VMS Help DIFFERENCES, Qualifiers, /MODE  *Conan The Librarian (sorry for the slow response - running on an old VAX)

       /MODE=(radix[,...])

    Specifies the format of the output. You can request that the
    output be formatted in one or more radix modes by specifying the
    following keywords, which may be abbreviated: ASCII (default),
    HEXADECIMAL, or OCTAL. If you specify only one radix, you can
    omit the parentheses.

    By default, the DIFFERENCES command writes the output file in
    ASCII. If you specify more than one radix, the output listing
    contains the file comparison in each specified radix. When you
    specify two or more radix modes, separate them with commas.

    If you specify the /PARALLEL or the /SLP qualifier, the /MODE
    qualifier is ignored for that listing form.