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diff command

 
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# 1  
Old 07-10-2008
diff command
Is there any option for the diff command (or maybe an entirely different command) that will give you only the text that differs between two files? When I use diff file1 file2, if any text on that line differs from one file to the next it'll print out the entire line. I'd like to see only the text that changes from one file to the other. I looked through the man diff file as well as on the web, but maybe I missed it. Thanks in advance for your help!
# 2  
Old 07-10-2008
look into 'man comm'
# 3  
Old 07-10-2008
nope
That's not what I want either. Both those functions output the entire line when there has been a single change to it. If I have two files like this:
File 1:
aaaaaaaa2
aaaaaaaa3
aaaaaaaa9
aaaaaaaa4
aaaaaaaa4
and File 2:
aaaaaaaa8
aaaaaaaa4
aaaaaaaa3
aaaaaaaa7
aaaaaaaa7
I'd like my output to be something like
<2
>8
<3
>4
<9
>3
<4
>7
<4
>7
so as to avoid having to deal with all those "a"s
 
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