User-visible changes in version 2.7:
* New diff option: --binary (useful only on non-Posix hosts)
* diff -b and -w now ignore line incompleteness; -B no longer does this.
* cmp -c now uses locale to decide which output characters to quote.
* Help and version messages are reorganized.
User-visible changes in version 2.6:
* New cmp, diff, diff3, sdiff option: --help
* A new heuristic for diff greatly reduces the time needed to compare
large input files that contain many differences.
* Partly as a result, GNU diff's output is not exactly the same as before.
Usually it is a bit smaller, but sometimes it is a bit larger.
User-visible changes in version 2.5:
* New cmp option: -v --version
User-visible changes in version 2.4:
* New cmp option: --ignore-initial=BYTES
* New diff3 option: -T --initial-tab
* New diff option: --line-format=FORMAT
* New diff group format specifications:
<PRINTF_SPEC>[eflmnEFLMN]
A printf spec followed by one of the following letters
causes the integer corresponding to that letter to be
printed according to the printf specification.
E.g. `%5df' prints the number of the first line in the
group in the old file using the "%5d" format.
e: line number just before the group in old file; equals f - 1
f: first line number in group in the old file
l: last line number in group in the old file
m: line number just after the group in old file; equals l + 1
n: number of lines in group in the old file; equals l - f + 1
E, F, L, M, N: likewise, for lines in the new file
%(A=B?T:E)
If A equals B then T else E. A and B are each either a decimal
constant or a single letter interpreted as above. T and E are
arbitrary format strings. This format spec is equivalent to T if
A's value equals B's; otherwise it is equivalent to E. For
example, `%(N=0?no:%dN) line%(N=1?:s)' is equivalent to `no lines'
if N (the number of lines in the group in the the new file) is 0,
to `1 line' if N is 1, and to `%dN lines' otherwise.
%c'C'
where C is a single character, stands for the character C. C may not
be a backslash or an apostrophe. E.g. %c':' stands for a colon.
%c'\O'
where O is a string of 1, 2, or 3 octal digits, stands for the
character with octal code O. E.g. %c'\0' stands for a null character.
* New diff line format specifications:
<PRINTF_SPEC>n
The line number, printed with <PRINTF_SPEC>.
E.g. `%5dn' prints the line number with a "%5d" format.
%c'C'
%c'\O'
The character C, or with octal code O, as above.
* Supported <PRINTF_SPEC>s have the same meaning as with printf, but must
match the extended regular expression %-*[0-9]*(\.[0-9]*)?[doxX].
* The format spec %0 introduced in version 2.1 has been removed, since it
is incompatible with printf specs like %02d. To represent a null char,
use %c'\0' instead.
* cmp and diff now conform to Posix.2 (ISO/IEC 9945-2:1993)
if the underlying system conforms to Posix:
- Some messages' wordings are changed in minor ways.
- ``White space'' is now whatever C's `isspace' says it is.
- When comparing directories, if `diff' finds a file that is not a regular
file or a directory, it reports the file's type instead of diffing it.
(As usual, it follows symbolic links first.)
- When signaled, sdiff exits with the signal's status, not with status 2.
* Now portable to hosts where int, long, pointer, etc. are not all the same
size.
* `cmp - -' now works like `diff - -'.
User-visible changes in version 2.3:
* New diff option: --horizon-lines=lines
User-visible changes in version 2.1:
* New diff options:
--{old,new,unchanged}-line-format='format'
--{old,new,unchanged,changed}-group-format='format'
-U
* New diff3 option:
-A --show-all
* diff3 -m now defaults to -A, not -E.
* diff3 now takes up to three -L or --label options, not just two.
If just two options are given, they refer to the first two input files,
not the first and third input files.
* sdiff and diff -y handle incomplete lines.
User-visible changes in version 2.0:
* Add sdiff and cmp programs.
* Add Texinfo documentation.
* Add configure script.
* Improve diff performance.
* New diff options:
-x --exclude
-X --exclude-from
-P --unidirectional-new-file
-W --width
-y --side-by-side
--left-column
--sdiff-merge-assist
--suppress-common-lines
* diff options renamed:
--label renamed from --file-label
--forward-ed renamed from --reversed-ed
--paginate renamed from --print
--entire-new-file renamed from --entire-new-files
--new-file renamed from --new-files
--all-text removed
* New diff3 options:
-v --version
* Add long-named equivalents for other diff3 options.
* diff options -F (--show-function-line) and -I (--ignore-matching-lines)
can now be given more than once.