sdiff

SDIFF(1)			  GNU Tools			     SDIFF(1)



NAME
       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 remain-
       ing 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       This usage is obsolete; use diff --side-by-side instead.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 pre-
       ceded 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 reg-
	      exp.

       --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 reg-
	      exp.

       --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 merg-
	      ing.

       -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	 rea-
	      sons, 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.

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

DIAGNOSTICS
       An exit status of 0 means no differences were found, 1 means some dif-
       ferences were found, and 2 means trouble.



GNU Tools			  22sep1993			     SDIFF(1)