.TH SDIFF 1 "22sep1993" "GNU Tools" "GNU Tools"

.SH NAME

sdiff \- find differences between two files and merge interactively

.SH SYNOPSIS

.B sdiff

.B -o

outfile [options] from-file to-file

.SH DESCRIPTION

The

.I sdiff

command merges two files and interactively outputs the

results to

.IR outfile .

If

.I from-file

is a directory and

.I to-file

is not,

.I sdiff

compares the file in

.I from-file

whose file name is that of

.IR to-file ,

and vice versa.

.I from-file

and

.I to-file

may not both be

directories.

.I sdiff

options begin with

.BR \- ,

so normally

.I from-file

and

.I to-file

may not begin with

.BR \- .

However,

.B \-\-

as an

argument by itself treats the remaining arguments as file names even if

they begin with

.BR \- .

You may not use

.B \-

as an input file.

.I sdiff

without

.B \-o

(or

.BR \-\-output )

produces a

side-by-side difference.  This usage is obsolete; use

.B "diff \-\-side\-by\-side"

instead.

.SS Options

Below is a summary of all of the options that GNU

.I sdiff

accepts.

Each option has two equivalent names, one of which is a single

letter preceded by

.BR \- ,

and the other of which is a long name

preceded by

.BR \-\- .

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.

.TP

.B \-a

Treat all files as text and compare them line-by-line, even if they

do not appear to be text.

.TP

.B \-b

Ignore changes in amount of white space.

.TP

.B \-B

Ignore changes that just insert or delete blank lines.

.TP

.B \-d

Change the algorithm to perhaps find a smaller set of changes.  This

makes

.I sdiff

slower (sometimes much slower).

.TP

.B \-H

Use heuristics to speed handling of large files that have numerous

scattered small changes.

.TP

.B \-\-expand\-tabs

Expand tabs to spaces in the output, to preserve the alignment of tabs

in the input files.

.TP

.B \-i

Ignore changes in case; consider upper- and lower-case to be the same.

.TP

.BI "\-I " regexp

Ignore changes that just insert or delete lines that match

.IR regexp .

.TP

.B \-\-ignore\-all\-space

Ignore white space when comparing lines.

.TP

.B \-\-ignore\-blank\-lines

Ignore changes that just insert or delete blank lines.

.TP

.B \-\-ignore\-case

Ignore changes in case; consider upper- and lower-case to be the same.

.TP

.BI \-\-ignore\-matching\-lines= regexp

Ignore changes that just insert or delete lines that match

.IR regexp .

.TP

.B \-\-ignore\-space\-change

Ignore changes in amount of white space.

.TP

.B \-l

.br

.ns

.TP

.B \-\-left\-column

Print only the left column of two common lines.

.TP

.B \-\-minimal

Change the algorithm to perhaps find a smaller set of changes.  This

makes

.I sdiff

slower (sometimes much slower).

.TP

.BI "\-o " file

.br

.ns

.TP

.BI \-\-output= file

Put merged output into

.IR file .

This option is required for merging.

.TP

.B \-s

.br

.ns

.TP

.B \-\-suppress\-common\-lines

Do not print common lines.

.TP

.B \-\-speed\-large\-files

Use heuristics to speed handling of large files that have numerous

scattered small changes.

.TP

.B \-t

Expand tabs to spaces in the output, to preserve the alignment of tabs

in the input files.

.TP

.B \-\-text

Treat all files as text and compare them line-by-line, even if they

do not appear to be text.

.TP

.B \-v

.br

.ns

.TP

.B \-\-version

Output the version number of

.IR sdiff .

.TP

.BI "\-w " columns

.br

.ns

.TP

.BI \-\-width= columns

Use an output width of

.IR columns .

Note that for historical reasons, this option is

.B \-W

in

.IR diff ,

.B \-w

in

.IR sdiff .

.TP

.B \-W

Ignore horizontal white space when comparing lines.

Note that for historical reasons, this option is

.B \-w

in

.IR diff ,

.B \-W

in

.IR sdiff .

.SH SEE ALSO

cmp(1), comm(1), diff(1), diff3(1).

.SH DIAGNOSTICS

An exit status of 0 means no differences were found, 1 means some

differences were found, and 2 means trouble.