


DIFF3(1)                    GNU Tools                    DIFF3(1)


NAME
       diff3 - find differences between three files

SYNOPSIS
       diff3 [options] mine older yours

DESCRIPTION
       The   diff3  command  compares  three  files  and  outputs
       descriptions of their differences.

       The files to compare are mine, older, and yours.  At  most
       one  of these three file names may be -, which tells diff3
       to read the standard input for that file.

   Options
       Below is a summary of all of the options  that  GNU  diff3
       accepts.  Multiple single letter options (unless they take
       an argument) can be combined into a  single  command  line
       argument.

       -a     Treat  all  files as text and compare them line-by-
              line, even if they do not appear to be text.

       -A     Incorporate all changes from older  to  yours  into
              mine, surrounding all conflicts with bracket lines.

       -e     Generate an ed script  that  incorporates  all  the
              changes from older to yours into mine.

       -E     Like  -e,  except  bracket  lines  from overlapping
              changes' first and third files.  With -e, an  over-
              lapping change looks like this:

              <<<<<<< mine
              lines from mine
              =======
              lines from yours
              >>>>>>> yours

       --ed   Generate  an  ed  script  that incorporates all the
              changes from older to yours into mine.

       --easy-only
              Like -e,  except  output  only  the  nonoverlapping
              changes.

       -i     Generate  w  and  q  commands  at the end of the ed
              script for System  V  compatibility.   This  option
              must  be  combined with one of the -AeExX3 options,
              and may not be combined with -m.

       --initial-tab
              Output a tab rather than two spaces before the text
              of  a  line  in  normal  format.   This  causes the



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DIFF3(1)                    GNU Tools                    DIFF3(1)


              alignment of tabs in the line to look normal.

       -L label
       --label=label
              Use the label label for the brackets output by  the
              -A, -E and -X options.  This option may be given up
              to three times,  one  for  each  input  file.   The
              default  labels  are  the names of the input files.
              Thus diff3 -L X -L Y -L Z -m A B C acts like  diff3
              -m  A  B  C  , except that the output looks like it
              came from files named X, Y and Z rather  than  from
              files named A, B and C.

       -m
       --merge
              Apply  the  edit  script to the first file and send
              the result to standard output.  Unlike  piping  the
              output from diff3 to ed, this works even for binary
              files and incomplete lines.  -A is  assumed  if  no
              edit script option is specified.

       --overlap-only
              Like   -e,   except  output  only  the  overlapping
              changes.

       --show-all
              Incorporate all  unmerged  changes  from  older  to
              yours   into   mine,  surrounding  all  overlapping
              changes with bracket lines.

       --show-overlap
              Like -e,  except  bracket  lines  from  overlapping
              changes' first and third files.

       -T     Output a tab rather than two spaces before the text
              of a line in normal format.  This causes the align-
              ment of tabs in the line to look normal.

       --text Treat  all  files as text and compare them line-by-
              line, even if they do not appear to be text.

       -v
       --version
              Output the version number of diff3.

       -x     Like  -e,  except  output  only   the   overlapping
              changes.

       -X     Like   -E,   except  output  only  the  overlapping
              changes.  In other words, like -x,  except  bracket
              changes as in -E.

       -3     Like  -e,  except  output  only  the nonoverlapping
              changes.



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DIFF3(1)                    GNU Tools                    DIFF3(1)


SEE ALSO
       cmp(1), comm(1), diff(1), ed(1), patch(1), sdiff(1).

DIAGNOSTICS
       An exit status of 0 means diff3 was  successful,  1  means
       some conflicts were found, and 2 means trouble.



















































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