Diff Command in Linux

diff is a command-line utility that allows you to compare two files line by line. It can also compare the contents of directories. The diff command is most commonly used to create a patch containing the differences between one or more files that can be applied using the patch command.

How do I compare two files in Linux?
How does diff command work in Unix?
How do you diff two files in UNIX?
Which command is used to compare two files?
What does 2 mean in Linux?
What is the best file comparison tool?
What is diff command?
What is use of diff command?
How use Linux command-line?
How do you read differential output?
How do you grep between files?

How do I compare two files in Linux?

9 Best File Comparison and Difference (Diff) Tools for Linux

diff Command. I like to start with the original Unix command-line tool that shows you the difference between two computer files. ...
Vimdiff Command. ...
Kompare. ...
DiffMerge. ...
Meld – Diff Tool. ...
Diffuse – GUI Diff Tool. ...
XXdiff – Diff and Merge Tool. ...
KDiff3 – – Diff and Merge Tool.

How does diff command work in Unix?

On Unix-like operating systems, the diff command analyzes two files and prints the lines that are different. In essence, it outputs a set of instructions for how to change one file to make it identical to the second file.

How do you diff two files in UNIX?

How to Compare Two Files in Unix: File Comparison Commands

Unix Video #8:
#1) cmp: This command is used to compare two files character by character.
#2) comm: This command is used to compare two sorted files.
#3) diff: This command is used to compare two files line by line.
#4) dircmp: This command is used to compare the contents of directories.

Which command is used to compare two files?

Use the diff command to compare text files. It can compare single files or the contents of directories. When the diff command is run on regular files, and when it compares text files in different directories, the diff command tells which lines must be changed in the files so that they match.

What does 2 mean in Linux?

2 refers to the second file descriptor of the process, i.e. stderr . > means redirection. &1 means the target of the redirection should be the same location as the first file descriptor, i.e. stdout .

What is the best file comparison tool?

Meld. Being free and open source, Meld is a very popular tool on Windows (it's also available for Linux). It supports three-way comparing and merging and lets you edit files directly from the comparison view. Apart from diffing files, Meld also supports comparison of folders.

What is diff command?

What is use of diff command?

diff stands for difference. This command is used to display the differences in the files by comparing the files line by line. Unlike its fellow members, cmp and comm, it tells us which lines in one file have is to be changed to make the two files identical.

How use Linux command-line?

Options for comm command:

-1 :suppress first column(lines unique to first file).
-2 :suppress second column(lines unique to second file).
-3 :suppress third column(lines common to both files).
– -check-order :check that the input is correctly sorted, even if all input lines are pairable.

How do you read differential output?

Given a diff file1 file2 , < means the line is missing in file2 and > means the line is missing in file1 . The 3d2 and 5a5 can be ignored, they are commands for patch which is often used with diff . The normal output format consists of one or more hunks of differences; each hunk shows one area where the files differ.

How do you grep between files?

To remove common lines between two files you can use grep , comm or join command. grep only works for small files. Use -v along with -f . This displays lines from file1 that do not match any line in file2 .