diff3(1)                                                 diff3(1)



NAME
     diff3 - compares three versions of a file

SYNOPSIS
     diff3 [-3] [-e] [-x] file1 file2 file3

ARGUMENTS
     -3   Produces a script to incorporate only changes flagged
          ==== (====3).  The following command will apply the
          resulting script to file1.

             (cat script; echo '1,$p') | ed - file1

          This option is equivalent to the -x option.

     -e   Causes diff3 to publish a script for the editor ed
          which results in all changes from file2 and file3 being
          implemented into file 1.  that is, the changes that
          normally would be flagged ==== and ====3.

     file1
          Specifies the first version of the file.

     file2
          Specifies the second version of the file.

     file3
          Specifies the third version of the file.

     -x   Produces a script to incorporate only changes flagged
          ==== (====3).  The following command will apply the
          resulting script to file1.

             (cat script; echo '1,$p') | ed - file1

          This option is equivalent to the -3 option.

DESCRIPTION
     diff3 compares three versions of a file, and publishes
     disagreeing ranges of text flagged with these codes:

     ==== all three files are different

     ====1
          file1 is different

     ====2
          file2
           is different

     ====3
          file3 is different



January 1992                                                    1

diff3(1)                                                 diff3(1)



     The type of change suffered in converting a given range of a
     given file to some other is indicated in one of these ways:

     f : n1 a
          Text is to be appended after line number n1 in file f,
          where f = 1, 2, or 3.

     f : n1 , n2 c
          Text is to be changed in the range line n1 to line n2.
          If n1 = n2, the range may be abbreviated to n1.

     The original contents of the range follows immediately after
     a c indication.  When the contents of two files are
     identical, the contents of the lower-numbered file is
     suppressed.

EXAMPLES
     If the file f1 contains the following text:

        This is a file.
        This is the first of three files.
        This is not the last file.

     and the file f2 contains:

        This is a file.
        This is the second of three files.
        This is not the last file.

     and the file f3 contains:

        This is a file.
        This is the third of three files.
        This is the last file.

     then the command:

        diff3 f1 f2 f3

     will return:

        ====
        1:2,3c
           This is the first of three files.
           This is not the last file.
        2:2,3c
           This is the second of three files.
           This is not the last file.
        3:2,3c
           This is the third of three files.
           This is the last file




2                                                    January 1992

diff3(1)                                                 diff3(1)



LIMITATIONS
     Text lines that consist of a single . will defeat -e.

     The diff3 command won't work on files larger than 64K bytes.

FILES
     /tmp/d3*
          Temporary files
     /usr/bin/diff3
          Executable file
     /usr/lib/diff3prog
          Executable file

SEE ALSO
     bdiff(1), cmp(1), diff(1)








































January 1992                                                    3