On Tue, 18 Mar 2003 14:55:26 -0800 Curtis Vaughan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 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 -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
