Seeing this type of output from diff confirms that there are differences between the two file versions and that the original file needs patching. If the files were identical, there would be no output listed at all.

We’ll compare the version in the working directory to the one in the latest directory.ĭiff produces an output listing showing the differences between the files. Its default action is to list the modified lines in the terminal window.

The diff command finds the differences between two files. Finding the Differences Between Two Versions of a File To be safe, the working directory is a copy of the current version of the text files. The latest directory holds the most recent version of those source code files, some of which have been modified. The working directory holds a set of source code files. One is called working, and the other one is called latest. In this scenario, we are in a directory called work which contains two other directories. RELATED: How to Compare Two Text Files in the Linux Terminal Our Example Scenario The patch command is most often used by people working with software source code files, but it works equally well with any set of text files whatever their purpose, source code or not. We’ll walk you through it in this article. What do you do with the patch file to actually patch your files? Apart from almost being a tongue-twister, that’s also a good question. Why send dozens of files round when you can send one file, or post one file for easy download? Sometimes you don’t get sent the modified files. Now imagine that process happening to an entire directory of text files.

By following those instructions, the changes in the modified file are replicated in the original file. The patch command can read a patch file and use the contents as a set of instructions.

Nups patch does not match file