diff(3)

NAME

diff - Difference files or directories
diff-changes - Find the differences from a previous edit session
%diff-com - Diff command line

SYNOPSIS

diff "oldFile" "newFile"
diff-changes
%diff-com "string"; Default is "diff"

DESCRIPTION

diff executes the diff(1) command with the command line set by the %diff-com(5) variable and the user supplied oldFile and newFile. The output of the command is piped into the *diff* buffer and is hilighted to show the changes (GNU diff only).

Your version of diff(1) will determine whether it is possible to difference directories.

diff-changes is a simple macro that differences the current buffer and the last backup of the associated file. It is a quick way to determine what has been modified recently. This macro only works if a backup file exists.

%diff-com is the command line that is used to execute a diff(1) system command.

For GNU diff then the following command line setting is recommended:-

diff --context --minimal --ignore-space-change \ 
    --report-identical-files --recursive 

which should be defined in your personal user configuration. This is the default for Linux.

NOTES

diff and dif-changes are macros defined in tools.emf.

diff(1) must be executable on the system before diff or diff-changes can function.

diff(1) is a standard utility on UNIX systems. For Windows 95/NT a version of GNU diff may be found at:

<ftp.winsite.com/ftp/pub/pc/winnt/misc/gnudiff.zip>

For MS-DOS users, a DJGPP port of diff is also available on the net. A commercial version of diff is also available from MKS.

SEE ALSO

compare-windows(2), compile(3), gdiff(3), grep(3), %grep-com(5).

(c) Copyright JASSPA 1999
Last Modified: 1999/08/25
Generated On: 1999/12/01