Provided by: dwdiff_2.0.9-1_amd64 bug

NAME

       dwdiff - a delimited word diff program

SYNOPSIS

       dwdiff [OPTIONS] OLD FILE NEW FILE
       dwdiff [OPTIONS] --diff-input [DIFF FILE]

DESCRIPTION

       dwdiff  is a diff program that operates at the word level instead of the line level. It is
       different from wdiff in that it allows the user  to  specify  what  should  be  considered
       whitespace,  and in that it takes an optional list of characters that should be considered
       delimiters. Delimiters are single characters that are treated as if they are  words,  even
       when  there is no whitespace separating them from preceding words or delimiters. dwdiff is
       mostly  command-line  compatible  with  wdiff.  Only  the  --autopager,   --terminal   and
       --avoid-wraps options are not supported.

       The  default  output  from  dwdiff  is  the  new text, with the deleted and inserted parts
       annotated with markers. Command line options are available to change both what is printed,
       and the markers.

OPTIONS

       dwdiff accepts the following options (Note that all strings will first be escape expanded.
       All standard \-escapes are supported, as well as \u and \U Unicode escapes):

       -h, --help
              Display a short help message.

       -v, --version
              Print version and copyright information.

       -d delimiters, --delimiters=delimiters
              Specify a list of characters to be used as delimiters.

       -P, --punctuation
              Use punctuation characters as delimiters. The exact set of  punctuation  characters
              depends on the current locale.

       -W whitespace, --whitespace=whitespace
              Specify a list of characters to be used as whitespace.

       --diff-input
              Interpret  the  input  as  the output from diff in the Unified Diff format (usually
              produced by diff -u). In this case only one input  file  is  allowed.  This  option
              allows  reformating  diff  output  with  dwdiff, and is useful for example to post-
              process the output of svn diff.

       -1, --no-deleted
              Suppress printing of words deleted from the first file.

       -2, --no-inserted
              Suppress printing of words inserted in the second file.

       -3, --no-common
              Suppress printing of words common to both files.

       -L[width], --line-numbers[=width]
              Show line numbers at the start of each line. The line  numbers  displayed  are  the
              line  number  in the old file and the line number in the new file respectively. The
              optional width argument is the minimum number of positions per line number.

       -Cnum, --context=num
              Show num lines of context before and after each changes. A line  with  only  --  is
              printed between blocks of changes.

       -s, --statistics
              Print statistics when done. The numbers printed include the number of words from in
              both files, the number of deleted words, the number  of  inserted  words,  and  the
              number  of  changed  words. The number of changed words is counted as the number of
              words that are removed from the first file, and the number of  words  that  replace
              them  from the second file. All of these numbers are also expressed as a percentage
              of the total number of words in the file the words came from.

       -i, --ignore-case
              Ignore differences in case when comparing words. This option is only  available  if
              the diff program that is called provides it.

       -I, --ignore-formatting
              Ignore  differences  in formatting of characters. This option switches to using the
              Unicode compatibility decomposition instead of the  canonical  decomposition.   The
              compatibility  decomposition  discards  formatting  information.  For  example, the
              ligature fi will be decomposed into two separate characters  for  the  purposes  of
              comparison.  However,  also  super- and subscript will be regarded equal as well as
              different rotations of the same character.

       -c[spec], --color[=spec]
              Color mode. The optional spec can be used to customize the colors.   spec  consists
              of  [delete],[insert].  If  either  is  omited  it will be set to its default color
              (bright red or bright green respectively).  Both  parts  of  the  spec  consist  of
              [foreground][:background].  To  obtain  a  list of permissible color names, use the
              word ``list'' as spec. Alternatively, you can specify any escape  sequence  to  set
              attributes as a color by prepending e:.

              The  standard  markers  for  the  begin  and  end  of deleted and inserted text are
              suppressed, but any markers specified on the command line will still be printed.

       -l, --less-mode
              As -p but also overstrike deleted whitespace.

       -p, --printer
              Use overstriking with an underscore and bold text to  emphasize  changes.  This  is
              implemented  by first printing the underscore or a duplicate of the character to be
              printed, followed by a backspace, followed by the character.  On regular  terminals
              you won't see any effect. The less(1) command will however show underlined and bold
              text.

              The standard markers for the begin  and  end  of  deleted  and  inserted  text  are
              suppressed, but any markers specified on the command line will still be printed.

       -mnum, --match-context=num
              Use num words of context before and after words for matching. Words in the old text
              will then only match words in the new text  if  words  surrounding  them  are  also
              equal.  This  improves  the  output  for  dwdiff  for large changes with frequently
              occuring words. However, using context requires more disk space and more processing
              time.  The  default  value  is  1.  Set  this  option to 0 to revert to the pre 1.5
              behavior.

       --aggregate-changes
              Allow multiple close changes to be treated as one change, if context words are used
              (see  --match-context).  This  option  reduces  the  processing time as the changes
              reported by the diff program are not post-processed to give more precise results.

       -A algorithm, --algorithm=algorithm
              Select the algorithm to be  used  for  determining  differences.  There  are  three
              possible  values  for  algorithm:  best,  which  tries  to  find the minimal set of
              changes, normal, which trades some optimality for speed, and  fast,  which  assumes
              that  the  input is large and contains few changes. By default the normal algorithm
              is used.

       -S[marker], --paragraph-separator[=marker]
              Show insertion or deletion of blocks of lines with only whitespace  characters.   A
              special  marker  is  inserted into the output to indicate these blocks. The default
              marker is --.

       --wdiff-output
              Create wdiff  compatible  output.  The  dwdiff  program  uses  a  different  output
              algorithm, which provides a more intuitive output.

       -w string, --start-delete=string
              Specify a string to mark begin of deleted text.

       -x string, --stop-delete=string
              Specify a string to mark end of deleted text.

       -y string, --start-insert=string
              Specify a string to mark begin of inserted text.

       -z string, --stop-insert=string
              Specify a string to mark end of inserted text.

       -R, --repeat-markers
              Repeat the begin and end markers at the start and end of line if a change crosses a
              newline.

       A single dash (-) as a file can be used to denote standard input. Only  one  file  can  be
       read  from  standard  input. To stop dwdiff from interpreting file names that start with a
       dash as options, one can specify a double dash (--) after which dwdiff will interpret  any
       following arguments as files to read.

BUGS

       If  you  think you have found a bug, please check that you are using the latest version of
       dwdiff <http://os.ghalkes.nl/dwdiff.html>. When reporting bugs, please include  a  minimal
       example that demonstrates the problem.

AUTHOR

       G.P. Halkes <dwdiff@ghalkes.nl>

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright © 2006-2011 G.P. Halkes and others
       dwdiff is licensed under the GNU General Public License version 3.
       For  more  details on the license, see the file COPYING in the documentation directory. On
       Un*x systems this is usually /usr/share/doc/dwdiff-2.0.9.

SEE ALSO

       dwfilter(1), wdiff(1), diff(1)