zdiff(1) decompress and compare two files line by line

SYNOPSIS

zdiff [,options/] ,file1 /[,file2/]

DESCRIPTION

Zdiff compares two files ("-" means standard input), and if they differ, shows the differences line by line. If any given file is compressed, its decompressed content is used. Zdiff is a front end to the diff program and has the limitation that messages from diff refer to temporary filenames instead of those specified.

The supported formats are bzip2, gzip, lzip and xz.

Compares <file1> to <file2>. If <file2> is omitted zdiff tries the following:

1. If <file1> is compressed, compares its decompressed contents with the corresponding uncompressed file (the name of <file1> with the extension removed).
2. If <file1> is uncompressed, compares it with the decompressed contents of <file1>.[lz|bz2|gz|xz] (the first one that is found).
3. If no suitable file is found, compares <file1> with data read from standard input.

Exit status is 0 if inputs are identical, 1 if different, 2 if trouble.

OPTIONS

-h, --help
display this help and exit
-V, --version
output version information and exit
-a, --text
treat all files as text
-b, --ignore-space-change
ignore changes in the amount of white space
-B, --ignore-blank-lines
ignore changes whose lines are all blank
-c
use the context output format
-C, --context=<n>
same as -c but use <n> lines of context
-d, --minimal
try hard to find a smaller set of changes
-E, --ignore-tab-expansion
ignore changes due to tab expansion
--format=,[/<fmt1>][,<fmt2>]
force given formats (bz2, gz, lz, xz)
-i, --ignore-case
ignore case differences in file contents
-N, --no-rcfile
don't read runtime configuration file
-p, --show-c-function
show which C function each change is in
-q, --brief
output only whether files differ
-s, --report-identical-files
report when two files are identical
-t, --expand-tabs
expand tabs to spaces in output
-T, --initial-tab
make tabs line up by prepending a tab
-u
use the unified output format
-U, --unified=<n>
same as -u but use <n> lines of context
-w, --ignore-all-space
ignore all white space
--bz2=<command>
set compressor and options for bzip2 format
--gz=<command>
set compressor and options for gzip format
--lz=<command>
set compressor and options for lzip format
--xz=<command>
set compressor and options for xz format

Numbers may be followed by a multiplier: k = kB = 10^3 = 1000, Ki = KiB = 2^10 = 1024, M = 10^6, Mi = 2^20, G = 10^9, Gi = 2^30, etc...

REPORTING BUGS

Report bugs to [email protected]
Zutils home page: http://www.nongnu.org/zutils/zutils.html

COPYRIGHT

Copyright © 2014 Antonio Diaz Diaz. License GPLv2+: GNU GPL version 2 or later <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it. There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.