User`s guide

DIFFERENCES
Parameters
1st-filespec[s]
Specifies the first file to be compared.
2nd-filespec[s]
Specifies the second file to be compared.
The default output device for the differences listing is the terminal.
Description
You can send the results of all the comparisons to a file on a volume rather than to
the terminal by specifying a file name with the /OUTPUT option.
When comparing text files, the default file type input files is MAC; when comparing
binary files, there is no default input file type. The default file type for the differences
file is DIF.
Wildcards in Either Input File Specification
You can use wildcards in either input file specification to perform multiple source file
and binary file comparisons. When you use wildcards, RT–11 displays which files
are being compared before it lists the differences. The DIFFERENCES command
allows no implicit wildcards.
A different type of comparison is performed depending on whether you use wildcards
in only one or in both of the input file specifications. If you use wildcards in only
one of the input file specifications, the system compares the file you specify without
any wildcards to all variations of the file specification with wildcards. The wildcard
represents the part of the file specification to be varied. You can use this method to
compare one file to several other files. For example, when the following command
line is executed, RT–11 compares the file TEST1.MAC on device DU0 to all files on
device DU1 with the file name TEST2:
.DIFFERENCES/MATCH:1/OUTPUT:TEST.DIF DU0:TEST1.MAC DU1:TEST2.*
Wildcards in Both Input Specifications
If you use wildcards in both input file specifications, the wildcards represent the part
of a file specification you want to be the same in both files being compared. You can
use this method to compare several pairs of files; if an input file is compared, it is
compared to at most one other input file. For example, when the following command
line is executed, the system compares pairs of files; the first input file in each pair
has the file name PROG1, and the second has the file name PROG2. The file type
of both files in each pair must match:
.DIFFERENCES/BINARY DU0:PROG1.* DU1:PROG2.*
RT–11 searches for the first file on DU0 with the file name PROG1, and takes note
of its file type. Then, RT–11 searches DU1 for a file with the file name PROG2 and
the same file type as PROG1. If a match is found, RT–11 compares the two files and
RT–11 Command Descriptions 77