DIFF3(1)DIFF3(1)NAME
diff3 - 3-way differential file comparison
SYNOPSIS
diff3 [-exEX3] filename1 filename2 filename3
DESCRIPTION
diff3 compares three versions of a file. It publishes disagreeing
ranges of text flagged with the following codes:
====
all three files differ
====1
filename1is different
====2
filename2is different
====3
filename3is different
The type of change suffered in converting a given range of a given file
to some other is indicated in one of the following ways:
f : n1 a
Text is to be appended after line number n1 in file f,
where f = 1, 2, or 3.
f : n1 , n2 c
Text is to be changed in the range line n1 to line n2.
If n1 = n2, the range can be abbreviated to n1.
The original contents of the range follows immediately after a c indi‐
cation. When the contents of two files are identical, the contents of
the lower-numbered file is suppressed.
The following command applies the resulting script to filename1.
(cat script; echo a´1,$pa´) | ed − filename1
OPTIONS
The following options are supported:
-e
Produce a script for the ed(1) editor that incorporates into
filename1 all changes between filename2 and filename3 (that is,
the changes that normally would be flagged ==== and ====3).
Text lines that consist of a single dot (. defeat the -e option.
-E
Produce a script that incorporates all changes between filename2
and filename3, but treat overlapping changes (that is, changes
that would be flagged with ==== in the normal listing) differ‐
ently. The overlapping lines from both files are inserted by the
edit script, bracketed by <<<<<< and >>>>>> lines.
-x
Produce a script to incorporate only changes flagged ====.
-X
Produce a script that incorporates only changes flagged ====,
but treat these changes in the manner of the -E option.
-3
Produce a script to incorporate only changes flagged ====3.
USAGE
See largefile(5) for the description of the behavior of diff3 when
encountering files greater than or equal to 2 Gbyte ( 2^31 bytes).
FILES
/tmp/d3*
/usr/lib/diff3prog
EXIT STATUS
The following exit values are returned:
0
Successful completion.
1
An error occurred. A difference was found or there was a fatal
error.
>1
A fatal error occurred.
Return values do not work the same as diff(1) or other vendor's ver‐
sions of diff3.
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:
┌───────────────┬─────────────────┐
│ATTRIBUTE TYPE │ ATTRIBUTE VALUE │
├───────────────┼─────────────────┤
│CSI │ Enabled │
└───────────────┴─────────────────┘
SEE ALSOdiff(1), attributes(5), largefile(5)NOTES
Files longer than 64 Kbytes do not work.
Nov 7, 2005 DIFF3(1)