redhat man page for 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
       remaining 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  This usage is obsolete; use diff --side-by-side instead.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
       preceded 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 regexp.

       --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 regexp.

       --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 merging.

       -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 reasons, 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 differences were found, and 2 means trouble.

GNU Tools							     22sep1993								  SDIFF(1)