UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Hi,

I have 2 files i would like to have a DIFF command:

1.Marks differences between files
or
2.Mentions just the differences



Thanks

.....

If dir1 is a directory
containing a directory named x,
and dir2 is a directory
containing a directory named x,
dir1/x and dir2/x both contain files named date.out,
and
dir2/x contains a file named y,

the command:
example% diff -r dir1 dir2
could produce output similar to:

Common subdirectories: dir1/x and dir2/x
Only in dir2/x: y
diff -r dir1/x/date.out dir2/x/date.out
1c1

Dont know if this helps more info in the man diff

Another useful command is 'sdiff'. It displays the full contents of the files side by side, noting differences.

Cheers,

Keith

Personally for more complicated diffs I prefer using a GUI program like kdiff3 with color-coding of different changed chunks, and you can use such kind of tools to merge conflicts very easily (and interactively).

P.S. Just for your information, I asked a related question on related diff command-line tools a couple of months earlier (though I eventually settled with GUI which I found from some obscure sources, and that seems to fit my needs really well):
https://www.unix.com/unix-for-dummies-questions-and-answers/12571-interactive-patching.html?s=

Hello All,

I thank you for your help but still i didn't succeed in comparing two files and recieving a new file which contains just the diffrences between the two.

I need it badly with my everyday work.

thanks,
Irit

First produce a diff of two files, say file1 is the old copy, file2 is the newer copy.

diff file1 file2 > delta.diff

Then you can apply the diff to file1 by using the patch command:

patch -p0 < delta.diff file1