sdiff

NAME

sdiff - Windows command-line utility to print differences between two files and merge them interactively

SYNOPSIS

sdiff [-lrs] [-w n] [-o outfile] file1 file2

DESCRIPTION

The sdiff(1w) utility produces a side-by-side listing of two files, indicating those lines that are different. Each line of the two files is printed with a blank gutter between them if the lines are identical. It displays a "less than" sign (<) in the gutter if the line exists only in file1. It displays a "greater than" sign (>) in the gutter if the line exists only in file2. It displays a vertical rule (|) if the line exists in both files, but is not identical.

If the -o outfile option is specified, it merges two files and interactively puts the results in outfile. If file1 is a directory and file2 is not a directory, sdiff compares the file in file1 whose name matches with file2, and vice versa.

OPTIONS

The sdiff utility supports the following options:

-l

Prints only the left side of any lines that are identical.

-r

Applies sdiff recursively. It is usually applied to two directories.

-s

Does not print identical lines.

-w n

Uses n as the length of the output line. The default value is 130 characters.

-o outfile

Uses the next argument, outfile, as the name of the third file that is created as a user-controlled merging of file1 and file2. It prints a set of differences as produced by diff, where the set shares a common gutter character. After printing each set of differences, a semicolon (;) user prompt is displayed on the screen. You can then enter the following commands:

l

Only the left column is appended to the output file.

r

Only the right column is appended to the output file.

s

Does not print identical lines (silent mode).

v

Turns off silent mode.

e l

Invokes Notepad and displays the left column.

e r

Invokes Notepad and displays the right column.

e b

Invokes Notepad and concatenates the left and right columns.

e

Invokes Notepad with an empty file.

q

Exits the program.

ARGUMENTS

The sdiff utility supports the following arguments:

file1

It can be a regular file or a directory. If a minus sign (-) is specified, it is interpreted as the standard input.

file2

It can be a regular file or a directory. If a minus sign (-) is specified, it is interpreted as the standard input.

DIAGNOSTICS

Possible exit-status values are:

0

Successful completion

1

Failure

NOTES

• In the case of the -o option, the output file that is generated is a Unicode file. Hence, it is not possible to open the file using edit.com. It can be opened using Notepad or any other Windows Unicode text editor.
• Both the operands file1 and file2 cannot be a minus sign (-) at the same time.
• The -o option cannot be applied when both the operands are directories.

SEE ALSO

diff(1W)