man > rcsdiff(1)

RCSDIFF(1)                             General Commands Manual                            RCSDIFF(1)

NAME
       rcsdiff - compare RCS revisions

SYNOPSIS
       rcsdiff [ -ksubst ] [ -q ] [ -rrev1 [ -rrev2 ] ] [ -T ] [ -V[n] ] [ -xsuffixes ] [ -zzone ] [
       diff options ] file ...

DESCRIPTION
       rcsdiff runs diff(1) to compare two revisions of each RCS file given.

       Filenames  matching  an  RCS suffix denote RCS files; all others denote working files.  Names
       are paired as explained in ci(1).

       The option -q suppresses diagnostic output.  Zero, one, or two  revisions  may  be  specified
       with  -r.   The option -ksubst affects keyword substitution when extracting revisions, as de‐
       scribed in co(1); for example, -kk -r1.1 -r1.2 ignores differences  in  keyword  values  when
       comparing revisions 1.1 and 1.2.  To avoid excess output from locker name substitution, -kkvl
       is  assumed  if (1) at most one revision option is given, (2) no -k option is given, (3) -kkv
       is the default keyword substitution, and (4) the working file's mode  would  be  produced  by
       co -l.   See  co(1)  for  details about -T, -V, -x and -z.  Otherwise, all options of diff(1)
       that apply to regular files are accepted, with the same meaning as for diff.

       If both rev1 and rev2 are omitted, rcsdiff compares the latest revision on the default branch
       (by default the trunk) with the contents of the corresponding working file.  This  is  useful
       for determining what you changed since the last checkin.

       If  rev1  is  given, but rev2 is omitted, rcsdiff compares revision rev1 of the RCS file with
       the contents of the corresponding working file.

       If both rev1 and rev2 are given, rcsdiff compares revisions rev1 and rev2 of the RCS file.

       Both rev1 and rev2 may be given numerically or symbolically.

EXAMPLE
       The command

               rcsdiff  f.c

       compares the latest revision on the default branch of the RCS file to  the  contents  of  the
       working file f.c.

ENVIRONMENT
       RCSINIT
              Options  prepended  to  the  argument  list, separated by spaces.  A backslash escapes
              spaces within an option.  The RCSINIT options are prepended to the argument  lists  of
              most RCS commands.  Useful RCSINIT options include -q, -V, -x, and -z.

       RCS_MEM_LIMIT
              Normally,  for  speed,  commands either memory map or copy into memory the RCS file if
              its size is less than the memory-limit, currently defaulting to ``unlimited''.  Other‐
              wise (or if the initially-tried speedy ways fail), the commands  fall  back  to  using
              standard  i/o routines.  You can adjust the memory limit by setting RCS_MEM_LIMIT to a
              numeric value lim (measured in kilobytes).  An empty value is silently ignored.  As  a
              side effect, specifying RCS_MEM_LIMIT inhibits fall-back to slower routines.

       TMPDIR Name  of  the temporary directory.  If not set, the environment variables TMP and TEMP
              are inspected instead and the first value found is taken; if none of them are  set,  a
              host-dependent default is used, typically /tmp.

DIAGNOSTICS
       Exit  status  is  0  for  no differences during any comparison, 1 for some differences, 2 for
       trouble.

IDENTIFICATION
       Author: Walter F. Tichy.
       Manual Page Revision: 5.10.1; Release Date: 2022-02-19.
       Copyright © 2010-2022 Thien-Thi Nguyen.
       Copyright © 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993 Paul Eggert.
       Copyright © 1982, 1988, 1989 Walter F. Tichy.

SEE ALSO
       ci(1), co(1), diff(1), ident(1), rcs(1), rcsmerge(1), rlog(1).

       Walter F. Tichy, RCS--A System for Version Control, Software--Practice  &  Experience  15,  7
       (July 1985), 637-654.

       The  full  documentation  for  RCS is maintained as a Texinfo manual.  If the info(1) and RCS
       programs are properly installed at your site, the command

              info rcs

       should give you access to the complete manual.  Additionally, the RCS homepage:

              http://www.gnu.org/software/rcs/

       has news and links to the latest release, development site, etc.

GNU RCS 5.10.1                               2022-02-19                                   RCSDIFF(1)