NAME

bdiff − big diff

SYNOPSIS

bdiff file1 file2 [n] [−s]

DESCRIPTION

bdiff is used in a manner analogous to diff(1) to find which lines in two files must be changed to bring the files into agreement. Its purpose is to allow processing of files which are too large for diff.

The parameters to bdiff are:

file1 (file2)
The name of a file to be used. If file1 (file2) is −, the standard input is read. 

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(1), 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 upon corresponding segments.  If both optional arguments are specified, they must appear in the order indicated 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(1) for explanations.

September 02, 1992