sdiff - 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 This usage is obsolete; use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.
Options 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 .