This file documents Ediff, a comprehensive visual interface to Unix diff
and patch utilities.
-Copyright 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 Free Software
-Foundation, Inc.
+Copyright (C) 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002,
+2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
@quotation
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
-under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
+under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or
any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
Invariant Sections, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU
Manual'', and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the
@chapter Major Entry Points
When Ediff starts up, it displays a small control window, which accepts the
-Ediff commands and two or three windows displaying the files to be compared
+Ediff commands, and two or three windows displaying the files to be compared
or merged. The control window can be in its own small frame or it can be
part of a bigger frame that displays other buffers. In any case, it is
important that the control window be active (i.e., be the one receiving the
@findex ediff
Compare two files.
+@item ediff-backup
+@findex ediff-backup
+Compare a file with its backup. If there are several numerical backups, use
+the latest. If the file is itself a backup, then compare it with its
+original.
+
@item ediff-buffers
@findex ediff-buffers
Compare two buffers.
one of them by typing the region number and then `j'. Typing @kbd{##}
again puts Ediff back in the original state.
+@item #c
+@kindex #c
+@vindex ediff-ignore-case-option
+@vindex ediff-ignore-case-option3
+@vindex ediff-ignore-case
+Toggle case sensitivity in the diff program. All diffs are recomputed.
+Case sensitivity is controlled by the variables
+@code{ediff-ignore-case-option}, @code{ediff-ignore-case-option3},
+and @code{ediff-ignore-case}, which are explained elsewhere.
+
@item #h
@itemx #f
@kindex #f
instance, if Ediff is merging according to the `combined' policy, then the
merge region is skipped over if it is different from the combination of the
regions in buffers A and B. (Warning: swapping buffers A and B will confuse
-things in this respect). If the merge region is marked as `prefer-A' then
+things in this respect.) If the merge region is marked as `prefer-A' then
this region will be skipped if it differs from the current difference
region in buffer A, etc.
many ways to create diff output, and it is easier to handle by running
Ediff on the inactive sessions.
-Last, but not least, by typing @kbd{=}, you can quickly find out which
-sessions have identical files, so you won't have to run Ediff on those
+Last, but not least, by typing @kbd{==}, you can quickly find out which
+sessions have identical entries, so you won't have to run Ediff on those
sessions. This, however, works only on local, uncompressed files.
For compressed or remote files, this command won't report anything.
+Likewise, you can use @kbd{=h} to mark sessions with identical entries
+for hiding or, with @kbd{=m}, for further operations.
+
+The comparison operations @kbd{==}, @kbd{=h}, and @kbd{=m} can recurse into
+subdirectories to see if they have identical contents (so the user will not
+need to descend into those subdirectories manually). These commands ask the
+user whether or not to do a recursive descent.
+
@node Remote and Compressed Files, Customization, Session Groups, Top
To start Ediff with an iconified Control Panel, you should set this
variable to @code{t} and @code{ediff-prefer-long-help-message} to
@code{nil} (@pxref{Quick Help Customization}). This behavior is useful
-only if icons are allowed to accept keybord input (which depend on the
+only if icons are allowed to accept keyboard input (which depends on the
window manager and other factors).
@end table
differences of all intermediate regions. This delay does not indicate any
problem.
+@vindex ediff-ignore-case-option
+@vindex ediff-ignore-case-option3
+@vindex ediff-ignore-case
+Finally, Ediff can be told to ignore the case of the letters. This behavior
+can be toggled with @kbd{#c} and it is controlled with three variables:
+@code{ediff-ignore-case-option}, @code{ediff-ignore-case-option3}, and
+@code{ediff-ignore-case}.
+
+The variable @code{ediff-ignore-case-option} specifies the option to pass
+to the diff program for comparing two files or buffers. For GNU
+@code{diff}, this option is @code{"-i"}. The variable
+@code{ediff-ignore-case-option3} specifies the option to pass to the
+@code{diff3} program in order to make it case-insensitive. GNU @code{diff3}
+does not have such an option, so when merging or comparing three files with
+this program, ignoring the letter case is not supported.
+
+The variable @code{ediff-ignore-case} controls whether Ediff starts out by
+ignoring letter case or not. It can be set in @file{.emacs} using
+@code{setq-default}.
+
+When case sensitivity is toggled, all difference
+regions are recomputed.
+
@node Highlighting Difference Regions, Narrowing, Selective Browsing, Customization
@section Highlighting Difference Regions
@item ediff-highlight-all-diffs
@vindex ediff-highlight-all-diffs
-Indicates whether---on a windowind display---Ediff should highlight
+Indicates whether---on a windowing display---Ediff should highlight
differences using inserted strings (as on text-only terminals) or using
colors and highlighting. Normally, Ediff highlights all differences, but
the selected difference is highlighted more visibly. One can cycle through
@end example
@noindent
-would use the pre-defined fase @code{bold-italic} to highlight the current
+would use the pre-defined face @code{bold-italic} to highlight the current
difference region in buffer A (this face is not a good choice, by the way).
If you are unhappy with just @emph{some} of the aspects of the default
@item ediff-make-buffers-readonly-at-startup nil
@vindex ediff-make-buffers-readonly-at-startup
-If t, all variant buffers are made read-only at Ediff startup.
+If @code{t}, all variant buffers are made read-only at Ediff startup.
@item ediff-keep-variants
@vindex @code{ediff-keep-variants}
Using @code{ediff-cleanup-hook}, one can make Ediff delete the variants
unconditionally (e.g., by making @code{ediff-janitor} into one of these hooks).
+
+@item ediff-keep-tmp-versions
+@vindex @code{ediff-keep-tmp-versions}
+Default is @code{nil}. If @code{t}, the versions of the files being
+compared or merged using operations such as @code{ediff-revision} or
+@code{ediff-merge-revisions} are not deleted on exit. The normal action is
+to clean up and delete these version files.
+
@item ediff-grab-mouse
@vindex @code{ediff-grab-mouse}
Default is @code{t}. Normally, Ediff grabs mouse and puts it in its
@example
Adrian Aichner (aichner@@ecf.teradyne.com),
+Drew Adams (drew.adams@@oracle.com),
Steve Baur (steve@@xemacs.org),
Neal Becker (neal@@ctd.comsat.com),
E.@: Jay Berkenbilt (ejb@@ql.org),
Xavier Fornari (xavier@@europe.cma.fr),
Eric Freudenthal (freudent@@jan.ultra.nyu.edu),
Job Ganzevoort (Job.Ganzevoort@@cwi.nl),
+Felix Heinrich Gatzemeier (felix.g@@tzemeier.info),
Boris Goldowsky (boris@@cs.rochester.edu),
Allan Gottlieb (gottlieb@@allan.ultra.nyu.edu),
Aaron Gross (aaron@@bfr.co.il),
Thorbjoern Hansen (thorbjoern.hansen@@mchp.siemens.de),
Marcus Harnisch (marcus_harnisch@@mint-tech.com),
+Steven E. Harris (seh@@panix.com),
+Aaron S. Hawley (Aaron.Hawley@@uvm.edu),
Xiaoli Huang (hxl@@epic.com),
Andreas Jaeger (aj@@suse.de),
Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen (larsi@@ifi.uio.no),
(jaffe@@chipmunk.cita.utoronto.ca),
David Karr (dkarr@@nmo.gtegsc.com),
Norbert Kiesel (norbert@@i3.informatik.rwth-aachen.de),
+Steffen Kilb (skilb@@gmx.net),
Leigh L Klotz (klotz@@adoc.xerox.com),
Fritz Knabe (Fritz.Knabe@@ecrc.de),
Heinz Knutzen (hk@@informatik.uni-kiel.d400.de),
Erik Naggum (erik@@naggum.no),
Eyvind Ness (Eyvind.Ness@@hrp.no),
Ray Nickson (nickson@@cs.uq.oz.au),
+Dan Nicolaescu (dann@@ics.uci.edu),
David Petchey (petchey_david@@jpmorgan.com),
Benjamin Pierce (benjamin.pierce@@cl.cam.ac.uk),
Francois Pinard (pinard@@iro.umontreal.ca),
HCoop / bpt / emacs.git / blobdiff