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 in two files must be changed to bring the files into
          agreement.  Its purpose is to allow processing of files
          which are too large for diff.

          The parameters to bdiff are:

          file1 (file2)
               The name of a file to be used.  If file1 (file2) is -,
               the standard input is read.

          n    The number of line 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.

          -s   Specifies that no diagnostics are to be printed by
               bdiff (silent option).  Note, however, that this does
               not suppress possible diagnostic messages from diff(1),
               which bdiff calls.

          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.  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.

     FILES
          /tmp/bd?????

     SEE ALSO
          diff(1), help(1).

     DIAGNOSTICS
          Use help(1) for explanations.

     ORIGIN



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     BDIFF(1)                                                 BDIFF(1)



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