diff3 - Man Page

• Compare files: diff3 path/to/file1 path/to/file2 path/to/file3
• Show all changes, outlining conflicts: diff3 --show-all path/to/file1 path/to/file2 path/to/file3

tldr.sh

diff3 [OPTION]... MYFILE OLDFILE YOURFILE

Compare three files line by line.

Mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for short options too.

-A,  --show-all

output all changes, bracketing conflicts

-e,  --ed

output ed script incorporating changes from OLDFILE to YOURFILE into MYFILE

-E,  --show-overlap

like -e, but bracket conflicts

-3,  --easy-only

like -e, but incorporate only nonoverlapping changes

-x,  --overlap-only

like -e, but incorporate only overlapping changes

-X

like -x, but bracket conflicts

-i

append 'w' and 'q' commands to ed scripts

-m,  --merge

output actual merged file, according to -A if no other options are given

-a,  --text

treat all files as text

--strip-trailing-cr

strip trailing carriage return on input

-T,  --initial-tab

make tabs line up by prepending a tab

--diff-program=PROGRAM

use PROGRAM to compare files

-L,  --label=LABEL

use LABEL instead of file name (can be repeated up to three times)

--help

display this help and exit

-v,  --version

output version information and exit

The default output format is a somewhat human-readable representation of the changes.

The -e, -E, -x, -X (and corresponding long) options cause an ed script to be output instead of the default.

Finally, the -m (--merge) option causes diff3 to do the merge internally and output the actual merged file.  For unusual input, this is more robust than using ed.

If a FILE is '-', read standard input. Exit status is 0 if successful, 1 if conflicts, 2 if trouble.

Written by Randy Smith.

Report bugs to: bug-diffutils@gnu.org
GNU diffutils home page: <https://www.gnu.org/software/diffutils/>
General help using GNU software: <https://www.gnu.org/gethelp/>

Copyright © 2023 Free Software Foundation, Inc. License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <https://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.

cmp(1), diff(1), sdiff(1)

The full documentation for diff3 is maintained as a Texinfo manual.  If the info and diff3 programs are properly installed at your site, the command

info diff3

should give you access to the complete manual.

cmp(1), diff(1), merge(1), patch(1), rcsmerge(1), sdiff(1), srcredact(1), wiggle(1).