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Invoking sdiff

The sdiff command merges two files and interactively outputs the results. Its arguments are as follows:

sdiff -o outfile options... from-file to-file

This merges from-file with to-file, with output to outfile. If from-file is a directory and to-file is not, sdiff compares the file in from-file whose file name is that of to-file, and vice versa. from-file and to-file may not both be directories.

sdiff options begin with `-', so normally from-file and to-file may not begin with `-'. However, `--' as an argument by itself treats the remaining arguments as file names even if they begin with `-'. You may not use `-' as an input file.

An exit status of 0 means no differences were found, 1 means some differences were found, and 2 means trouble.

sdiff without `-o' (or `--output') produces a side-by-side difference. This usage is obsolete; use `diff --side-by-side' instead.

Options to sdiff

Below is a summary of all of the options that GNU sdiff accepts. Each option has two equivalent names, one of which is a single letter preceded by `-', and the other of which is a long name preceded by `--'. Multiple single letter options (unless they take an argument) can be combined into a single command line argument. Long named options can be abbreviated to any unique prefix of their name.

`-a'

Treat all files as text and compare them line-by-line, even if they do not appear to be text. See section Binary Files and Forcing Text Comparisons.

`-b'

Ignore changes in amount of white space. See section Suppressing Differences in Blank and Tab Spacing.

`-B'

Ignore changes that just insert or delete blank lines. See section Suppressing Differences in Blank Lines.

`-d'

Change the algorithm to perhaps find a smaller set of changes. This makes sdiff slower (sometimes much slower). See section diff Performance Tradeoffs.

`-H'

Use heuristics to speed handling of large files that have numerous scattered small changes. See section diff Performance Tradeoffs.

`--expand-tabs'

Expand tabs to spaces in the output, to preserve the alignment of tabs in the input files. See section Preserving Tabstop Alignment.

`-i'

Ignore changes in case; consider upper- and lower-case to be the same. See section Suppressing Case Differences.

`-I regexp'

Ignore changes that just insert or delete lines that match regexp. See section Suppressing Lines Matching a Regular Expression.

`--ignore-all-space'

Ignore white space when comparing lines. See section Suppressing Differences in Blank and Tab Spacing.

`--ignore-blank-lines'

Ignore changes that just insert or delete blank lines. See section Suppressing Differences in Blank Lines.

`--ignore-case'

Ignore changes in case; consider upper- and lower-case to be the same. See section Suppressing Case Differences.

`--ignore-matching-lines=regexp'

Ignore changes that just insert or delete lines that match regexp. See section Suppressing Lines Matching a Regular Expression.

`--ignore-space-change'

Ignore changes in amount of white space. See section Suppressing Differences in Blank and Tab Spacing.

`-l'

`--left-column'

Print only the left column of two common lines. See section Controlling Side by Side Format.

`--minimal'

Change the algorithm to perhaps find a smaller set of changes. This makes sdiff slower (sometimes much slower). See section diff Performance Tradeoffs.

`-o file'

`--output=file'

Put merged output into file. This option is required for merging.

`-s'

`--suppress-common-lines'

Do not print common lines. See section Controlling Side by Side Format.

`--speed-large-files'

Use heuristics to speed handling of large files that have numerous scattered small changes. See section diff Performance Tradeoffs.

`-t'

Expand tabs to spaces in the output, to preserve the alignment of tabs in the input files. See section Preserving Tabstop Alignment.

`--text'

Treat all files as text and compare them line-by-line, even if they do not appear to be text. See section Binary Files and Forcing Text Comparisons.

`-v'

`--version'

Output the version number of sdiff.

`-w columns'

`--width=columns'

Use an output width of columns. See section Controlling Side by Side Format. Note that for historical reasons, this option is `-W' in diff, `-w' in sdiff.

`-W'

Ignore horizontal white space when comparing lines. See section Suppressing Differences in Blank and Tab Spacing. Note that for historical reasons, this option is `-w' in diff, `-W' in sdiff.

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