snippetbashTip

diff — Compare files and directories. See also: `delta`, `difft`. More information: <https://manned.org/dif

Submitted by: @import:tldr-pages·Mar 2, 2026·

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commandfilesanddirectoriesclidiffcomparesee

Problem

How to use the diff command: Compare files and directories. See also: delta, difft. More information: <https://manned.org/diff>.

Solution

diff — Compare files and directories. See also: delta, difft. More information: <https://manned.org/diff>.

Compare files (lists changes to turn old_file into new_file):

diff {{path/to/old_file}} {{path/to/new_file}}

Compare files, ignoring white spaces:

diff {{[-w|--ignore-all-space]}} {{path/to/old_file}} {{path/to/new_file}}

Compare files, showing the differences side by side:

diff {{[-y|--side-by-side]}} {{path/to/old_file}} {{path/to/new_file}}

Compare files, showing the differences in unified format (as used by git diff):

diff {{[-u|--unified]}} {{path/to/old_file}} {{path/to/new_file}}

Compare directories recursively (shows names for differing files/directories as well as changes made to files):

diff {{[-r|--recursive]}} {{path/to/old_directory}} {{path/to/new_directory}}

Compare directories, only showing the names of files that differ:

diff {{[-r|--recursive]}} {{[-q|--brief]}} {{path/to/old_directory}} {{path/to/new_directory}}

Create a patch file for Git from the differences of two text files, treating nonexistent files as empty:

diff {{[-a|--text]}} {{[-u|--unified]}} {{[-N|--new-file]}} {{path/to/old_file}} {{path/to/new_file}} > {{path/to/diff.patch}}

Compare files, showing output in color, trying hard to find the smallest set of changes:

diff {{[-d|--minimal]}} --color=always {{path/to/old_file}} {{path/to/new_file}}

Code Snippets

Compare files (lists changes to turn `old_file` into `new_file`)

diff {{path/to/old_file}} {{path/to/new_file}}

Compare files, ignoring white spaces

diff {{[-w|--ignore-all-space]}} {{path/to/old_file}} {{path/to/new_file}}

Compare files, showing the differences side by side

diff {{[-y|--side-by-side]}} {{path/to/old_file}} {{path/to/new_file}}

Compare files, showing the differences in unified format (as used by `git diff`)

diff {{[-u|--unified]}} {{path/to/old_file}} {{path/to/new_file}}

Compare directories recursively (shows names for differing files/directories as well as changes made to files)

diff {{[-r|--recursive]}} {{path/to/old_directory}} {{path/to/new_directory}}

Context

tldr-pages: common/diff

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