bdiff(1)                 USER COMMANDS                   bdiff(1)



NAME
     bdiff - big diff

SYNOPSIS
     bdiff file1 file2 [ n ] [-s]

DESCRIPTION
     bdiff is used in a manner analogous to diff  to  find  which
     lines  in file1 and file2 must be changed to bring the files
     into agreement.  Its purpose is to allow processing of files
     too  large  for  diff.   If file1 (file2) is -, the standard
     input is read.

     Valid options to bdiff are:

     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,
          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 on corresponding segments.   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.

FILES
     /tmp/bd?????

SEE ALSO
     diff(1), help(1)

DIAGNOSTICS
     Use help for explanations.








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