bdiff(1)                                                 bdiff(1)



     NAME
          bdiff - diff large files

     SYNOPSIS
          bdiff file1 file2 [n] [-s]

     DESCRIPTION
          bdiff allows processing of file which are too large for
          diff(1), and is used in an analogous manner to find which
          lines must be changed in two files to bring them into agree-
          ment.  bdiff ignores lines common to the beginning of both
          files, splits the remainder of each file into n-line seg-
          ments, and invokes diff upon corresponding segments.  The
          value of n is 3500 by default.  If the optional third argu-
          ment 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 option-
          al -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 indi-
          cated 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.

     EXAMPLES
             bdiff 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 EXAMPLES
             > .IP
             > cp alpha beta gamma /users/john
             > .PP
             > places copies of the 3 files in directory
             > .BR /users/john



     April, 1990                                                     1

     bdiff(1)                                                 bdiff(1)



     FILES
          /usr/bin/bdiff

     SEE ALSO
          diff(1), diff3(1), sdiff(1).


















































     2                                                     April, 1990