BDIFF(1)            RISC/os Reference Manual             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.








                        Printed 11/19/92                   Page 1