Re: using diff command

[Alan Shutko <ats@acm.org>]

Curtis Vaughan <curtis@npc-usa.com> writes:

> So, I would think that "diff File2 File1" should provide me with
> that information. But all I ever get is a message that the files
> differ.

In general, it's helpful to show exactly what you typed and what the
error message returned was, since the exact error message may give
the answer.

I suspect diff thinks your file is a binary file.  I don't know why,
but if the message looks like:

[18:34:12] wesley:~ $ diff File2 File1
Binary files file.sav and test.sav differ

that's the problem.  Try, instead,

$ diff -a File2 File1

which tells diff to treat them as text, no matter what its heuristic
guesses.

-- 
Alan Shutko <ats@acm.org> - I am the rocks.
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