, patched version; move the original to original .orig or original~. The patch file is a difference listing produced by the diff command. On Solaris, this command is named gpatch.

URL: http://www.gnu.org/software/patch.

Options

-b, --backup

Back up the original file.

--backup-if-mismatch, --no-backup-if-mismatch

When not backing up all original files, these options control whether a backup should be made when a patch does not match the original file. The default is to make backups unless --posix is specified.

--binary

Read and write files as binary. Has no effect on a Unix system.

-Bprefix, --prefix=prefix

Prepend prefix to the backup filename.

-c, --context

Interpret patchfile as a context diff.

-ddir, --directory=dir

cd to directory before beginning patch operations.

--dry-run

Print the results of applying a patch, but don’t change any files.

-Dstring, --ifdef=string

Mark all changes with:

#ifdef string
       ...
    #endif

-e, --ed

Treat the contents of patchfile as ed commands.

-E, --remove-empty-files

If patch creates any empty files, delete them.

-f, --force

Force all changes, even those that look incorrect. Skip patches if the original file does not exist; force patches for files with the wrong version specified; assume patches are never reversed.

-Fnum, --fuzz=num

Specify the maximum number of lines that may be ignored (fuzzed over) when deciding where to install ...