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DIFF3(1)		    General Commands Manual		      DIFF3(1)

NAME
       diff3 --	3-way differential file	comparison

SYNOPSIS
       diff3 [-exEX3] file1 file2 file3

DESCRIPTION
       The  diff3 utility compares the contents	of three different versions of
       a file, file1, file2 and	file3, writing the result to the standard out-
       put.  The options describe different methods of merging and purging the
       separate	versions into a	new file.  Diff3 is used by  RCS(1)  to	 merge
       specific	versions or create new versions.

       Options	are: Produces output in	a form suitable	as an input script for
       the ed(1) utility.  The script may then be used	to  merge  differences
       common  between	all  three files and differences specific to file1 and
       file3.  In other	words, the -e option ignores differences  specific  to
       file1  and  file2, and those specific to	file2 and file3.  It is	useful
       for backing out changes specific	to file2  only.	  Produces  an	output
       script  suitable	for ed(1) with changes specific	only to	all three ver-
       sions.  Produces	an output script suitable for ed(1) with changes  spe-
       cific  only  to	file3.	 Similar to -e and -x, respectively, but treat
       overlapping changes (i.e., changes that would be	noted with ====	in the
       normal listing) differently.  The overlapping  lines  from  both	 files
       will be inserted	by the edit script, bracketed by "<<<<<<" and ">>>>>>"
       lines.

       The  -E	option	is  used  by  RCS  merge(1) to insure that overlapping
       changes in the merged files are preserved and brought to	someone's  at-
       tention.

       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 of file1 ======= lines 7-8 of file3 >>>>>>> file3 rest of file1

       The  default  output of diff3 makes notation of the differences between
       all files, and those differences	specific to each pair  of  files.  The
       changes	are  described	by the commands	neccessary for ed(1) to	create
       the desired target from the different versions.	See diff(1) for	a  de-
       scription  of the commands.  The	lines beneath this notation are	ranges
       of lines	which are different between all	files.	n  The	lines  beneath
       this  notation  are  ranges of lines which are exclusively different in
       file n.

FILES
       temporary files.	 the executable.

SEE ALSO
       diff(1) ed(1) rcs(1)

HISTORY
       Diff3 appeared in Version 7 AT&T	Unix.

BUGS
       The -e option cannot catch and change lines which have `.' as the first
       ans only	character on the line.	The resulting script will fail on that
       line as the `.' is an ed(1) editing command.

				 July 24, 1990			      DIFF3(1)

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