SYNOPSIS

       diff3 [-exEX3] file1 file2 file3

DESCRIPTION

       Diff3  compares  three  versions  of  a file, and publishes disagreeing
       ranges of text flagged with these codes:

       ====            all three files differ

       ====1           file1 is different

       ====2           file2 is different

       ====3           file3 is different

       The type of change suffered in converting a given range of a given file
       to some other is indicated in one of these ways:

       f : n1 a        Text  is to be appended after line number n1 in file f,
                       where f = 1, 2, or 3.

       f : n1 , n2 c   Text is to be changed in the range line n1 to line  n2.
                       If n1 = n2, the range may be abbreviated to n1.

       The  original contents of the range follows immediately after a c indi-
       cation.  When the contents of two files are identical, the contents  of
       the lower-numbered file is suppressed.

       Under  the  -e  option, diff3 publishes a script for the editor ed that
       will incorporate into file1 all changes between file2 and  file3,  i.e.
       the  changes  that normally would be flagged ==== and ====3.  Option -x
       (-3) produces  a  script  to  incorporate  only  changes  flagged  ====
       (====3).   The  following  command  will  apply the resulting script to
       `file1'.

                (cat script; echo '1,$p') | ed - file1

       The -E and -X are similar to -e and -x, respectively, but  treat  over-
       lapping  changes  (i.e., changes that would be flagged with ==== in the
       normal listing) differently.  The overlapping  lines  from  both  files
       will be inserted by the edit script, bracketed by "<<<<<<" and ">>>>>>"
       lines.

       For example, suppose lines 7-8 are changed in  both  file1  and  file2.
       Applying the edit script generated by the command
                            "diff3 -E file1 file2 file3"
       to file1 results in the file:

              lines 1-6
              of file1
              <<<<<<< file1
              lines 7-8

NOTES

       Text lines that consist of a single `.' will defeat -e.



Heirloom Toolchest                 10/11/03                           DIFF3(1)