diff
Purpose
Show the difference between two text files (or all files with the same names in two directories).
Syntax
diff [options] from_file to_file
Options
-a treats all files as text even if they aren’t text files.-b ignores blank lines and repeated blanks.-c produces output in a different format.-d tries to find a smaller set of changes (this makes diff slower).-e produces a script for the ed editor to convert from_file to to_file.
-f produces output similar to that of -e , but in reverse order.-i ignores case.-l passes the output to the pr command to paginate it.-n works like -f , but counts the number of changed lines.-r recursively compares files with the same name in all subdirectories.-s reports when two files are the same.-t expands tabs to spaces in the output.-u uses the unified output format.-v displays the version of diff.
-w ignores spaces and tabs when comparing lines.
Description
The diff command compares from_file with to_file and displays the lines that differ. The output is in a format the patch command can use to convert from_file to to_file .