NAME

zcmp - decompress and compare two files byte by byte

SYNOPSIS

zcmp [options] file1 [file2]

DESCRIPTION

zcmp compares two files and, if they differ, writes to standard output the first byte and line number where they differ. Bytes and lines are numbered starting with 1. A hyphen '-' used as a file argument means standard input. If any file given is compressed, its decompressed content is used. Compressed files are decompressed on the fly; no temporary files are created.

The formats supported are bzip2, gzip, lzip, xz, and zstd.

zcmp compares file1 to file2. The standard input is used only if file1 or file2 refers to standard input. If file2 is omitted zcmp tries the following:

: - If file1 is compressed, compares its decompressed contents with the corresponding uncompressed file (the name of file1 with the extension removed).
: - If file1 is uncompressed, compares it with the decompressed contents of file1.[lz|bz2|gz|zst|xz] (the first one that is found).

Exit status is 0 if inputs are identical, 1 if different, 2 if trouble.

OPTIONS

-h, --help: display this help and exit
-V, --version: output version information and exit
-b, --print-bytes: print differing bytes
-H, --hexadecimal: print hexadecimal values instead of octal
-i, --ignore-initial=<n>[:<n2>]: ignore differences in the first <n> bytes
-l, --list: list position, value of all differing bytes
-M, --format=<list>: process only the formats in <list>
-n, --bytes=<n>: compare at most <n> bytes
-N, --no-rcfile: don't read runtime configuration file
-O, --force-format=[<f1>][,<f2>]: force one or both input formats
-q, --quiet, --silent: suppress diagnostics written to stderr
-s, --script: suppress messages about file differences
-v, --verbose: verbose mode (opposite of --quiet)
--bz2=<command>: set compressor and options for bzip2 format
--gz=<command>: set compressor and options for gzip format
--lz=<command>: set compressor and options for lzip format
--xz=<command>: set compressor and options for xz format
--zst=<command>: set compressor and options for zstd format

Valid formats for options '-M' and '-O' are 'bz2', 'gz', 'lz', 'xz', 'zst', and 'un' for uncompressed.

Byte counts given as arguments to options may be expressed in decimal, hexadecimal, or octal (using the same syntax as integer constants in C++), and may be followed by a multiplier: k = kB = 10^3 = 1000, Ki = KiB = 2^10 = 1024, M = 10^6, Mi = 2^20, G = 10^9, Gi = 2^30, etc.

REPORTING BUGS

Report bugs to zutils-bug@nongnu.org
Zutils home page: http://www.nongnu.org/zutils/zutils.html

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