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sdiff - find differences between two files and merge interactively
sdiff -o outfile [options] from-file to-file
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 This usage is obsolete; use diff --side-by-side instead.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.
cmp(1)
, comm(1)
, diff(1)
, diff3(1)
.
An exit
status of 0 means no differences were found, 1 means some differences
were found, and 2 means trouble.
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