Re: using diff command
On Tue, 18 Mar 2003 14:55:26 -0800 Curtis Vaughan <curtis@npc-usa.com>
wrote:
> I must be really stupid, so forgive me, but I can't figure out for the
>
> life of me how to use the diff command. I've read the man pages and
> looked at some stuff on the internet, but I can't get it to do what I
> want it to do. But then maybe it doesn't do what I want it to do.
>
> Basically, the issue is this, I have 2 files: File1 File2
>
> Both are text files. File1 was File2 a day ago. Since then File2 has
> had additional information tagged on to it (it's a log file). All I
> want to see is what information has been added since yesterday. 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. I
> have tried with various arguments, but no luck.
As your comments imply, you suspect diff is treating at least one of
these files as a binary file, in which case diff will only tell you
whether they are different.
To override any defaults or automatic file detection, you can use the
"-a" flag to diff to force it to treat both files as text.
Manual pages are wonderful things. :-P
To find out the root cause of the problem, you might like to run the
"file" utility on each of the files you are attempting to compare:
perhaps one of the really is (or does look like) a binary file.
Hope this helps
--
Michael Wardle
Adacel Technologies
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