Diff

diff is a tool for comparing two input files and informing the user either via the standard output or a file as to the differences between them. It supports both ASCII and Binary comparisons allowing you to check for differences and similarities in both text/source files and compiled binaries. It's primary application is for use with the patch tool, allowing you to merge two source code files based on the output of a diff comparison.

Examples
To view two files side-by-side, make a wide terminal window and run this: $ diff -W163 --side-by-side file1 file2 |less The center column will indicate the differences (see man page).

The most often used diff options for sending patches to open source projects (including linux kernel patches) are: $ diff -up $ORIG_FILE $NEW_FILE > my-patch.diff

Or for multiple files/directories: $ diff -uprN $ORIG_DIR $NEW_DIR > my-patch.diff

= Origin =

Provided by the GNU Diffutils: man page

= See also =
 * cmp
 * comm
 * diff3
 * sdiff