diffutils: Side by Side
2.3 Showing Differences Side by Side
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'diff' can produce a side by side difference listing of two files. The
files are listed in two columns with a gutter between them. The gutter
contains one of the following markers:
white space
The corresponding lines are in common. That is, either the lines
are identical, or the difference is ignored because of one of the
'--ignore' options (⇒White Space).
'|'
The corresponding lines differ, and they are either both complete
or both incomplete.
'<'
The files differ and only the first file contains the line.
'>'
The files differ and only the second file contains the line.
'('
Only the first file contains the line, but the difference is
ignored.
')'
Only the second file contains the line, but the difference is
ignored.
'\'
The corresponding lines differ, and only the first line is
incomplete.
'/'
The corresponding lines differ, and only the second line is
incomplete.
Normally, an output line is incomplete if and only if the lines that
it contains are incomplete. ⇒Incomplete Lines. However, when an
output line represents two differing lines, one might be incomplete
while the other is not. In this case, the output line is complete, but
its the gutter is marked '\' if the first line is incomplete, '/' if the
second line is.
Side by side format is sometimes easiest to read, but it has
limitations. It generates much wider output than usual, and truncates
lines that are too long to fit. Also, it relies on lining up output
more heavily than usual, so its output looks particularly bad if you use
varying width fonts, nonstandard tab stops, or nonprinting characters.
You can use the 'sdiff' command to interactively merge side by side
differences. ⇒Interactive Merging, for more information on
merging files.
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