sdiff(1)						      General Commands Manual							  sdiff(1)

NAME

       sdiff - Compares two files and displays the differences in a side-by-side format

SYNOPSIS

       sdiff [-l | -s] [-w number] [-o output_file] file1 file2

       The sdiff command reads file1 and file2, uses diff to compare them, and writes the results to standard output in a side-by-side format.

OPTIONS

       Displays  only the left side when lines are identical.  Creates a third file, output_file, by a controlled interactive line-by-line merging
       of file1 and file2. The following subcommands govern the creation of this file: Adds the left side to output_file.  Adds the right side	to
       output_file.   Stops  displaying  identical  lines.  Begins displaying identical lines.	Enters ed with the left side, the right side, both
       sides, or an empty file, respectively.

	      Each time you exit from ed, sdiff writes the resulting edited file to the end of output_file.  If  you  fail  to	save  the  changes
	      before  exiting,	sdiff  writes  the  initial input to output_file.  Exits the interactive session.  Suppresses display of identical
	      lines.  Sets the width of the output line to number (130 characters by default).

DESCRIPTION

       The sdiff command displays each line of the two files with a series of spaces between them if the lines are  identical,	a  <  (left  angle
       bracket) in the field of spaces if the line only exists in file1, a > (right angle bracket) if the line only exists in file2, and a | (ver-
       tical bar) for lines that are different.

       When you specify the -o option, sdiff produces a third file by merging file1 and file2 according to your instructions.

       Note that the sdiff command invokes the diff -b command to compare two input files.  The -b option causes the diff command to ignore trail-
       ing spaces, tab characters, and consider other strings of spaces as equal.

EXAMPLES

       To print a comparison of two files, enter: sdiff  chap1.bak  chap1

	      This  displays a side-by-side listing that compares each line of chap1.bak and chap1.  To display only the lines that differ, enter:
	      sdiff  -s  -w 80	chap1.bak  chap1

	      This displays the differences at the tty.  The -w 80 sets page width to 80 columns.  The -s option tells sdiff not to display  lines
	      that  are  identical  in	both  files.  To selectively combine parts of two files, enter: sdiff -s  -w 80  -o chap1.combo  chap1.bak
	      chap1

	      This combines chap1.bak and chap1 into a new file called chap1.combo.  For each group of differing lines, sdiff asks you which group
	      to keep or whether you want to edit them using ed.

SEE ALSO

       Commands:  diff(1), ed(1)

																	  sdiff(1)