opendiff(1)						    BSD General Commands Manual 					       opendiff(1)

NAME
opendiff -- Use FileMerge to graphically compare or merge file or directories SYNOPSIS
opendiff file1 file2 [-ancestor ancestorFile] [-merge mergeFile] opendiff dir1 dir2 [-ancestor ancestorDirectory] [-merge mergeDirectory] DESCRIPTION
opendiff is a command line utility that provides a convenient way to launch the FileMerge application from Terminal to graphically compare files or directories. If FileMerge is already running, opendiff will connect to that running instance for the new comparison. opendiff exits immediately after the comparison request has been sent to FileMerge. opendiff and FileMerge can be used to compare two files file1 and file2 or to compare two directories dir1 and dir2. If the -ancestor flag is given, FileMerge will compare the two files or directories to a common ancestor. This is useful if two people inde- pendently modify copies of a single original file or directory. FileMerge lets you merge two files or directories together to create a third file or directory. To see the contents of a merged file, drag the splitter bar at the bottom of FileMerge's file comparison window. The contents of the merged file can be directly edited within File- Merge. After editing, the merged file can be saved to the file (or into the directory) specified with the Fl merge flag. If a destination is not specified with the -merge flag, FileMerge will ask for a destination file or directory when you try to save a merged file. For further information, please consult the Help information available from the FileMerge application. FILES
/Developer/Applications/Utilities/FileMerge.app opendiff and FileMerge are installed as part of the Mac OS X Developer Tools. SEE ALSO
diff(1), diff3(1), cmp(1) Mac OS X August 3, 2004 Mac OS X