bdiff(1)                                                 bdiff(1)



     NAME
          bdiff - big diff

     SYNOPSIS
          bdiff file1 file2 [n] [-s]

     DESCRIPTION
          bdiff is used in a manner analogous to diff(1) to find which
          lines must be changed in two files to bring them into
          agreement.  Its purpose is to allow processing of files
          which are too large for diff.  bdiff ignores lines common to
          the beginning of both files, splits the remainder of each
          file into n-line segments, and invokes diff upon
          corresponding segments.  The value of n is 3500 by default.
          If the optional third argument is given, and it is numeric,
          it is used as the value for n.  This is useful in those
          cases in which 3500-line segments are too large for diff,
          causing it to fail.  If file1 (file2) is -, the standard
          input is read.  The optional -s (silent) argument specifies
          that no diagnostics are to be printed by bdiff (note,
          however, that this does not suppress possible exclamations
          by diff).  If both optional arguments are specified, they
          must appear in the order indicated above.

          The output of bdiff is exactly that of diff, with line
          numbers adjusted to account for the segmenting of the files
          (that is, to make it look as if the files had been processed
          whole).  Note that because of the segmenting of the files,
          bdiff does not necessarily find a smallest sufficient set of
          file differences.

     EXAMPLE
               diff file1 file2

          where file1 and file2 are two versions of the manual text
          for the cp command, produces:

               22c22
               < .IR sh (1)
               ---
               > .IR sh (1)
               35c35
               < .IR chmod (2)
               ---
               > .IR chmod (2)
               50a51,56
               > .SH EXAMPLE
               > .IP
               > cp alpha beta gamma /users/roxanne
               > .PP
               > places copies of the 3 files in directory
               > .BR /users/roxanne



     Page 1                                        (last mod. 1/16/87)

     bdiff(1)                                                 bdiff(1)



     FILES
          /usr/bin/bdiff
          /tmp/bd?????

     SEE ALSO
          diff(1).

















































     Page 2                                        (last mod. 1/16/87)