SDIFF(1) User Commands SDIFF(1)

sdiff - print file differences side-by-side

sdiff [-ls] [-o name] [-w width] file1 file2

sdiff presents the lines of file1 and file2 side-by-side in two columns. Lines that are equal in both files are separated by blanks; lines that differ are separated by one of the following characters:

< the line is in file1 only
| the line differs in file1 and file2
> the line is in file2 only.

This might look as

only in file1        <  
in both files           in both files
this line            |  is different


                     >  only in file2
also in both files      also in both files

The behavior of sdiff can be influenced with the following options:

Print the first column only for lines equal in both files.
Omit equal lines in output.
Set the width of output (both lines and separators added) to width; the default is 130. Long lines are truncated to fit within this space.
Generate a merged version of both input files in the file name in addition to normal output. Lines that are equal are written to name; for each set of different lines, the prompt `%' is printed and the user may then choose the action by typing one of the following commands:

l Write the lines of the left (first) file to name.
r Write the lines of the right (second) file to name.
s Do not print equal lines to standard output.
v Turn printing of equal lines on.
e l Invoke the editor on the lines of the left file and append the result to name.
e r Invoke the editor on the lines of the right file.
e b Concatenate the lines of both files and invoke the editor on the result.
e Invoke the editor with an empty file.
q Quit sdiff and do not write further lines to name.

See locale(7).
Determines the mapping of bytes to characters and the width of characters.

diff(1), ed(1)

4/30/03 Heirloom Toolchest