DIFF3(1) User Commands DIFF3(1) NAME diff3 - compare three files line by line SYNOPSIS diff3 [OPTION]... MYFILE OLDFILE YOURFILE DESCRIPTION Compare three files line by line. Mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for short options too. -A, --show-all output all changes, bracketing conflicts -e, --ed output ed script incorporating changes from OLDFILE to YOURFILE into MYFILE -E, --show-overlap like -e, but bracket conflicts -3, --easy-only like -e, but incorporate only nonoverlapping changes -x, --overlap-only like -e, but incorporate only overlapping changes -X like -x, but bracket conflicts -i append 'w' and 'q' commands to ed scripts -m, --merge output actual merged file, according to -A if no other options are given -a, --text treat all files as text --strip-trailing-cr strip trailing carriage return on input -T, --initial-tab make tabs line up by prepending a tab --diff-program=PROGRAM use PROGRAM to compare files -L, --label=LABEL use LABEL instead of file name (can be repeated up to three times) --help display this help and exit -v, --version output version information and exit The default output format is a somewhat human-readable representation of the changes. The -e, -E, -x, -X (and corresponding long) options cause an ed script to be output instead of the default. Finally, the -m (--merge) option causes diff3 to do the merge internally and output the actual merged file. For unusual input, this is more robust than using ed. If a FILE is '-', read standard input. Exit status is 0 if successful, 1 if conflicts, 2 if trouble. AUTHOR Written by Randy Smith. REPORTING BUGS Report bugs to: bug-diffutils@gnu.org GNU diffutils home page: General help using GNU software: COPYRIGHT Copyright (C) 2023 Free Software Foundation, Inc. License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later . This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it. There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law. SEE ALSO cmp(1), diff(1), sdiff(1) The full documentation for diff3 is maintained as a Texinfo manual. If the info and diff3 programs are properly installed at your site, the command info diff3 should give you access to the complete manual. diffutils 3.10 May 2023 DIFF3(1)