A.10 diff--Show differences between revisions

• Synopsis: diff [-lR] [-k kflag] [format_options] [[-r rev1 | -D date1] [-r rev2 | -D date2]] [files...]
• Requires: working directory, repository.
• Changes: nothing.

The diff command is used to compare different revisions of files. The default action is to compare your working files with the revisions they were based on, and report any differences that are found.

If any file names are given, only those files are compared. If any directories are given, all files under them will be compared.

The exit status for diff is different than for other CVS commands; for details A.2 CVS's exit status.