Unix in a Nutshell, 4th Edition

Name

rcsdiff

Synopsis

rcsdiff [options] [diff_options]files

Compare revisions via diff. Specify revisions using -r as follows:

# of revisions	Comparison made
None	Working file against latest revision.
One	Working file against specified revision.
Two	One revision against the other.

rcsdiff accepts the standard options -q, -V, -Vn, -T, -x, and -z, as well as diff_options, which can be any valid diff option. rcsdiff exits with a status of 0 (no differences), 1 (some differences), or 2 (unknown problem). The -c and -u options to diff can be very useful with rcsdiff.

rcsdiff prints “retrieving revision ...” messages to standard error, as well as a line of equals signs for separating multiple files. It is often useful to redirect standard error and standard output to the same file.

Options

-k c

When comparing revisions, expand keywords using style c. (See co for values of c.)

-r R1

Use revision R1 in the comparison.

-r R2

Use revision R2 in the comparison. (-r R1 must also be specified.)

Examples

Compare the current working file against the last checked-in version:

    rcsdiff -c ch19.sgm 2>&1 | more

Compare the current working file against the very first version:

    rcsdiff -c -r1.1 ch19.sgm 2>&1 | more

Compare two earlier versions of a file against each other:

    rcsdiff -c -r1.3 -r1.4 ch19.sgm 2>&1 | more