Comparing and Merging Files

for Diffutils 2.8.1 and patch 2.5.4

5 April 2002

• Overview
• What Comparison Means
  • Hunks
  • Suppressing Differences in Blank and Tab Spacing
  • Suppressing Differences in Blank Lines
  • Suppressing Case Differences
  • Suppressing Lines Matching a Regular Expression
  • Summarizing Which Files Differ
  • Binary Files and Forcing Text Comparisons
• @command{diff} Output Formats
  • Two Sample Input Files
  • Showing Differences Without Context
    • Detailed Description of Normal Format
    • An Example of Normal Format
  • Showing Differences in Their Context
    • Context Format
      • Detailed Description of Context Format
      • An Example of Context Format
      • An Example of Context Format with Less Context
    • Unified Format
      • Detailed Description of Unified Format
      • An Example of Unified Format
    • Showing Which Sections Differences Are in
      • Showing Lines That Match Regular Expressions
      • Showing C Function Headings
    • Showing Alternate File Names
  • Showing Differences Side by Side
    • Controlling Side by Side Format
    • An Example of Side by Side Format
  • Making Edit Scripts
    • @command{ed} Scripts
      • Detailed Description of @command{ed} Format
      • Example @command{ed} Script
    • Forward @command{ed} Scripts
    • RCS Scripts
  • Merging Files with If-then-else
    • Line Group Formats
    • Line Formats
    • Detailed Description of If-then-else Format
    • An Example of If-then-else Format
• Incomplete Lines
• Comparing Directories
• Making @command{diff} Output Prettier
  • Preserving Tab Stop Alignment
  • Paginating @command{diff} Output
• @command{diff} Performance Tradeoffs
• Comparing Three Files
  • A Third Sample Input File
  • Detailed Description of @command{diff3} Normal Format
  • @command{diff3} Hunks
  • An Example of @command{diff3} Normal Format
• Merging From a Common Ancestor
  • Selecting Which Changes to Incorporate
  • Marking Conflicts
  • Generating the Merged Output Directly
  • How @command{diff3} Merges Incomplete Lines
  • Saving the Changed File
• Interactive Merging with @command{sdiff}
  • Specifying @command{diff} Options to @command{sdiff}
  • Merge Commands
• Merging with @command{patch}
  • Selecting the @command{patch} Input Format
  • Revision Control
  • Applying Imperfect Patches
    • Applying Patches with Changed White Space
    • Applying Reversed Patches
    • Helping @command{patch} Find Inexact Matches
    • Predicting what @command{patch} will do
  • Creating and Removing Files
  • Updating Time Stamps on Patched Files
  • Multiple Patches in a File
  • Applying Patches in Other Directories
  • Backup Files
  • Backup File Names
  • Reject File Names
  • Messages and Questions from @command{patch}
    • Controlling the Verbosity of @command{patch}
    • Inhibiting Keyboard Input
    • @command{patch} Quoting Style
  • @command{patch} and the POSIX Standard
  • GNU @command{patch} and Traditional @command{patch}
• Tips for Making and Using Patches
  • Tips for Patch Producers
  • Tips for Patch Consumers
  • Avoiding Common Mistakes
  • Generating Smaller Patches
• Invoking @command{cmp}
  • Options to @command{cmp}
• Invoking @command{diff}
  • Options to @command{diff}
• Invoking @command{diff3}
  • Options to @command{diff3}
• Invoking @command{patch}
  • Options to @command{patch}
• Invoking @command{sdiff}
  • Options to @command{sdiff}
• Standards conformance
• Future Projects
  • Suggested Projects for Improving GNU @command{diff} and @command{patch}
    • Handling Multibyte and Varying-Width Characters
    • Handling Changes to the Directory Structure
    • Files that are Neither Directories Nor Regular Files
    • File Names that Contain Unusual Characters
    • Outputting Diffs in Time Stamp Order
    • Ignoring Certain Changes
    • Improving Performance
  • Reporting Bugs
• Copying This Manual
  • GNU Free Documentation License
    • ADDENDUM: How to use this License for your documents
• Index

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