XXDIFF(1.6)

NAME
xxdiff - a graphical file comparator and merge tool

SYNOPSIS
xxdiff [OPTIONS] <path> <path> [<path>]

OVERVIEW

xxdiff is a graphical browser for viewing the differences between two files and can be used to produce a merged version. The text of the two or three files are presented side by side with their differences highlighted for easy identification.

The paths supplied on the command line identify the files to be compared. The paths may be one of three things: a regular file, a directory or a '-', in which case the input for that path will be read from standard input. If the paths are all directories, a directory diff will be done (unsupported at this moment). If at least one path is a file or a '-', a file diff will be performed. If there are directory names along with file names, the basename of the file name will be appended to the directory names to find the other files to compare with. If there are multiple file names specified and some directories names as well, xxdiff bails out, since it doesn't know which basename to use for the missing one.

OPTIONS FOR XXDIFF

--help
    Show this help message.

--version, -v
    Show the program version and compilation options it was built with.

--no-xrm
    Don't query X resources.

--list-resources
    Output a list of resources with documentation and default values.

-N <string>
    When input is read from stdin this option specifies the string to use in place of it's name in the title bar. If not specified the string ``<stdin>'' is used.

-D  If there are no differences then exit quietly with exit code of 0.

-w  Passed on to diff(1). Ignore whitespace when comparing the two files.

-b  Passed on to diff(1). Ignore trailing blanks when comparing the two files.

-i  Passed on to diff(1). Ignore case when comparing the two files.

-m  (3-way only) Pre-select hunks similarly to the diff3 -m feature (conflicts will be left unselected). This feature assumes that the files are given in the MINE OLDER YOURS order.

DESCRIPTION

The xxdiff window is divided into 3 main areas. These are, the menu bar at the top of the window, an overview area on the right side of the window and a text area occupying the remainder. The text area is further divided into two text windows, one for each file, a vertical slider between them and a horizontal slider underneath them.

The text in each of the text panes is divided into blocks of lines which are color-coded with one of five different colors. This indicates that the block either differs between the two files, is identical between the two files, has been inserted in one file or the other, is for display purposes (to match an inserted block in the other file), or has been selected by the user (for writing to a merged file).

These colors can be modified by the user via the resources. A legend display of the colors and their meanings is available from the Help menu. Resources can be specified thru pairs of values in the format: <resource name>: <value> in a ~/.xxdiffrc file (the environment variable XXDIFFRC can override this location).

On the right-hand side of the display is an overview area; this shows the files in their entirety.

DIAGNOSTICS
Returns the exit status generated by the diff command. This is usually 0 for no differences, 1 for some differences and 2 for errors.

SEE ALSO
diff(1), X(1)

COPYRIGHT
Copyright (C) 1999, 2000 Martin Blais

See the GNU General Public License for a full statement of rights and permissions.

AUTHOR
Martin Blais <blais@iro.umontreal.ca>

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
To Rudy Wortel <rudy@alias.com> for writing xdiff,
to Daniel Williams <dan@sass.com> for writing mgdiff,
to Andrew C. Myers for writing gdiff.