DIFF3

Man Page for DIFF3

NAME

       diff3 - Compares three files

SYNOPSIS

       diff3 [-e | -x | -E | -X | -3] file1 file2 file3

       The  diff3  command  reads  three  versions  of a file and
       writes to standard output the ranges of text that  differ.

FLAGS

       -e  Creates  an edit script for use with the ed command to
           incorporate into file1 all changes between  file2  and
           file3  (that  is,  the  changes that normally would be
           flagged ==== and ====3).

       -x  Produces an edit script to  incorporate  only  changes
           flagged ====.

       -E,-X
           These  are  similar  to  -e  and -x, respectively, but
           treat overlapping changes (that is, changes  that  are
           flagged  ==== in the normal listing) differently.  The
           overlapping lines from both files are inserted by  the
           edit script, bracketed by <<<<<< and >>>>>> lines.

           The  -E flag is used by RCS merge to ensure that over-
           lapping changes in the merged files are preserved  and
           brought to someone's attention.

       -3  Produces  an  edit  script to incorporate only changes
           flagged ====3.

DESCRIPTION

       The diff3 command reads  three  versions  of  a  file  and
       writes  to standard output the ranges of text that differ,
       flagged with the following codes:


              ====   All three files differ.

              ====1  file1 differs.

              ====2  file2 differs.

              ====3  file3 differs.


       The type of change needed to convert a given  range  of  a
       given  file  to  match another file is indicated in one of
       these two ways in the output:



              file  :  number1 a
                     Text is to be added after line  number  num-
                     ber1 in file, where file is 1, 2, or 3.

              file  :  number1[,number2]  c
                     Text  in the range line number1 to line num-
                     ber2 is to be changed.  If  number1  =  num-
                     ber2,  the  range may be abbreviated to num-
                     ber1.


       The original contents  of  the  range  follow  immediately
       after  a c indication.  When the contents of two files are
       identical, diff3 does not show the contents of the  lower-
       numbered file, although it shows the location of the iden-
       tical lines for each.

EXAMPLES

       To list the differences among three files, enter:

            diff3  fruit.a  fruit.b  fruit.c



       fruit.a, fruit.b, and fruit.c contain the following data:

       fruit.a:

            banana
            grape
            kiwi
            lemon
            mango
            orange
            peach
            pare



       fruit.b:

            apple
            banana
            grapefruit
            kiwi
            orange
            peach
            pear



       fruit.c:

            grape
            grapefruit
            kiwi
            lemon
            mango
            orange
            peach
            pear



       The output from diff3 shows the differences between  these
       files  as  follows.   (The  comments  on  the right do not
       appear in the output.)

            ====      All three files are different.
            1:1,2c              - Lines 1 and 2 of the first file, fruit.a
              banana
              grape
            2:1,3c              - Lines 1 through 3 of fruit.b
              apple
              banana
              grapefruit
            3:1,2c              - Lines 1 and 2 of fruit.c
              grape
              grapefruit
            ====2          The second file, fruit.b, is different.
            1:4,5c              - Lines 4 and 5 are the same in fruit.a and fruit.c.
            2:4a
            3:4,5c              - To make fruit.b look the same, add text after line 4.
              lemon
              mango
            ====1          The first file, fruit.a, is different.
            1:8c
              pare
            2:7c           - Line 7 of fruit.b and line 8 of fruit.c are the same.
            3:8c
              pear

FILES

       /usr/lbin/diff3prog
                  Helper program.

NOTES

       Editing scripts produced by  the  -e  flag  cannot  create
       lines consisting only of a single . (dot).

RELATED INFORMATION

       Commands:     bdiff(1),    cmp(1),    comm(1),    diff(1),
       ed(1)/red(1).  delim off

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