UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Hi Guys

I have a situation where I would like to use the diff command but I would like to see "number" of differences and than send it through and if statement and than view the difference if greater than 1.

Eg. diff file1 file2 > than gives the "number" and I than say -

if number >1 message to fl

Thanking you guys in advance

Regards
Pragesan

Hi,
consult the manpages if your diff supports the -y option. Then you can pipe the output to wc.

Code:

diff -y file1 file2 |wc -l

if you want to use diff to check if the two files are with same content. you may consider to get the return code of your diff command. (e.g. by $?)
if the two files are the same, diff returns 0;
if there is difference, diff returns 1;
if there is error in command, diff returns 2;

Thanks guys.I have tried the command
diff -y file1 file2 |wc -l

and i get a return of 2.I want to view the difference only if number is greater than 2
In my case i get a return of 2 so I would like to know what the differences are.
Is it possible to use the if statement?

Regards
Pragesan