UNIX Shells by Example (4th Edition)

diff ” compares two files for differences

[bitw] [c Cn]

Compares two files and displays the differences on a line-by-line basis. Also displays commands that you would use with the ed editor to make changes.

Example A.20.

diff file1 file2 1c1 < hello there --- > Hello there. 2a3 > I'm fine.

EXPLANATION

Shows how each line of file1 and file2 differs . The first file is represented by the < symbol, and the second file by the > symbol. Each line is preceded by an ed command indicating the editing command that would be used to make the files the same.