RE: Re: Diff Question.

Gavin 'Beau' Baumanis wrote:
> I assume it is the -b as opposed to the -w that did it?
> I.e. -w was too relaxed an option?

I would not have guessed that... the man page for the 'standard' diff is not exactly enlightening on these two options, IMHO:
   -b Ignore changes in amount of white space.
   -w Ignore white space when comparing lines.
and slight variations on these, as a Google search will reveal. There must be an explanation somewhere for the diff (ahem) between these two options, but I haven't seen it. If anything I would have expected the -w option to show fewer changes in your case.

(I *suppose* that the -w option causes diff to overlook whitespace in one file where there is no whitespace at all in the other file, while the -b option would signal a diff in that case. But that's just a guess, and perhaps someone can enlighten me... Does a \n count as whitespace for either option? How about blank lines?)

   Mike Maxwell
   CASL/ U Md
Received on 2008-09-08 15:15:54 CEST