GNU diff3 — compare three files line by line
Examples (TL;DR)
-
Compare files:
diff3 file1 file2 file3 -
Show all changes, outlining conflicts:
diff3 --show-all file1 file2 file3
Synopsis
diff3 [OPTION]... MYFILE OLDFILE YOURFILE
Description
Compare three files line by line.
Mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for short options too.
- -A, --show-all
output all changes, bracketing conflicts
- -e, --ed
output ed script incorporating changes from OLDFILE to YOURFILE into MYFILE
- -E, --show-overlap
like -e, but bracket conflicts
- -3, --easy-only
like -e, but incorporate only nonoverlapping changes
- -x, --overlap-only
like -e, but incorporate only overlapping changes
- -X
like -x, but bracket conflicts
- -i
append 'w' and 'q' commands to ed scripts
- -m, --merge
output actual merged file, according to -A if no other options are given
- -a, --text
treat all files as text
- --strip-trailing-cr
strip trailing carriage return on input
- -T, --initial-tab
make tabs line up by prepending a tab
- --diff-program=PROGRAM
use PROGRAM to compare files
- -L, --label=LABEL
use LABEL instead of file name (can be repeated up to three times)
- --help
display this help and exit
- -v, --version
output version information and exit
The default output format is a somewhat human-readable representation of the changes.
The -e, -E, -x, -X (and corresponding long) options cause an ed script to be output instead of the default.
Finally, the -m (--merge) option causes diff3 to do the merge internally and output the actual merged file. For unusual input, this is more robust than using ed.
If a FILE is '-', read standard input. Exit status is 0 if successful, 1 if conflicts, 2 if trouble.
Reporting Bugs
Report bugs to: bug-diffutils@gnu.org
GNU diffutils home page: <https://www.gnu.org/software/diffutils/>
General help using GNU software: <https://www.gnu.org/gethelp/>
Copyright
Copyright © 2018 Free Software Foundation, Inc. License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <https://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it. There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.
See Also
The full documentation for GNU is maintained as a Texinfo manual. If the info and GNU programs are properly installed at your site, the command
info GNU
should give you access to the complete manual.
Referenced By
cmp(1), diff(1), merge(1), patch(1), rcsmerge(1), sdiff(1), srcredact(1), wiggle(1).