Diff

Name

diff - compare files line by line

Synopsis

$ diff [options...] [files...]

Description

Compare files line by line.

Arguments

• files: files to compare ex: file1 file2

Options

• -u, -U <context>, --unified <context>: Write diff in unified format with <unified> number of surrounding context lines (default 3).
• -c, -C <context>, --context <context>: Write diff in context format with <context> number of surrounding context lines (default 3).

Examples

First we create two files to compare:

$ printf '1\n2\n3\n' > file1
$ printf '1\nb\n3\n' > file2

Here's how to view differences between the two files in normal format:

$ diff file1 file2
2c2
< 2
---
> b

Here's how to view differences between the two files in unified format:

$ diff -u file1 file2
--- file1
+++ file2
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 1
-2
+b
 3