diffutils: Detailed Normal
2.4.2 Detailed Description of Normal Format
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The normal output format consists of one or more hunks of differences;
each hunk shows one area where the files differ. Normal format hunks
look like this:
CHANGE-COMMAND
< FROM-FILE-LINE
< FROM-FILE-LINE...
---
> TO-FILE-LINE
> TO-FILE-LINE...
There are three types of change commands. Each consists of a line
number or comma-separated range of lines in the first file, a single
character indicating the kind of change to make, and a line number or
comma-separated range of lines in the second file. All line numbers are
the original line numbers in each file. The types of change commands
are:
'LaR'
Add the lines in range R of the second file after line L of the
first file. For example, '8a12,15' means append lines 12-15 of
file 2 after line 8 of file 1; or, if changing file 2 into file 1,
delete lines 12-15 of file 2.
'FcT'
Replace the lines in range F of the first file with lines in range
T of the second file. This is like a combined add and delete, but
more compact. For example, '5,7c8,10' means change lines 5-7 of
file 1 to read as lines 8-10 of file 2; or, if changing file 2 into
file 1, change lines 8-10 of file 2 to read as lines 5-7 of file 1.
'RdL'
Delete the lines in range R from the first file; line L is where
they would have appeared in the second file had they not been
deleted. For example, '5,7d3' means delete lines 5-7 of file 1;
or, if changing file 2 into file 1, append lines 5-7 of file 1
after line 3 of file 2.