28.8 More Friendly diff Output

ediff	If you find the output of the diff ( 28.1 ) program to be hard to follow, try using the ediff program to filter diff output into something more readable. For example, the diff program might produce the following output:

% 

diff chapter2 chapter2.new

 i22,26d21 < Use the bc program to convert from decimal to hexadecimal. < To do so, use the obase command to set the base for output: < <       obase=16 < 39c34,35 < See Section 5.6 for more examples of using bc. -- > See Section 5.6 for information on how to use the bc command to > convert decimal to hexadecimal.

This is a little hard to follow until you get used to the format. Now try filtering the output through ediff :

% 

diff chapter2 chapter2.new | ediff

  ---- 5 lines deleted at 22: Use the bc program to convert decimal to hexadecimal. To do so, use the obase command to set the base for output:          obase=16  ---- 1 line changed to 2 lines at 39 from: See Section 5.6 for more examples of using bc. ---- to: See Section 5.6 for information on how to use the bc command to convert decimal to hexadecimal.

Now you see why ediff describes itself as a " diff to English translator."