Info Catalog diffutils: Less Context diffutils: Context Format

diffutils: Detailed Context

 
 2.2.1.3 Detailed Description of Context Format
 ..............................................
 
 The context output format starts with a two-line header, which looks
 like this:
 
      *** FROM-FILE FROM-FILE-MODIFICATION-TIME
      --- TO-FILE TO-FILE-MODIFICATION TIME
 
 The timestamp normally looks like '2002-02-21 23:30:39.942229878 -0800'
 to indicate the date, time with fractional seconds, and time zone in
 Internet RFC 2822 format (ftp://ftp.isi.edu/in-notes/rfc2822.txt).  (The
 fractional seconds are omitted on hosts that do not support fractional
 timestamps.)  However, a traditional timestamp like 'Thu Feb 21 23:30:39
 2002' is used if the 'LC_TIME' locale category is either 'C' or 'POSIX'.
 
    You can change the header's content with the '--label=LABEL' option;
 see ⇒Alternate Names.
 
    Next come one or more hunks of differences; each hunk shows one area
 where the files differ.  Context format hunks look like this:
 
      ***************
      *** FROM-FILE-LINE-NUMBERS ****
        FROM-FILE-LINE
        FROM-FILE-LINE...
      --- TO-FILE-LINE-NUMBERS ----
        TO-FILE-LINE
        TO-FILE-LINE...
 
    If a hunk contains two or more lines, its line numbers look like
 'START,END'.  Otherwise only its end line number appears.  An empty hunk
 is considered to end at the line that precedes the hunk.
 
    The lines of context around the lines that differ start with two
 space characters.  The lines that differ between the two files start
 with one of the following indicator characters, followed by a space
 character:
 
 '!'
      A line that is part of a group of one or more lines that changed
      between the two files.  There is a corresponding group of lines
      marked with '!' in the part of this hunk for the other file.
 
 '+'
      An "inserted" line in the second file that corresponds to nothing
      in the first file.
 
 '-'
      A "deleted" line in the first file that corresponds to nothing in
      the second file.
 
    If all of the changes in a hunk are insertions, the lines of
 FROM-FILE are omitted.  If all of the changes are deletions, the lines
 of TO-FILE are omitted.
 

Info Catalog diffutils: Less Context diffutils: Context Format