zdiff - decompress and compare two files line by line
zdiff [options] file1 [file2]
zdiff compares two files and, if they differ, writes to standard
output the differences line by line. A hyphen '-' used as a file argument
means standard input. If any file given is compressed, its decompressed
content is used. zdiff is a front end to the program diff and has the
limitation that messages from diff refer to temporary file names instead of
those specified.
'zdiff -v -V' prints the version of the diff program
used.
The formats supported are bzip2, gzip, lzip, xz, and zstd.
zdiff compares file1 to file2. The standard input is used only if
file1 or file2 refers to standard input. If file2 is omitted zdiff 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. Some options only work if the diff program used supports them.
- -h, --help
- display this help and exit
- -V, --version
- output version information and exit
- -a, --text
- treat all files as text
- -b,
--ignore-space-change
- ignore changes in the amount of white space
- -B,
--ignore-blank-lines
- ignore changes whose lines are all blank
- -c
- use the context output format
- -C,
--context=<n>
- same as -c but use <n> lines of context
- -d, --minimal
- try hard to find a smaller set of changes
- -E,
--ignore-tab-expansion
- ignore changes due to tab expansion
- -i,
--ignore-case
- ignore case differences in file contents
- -M,
--format=<list>
- process only the formats in <list>
- -N,
--no-rcfile
- don't read runtime configuration file
- -O,
--force-format=[<f1>][,<f2>]
- force one or both input formats
- -p,
--show-c-function
- show which C function each change is in
- -q, --brief
- output only whether files differ
- -s,
--report-identical-files
- report when two files are identical
- -t,
--expand-tabs
- expand tabs to spaces in output
- -T,
--initial-tab
- make tabs line up by prepending a tab
- -u
- use the unified output format
- -U,
--unified=<n>
- same as -u but use <n> lines of context
- -v, --verbose
- verbose mode (for --version)
- -w,
--ignore-all-space
- ignore all white space
- -W,
--width=<n>
- output at most <n> print columns (for -y)
- -y,
--side-by-side
- output in two columns
- --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.
Report bugs to zutils-bug@nongnu.org
Zutils home page: http://www.nongnu.org/zutils/zutils.html
Copyright © 2023 Antonio Diaz Diaz. License GPLv2+: GNU GPL
version 2 or later <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it. There is NO
WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.
The full documentation for zdiff is maintained as a Texinfo
manual. If the info and zdiff programs are properly installed
at your site, the command
- info zutils
should give you access to the complete manual.