What is the output of diff command in Unix?

What is the output of diff command in Unix?

The diff command is invoked from the command line, passing it the names of two files: diff original new . The output of the command represents the changes required to transform the original file into the new file. If original and new are directories, then diff will be run on each file that exists in both directories.

What does diff command return?

diff stands for difference. This command is used to display the differences in the files by comparing the files line by line. Unlike its fellow members, cmp and comm, it tells us which lines in one file have is to be changed to make the two files identical.

What does diff return if no difference?

3 Answers. It depends on your diff command. Mine (GNU diffutils 3.0) says: An exit status of 0 means no differences were found, 1 means some differences were found, and 2 means trouble.

How is the output of the diff command different?

An example of how the output differs depending on the file order: Using the table below as a reference, you can better understand what is happening in your terminal. Let’s take another look at the diff command output: Let’s see the first difference in the output: The line 2 of file 1, CHANGE with line 2 of file 2.

What does Line 5 mean in the diff command?

— 1,5 —- indicates the start of the second file and it says that line 2 is slightly changed from line 2 of file 1. It also indicates that line 4 has been added (+) in the second file and there is no corresponding line in file 1. This option provides output similar to the copied context format.

What does 3d2 mean in Linux diff command?

Here above output 3d2 means delete line 3rd of first file i.e. Telangana so that both the files sync up at line 2. Linux system offers two different ways to view the diff command output i.e. context mode and unified mode. -c (context) : To view differences in context mode, use the -c option.

What does diff in CMP mean in Linux?

diff stands for difference. This command is used to display the differences in the files by comparing the files line by line. Unlike its fellow members, cmp and comm, it tells us which lines in one file have is to be changed to make the two files identical.