NAME

filemerge − window-based file comparison and merging program

SYNOPSIS

filemerge [ −b ] [ −r ] [ −a ancestor ] [ −f1 name ] [ −f2 name ] [ −l listfile ]
    [ leftfile [ rightfile [ outfile ] ] ]

DESCRIPTION

FileMerge is the OpenWindows interface to diff(1), the utility for displaying differences between source files.  FileMerge can compare two files with each other (and optionally with a common ancestor file) and automatically merge the files into a writable output file. 

You can start FileMerge from a shell command line (described in this man page) or from the SPARCworks Manager. See the sparcworks(1) man page for details. 

Input files and the name of the output file can be specified at startup or from within the tool after it has started; however, to load files from a list you must use command line options at startup. 

OPTIONS

−b Causes FileMerge to ignore trailing blanks (white space) when comparing lines. 

−r Starts FileMerge in read-only mode. Only the input file text panes are displayed; the output text pane is absent. 

−a ancestor
Specifies an existing ancestor file for the two files to be merged (called descendants of the ancestor file). The merged file is based on ancestor and the changes to it that have been made in the descendants. 

−f1 name1
Sets the file name displayed for the first (left) file. This option is useful when a list of files is being loaded (with the −l option), and you want to display a name for reference only in the FileMerge window. 

For example, if you are loading files from two directories that correspond to two different revisions of a product, you could use the −f1 option to display the name Rev1 above the left pane and the −f2 option to display the name Rev2 above the right pane. 

−f2 name2
Sets the file name displayed for the second (right) file.

−l listfile
Specifies a file that contains a list of individual file names. This option is useful for merging entire project directories.

FileMerge uses the names in listfile to load successively files from directories you name with the leftfile and rightfile arguments, placing the output files in the directory you name with the outfile argument. The names in listfile must match file names in the leftfile and rightfile directories. When used with the −a ancestor option, the ancestor argument should be a directory: FileMerge will look for files in the ancestor directory that have the same names as those in listfile, and use the file with matching name as the ancestor file for each merge. 

To load successive files named in listfile, choose the Load Next From List item from the File menu.  If you specify "-" for listfile, FileMerge reads the list of files from standard input. 

leftfile The name of the left file to be loaded for comparison. When used with the −l listfile option, leftfile is a directory of files, which you can load in succession from the File menu. 

rightfile
The name of the right file to be loaded for comparison. When used with the −l listfile option, rightfile is a directory of files, which you can load in succession from the File menu. 

Any of the three input files can be directories, but at least one of the three must be a simple file name.  When you specify a directory as input, FileMerge uses the file name to find a corresponding file in the directory. 

outfile Specifies the name of the merged output file. If you do not specify an outfile, the output file is given the default name filemerge.out.  If you want to specify a different name when you save the file, use the Save As item on the File menu. 

SEE ALSO

diff(1), sdiff(1), sparcworks(1), textedit(1)

Merging Source Files

BUGS

Using the Find function key causes the panes to get out of sync for scrolling.  To resync them, turn Scroll-Lock first off, and then on. 

filemerge doesn’t permit use of the Undo keyboard function key. 
 
 
 

Sun Release 4.1  —  Last change: 01 December 1992