gdiffmk(1) — Linux manual page
gdiffmk(1) General Commands Manual gdiffmk(1)
Name
gdiffmk - mark differences between groff/nroff/troff files
Synopsis
gdiffmk [-a add-mark] [-c change-mark] [-d delete-mark] [-x diff-
command] [-D [-B] [-M mark1 mark2]] [--] file1 file2
[output-file]
gdiffmk --help
gdiffmk --version
Description
gdiffmk compares two roff(7) documents, file1 and file2, and
writes a roff to the standard output stream (or output-file)
consisting of file2 with added margin character (.mc) requests
indicating output lines that differ from file1. If the file1 or
file2 argument is “-”, gdiffmk reads the standard input stream
for that input. If the output operand is present, gdiffmk writes
output to a file of that name. If it is “-” or absent, gdiffmk
writes output to the standard output stream. “-” cannot be both
an input and output operand.
Options
--help displays a usage message and --version shows version
information; both exit afterward.
-a add-mark
Use add-mark for source lines not in file1 but present in
file2. Default: “+”.
-B By default, the deleted texts marked by the -D option end
with an added roff break request, .br, to ensure that the
deletions are marked properly. This is the only way to
guarantee that deletions and small changes get flagged.
This option directs the program not to insert these
breaks; it makes no sense to use it without -D.
-c change-mark
Use change-mark for changed source lines. Default: “|”.
-d delete-mark
Use the delete-mark for deleted source lines. Default:
“*”.
-D Show the deleted portions from changed and deleted text.
-M mark1 mark2
Change the delimiting marks for the -D option. It makes
no sense to use this option without -D. Default
delimiting marks: “[[” ... “]]”.
-x diff-command
Use the diff-command command to perform the comparison of
file1 and file2. In particular, diff-command should
accept the GNU diff(1) -D option. Default: diff.
-- Treat all subsequent arguments as file names, even if they
begin with “-”.
Exit status
gdiffmk exits with status 0 if the input files are the same; 1 if
they differ; 2 upon a usage error; 3 if the system's diff(1) or
sh(1) commands do not support features gdiffmk requires; and 4 if
the output argument is a duplicate of file1 or file2.
Bugs
The output is not necessarily compatible with all macro packages
or preprocessors. A reliable workaround is to run gdiffmk on the
output of the final preprocessor instead of the input source.
gdiffmk relies on the -D option of GNU diff to make a merged
“#ifdef” output format. Busybox diff is known to not support it.
Also see the -x diff-command option.
Authors
gdiffmk was written by Mike Bianchi ⟨MBianchi@Foveal.com⟩, now
retired. It is maintained by the groff developers.
See also
groff(1), nroff(1), gtroff(1), roff(7), diff(1)
COLOPHON
This page is part of the groff (GNU troff) project. Information
about the project can be found at
⟨http://www.gnu.org/software/groff/⟩. If you have a bug report
for this manual page, see ⟨http://www.gnu.org/software/groff/⟩.
This page was obtained from the project's upstream Git repository
⟨https://git.savannah.gnu.org/git/groff.git⟩ on 2024-06-14. (At
that time, the date of the most recent commit that was found in
the repository was 2024-06-10.) If you discover any rendering
problems in this HTML version of the page, or you believe there
is a better or more up-to-date source for the page, or you have
corrections or improvements to the information in this COLOPHON
(which is not part of the original manual page), send a mail to
man-pages@man7.org