DIFFERENCES[/qualifier[s]] filespec1 filespec2 /CHANGE_BAR:n /IGNORE:arg BLANK_LINES COMMENTS FORM_FEEDS SPACING TRAILING_BLANKS /LINES:n /NONUMBERS /OUTPUT:filespec /SLP[:au] The DIFFERENCES command compares the contents of two ASCII files and reports the differences found between them. The default filetype for both input files is .MAC. 2 IGNORE DIFFERENCES/IGNORE:(arg[,s]) filespec1 filespec2 BLANK_LINES COMMENTS FORM_FEEDS SPACING TRAILING_BLANKS The /IGNORE qualifier directs that you wish certain differences between files ignored. If you specify more than one argument to the /IGNORE qualifier, you must enclose the arguments in parentheses and separate them with commas. If you specify only one argument, you can leave out the parentheses. See HELP DIFFERENCES IGNORE arg for more information. 3 BLANK_LINES DIFFERENCES/IGNORE:BLANK_LINES filespec1 filespec2 The BLANK_LINES argument specifies that blank lines in both files be included in the comparison operation. Otherwise, blank lines are ignored. If you specify more than one argument to the /IGNORE qualifier, you must enclose the arguments in parentheses and separate them with commas. If you specify only one argument, you can leave out the parentheses. 3 FORM_FEED DIFFERENCES/IGNORE:FORM_FEED filespec1 filespec2 The FORM_FEED argument specifies that lines consisting solely of a single form_feed character be included in the comparison. Normally, these records are ignored. If you specify more than one argument to the /IGNORE qualifier, you must enclose the arguments in parentheses and separate them with commas. If you specify only one argument, you can leave out the parentheses. 3 COMMENTS DIFFERENCES/IGNORE:COMMENTS filespec1 filespec2 The COMMENTS argument specifies that comments, that is, text pre- ceded by a semicolon (;) be excluded from the comparison. Normally, such lines are treated like any other line. If you specify more than one argument to the /IGNORE qualifier, you must enclose the arguments in parentheses and separate them with commas. If you specify only one argument, you can leave out the parentheses. 3 SPACING DIFFERENCES/IGNORE:SPACING filespec1 filespec2 The SPACING argument specifies that any sequence of blank and tab characters is to be interpreted as a single blank for the compar- ison. This argument is useful when source files that differ only in their spacing are being compared. The output listing includes blanks and tabs as they are found in the input files but they are ignored in the comparison. Normally, sequences of blanks and tabs are compared like any other characters. If you specify more than one argument to the /IGNORE qualifier, you must enclose the arguments in parentheses and separate them with commas. If you specify only one argument, you can leave out the parentheses. 3 TRAILING_BLANKS DIFFERENCES/IGNORE:TRAILING_BLANKS filespec1 filespec2 The TRAILING_BLANKS argument specifies that all blanks following the last nonblank character be ignored. If you include this argument with the the NOCOMMENTS argument blanks preceding a semicolon are also ignored. If you specify more than one argument to the /IGNORE qualifier, you must enclose the arguments in parentheses and separate them with commas. If you specify only one argument, you can leave out the parentheses. 2 CHANGE_BAR DIFFERENCES/CHANGE_BAR[:n] filespec1 filespec2 The /CHANGE_BAR qualifier specifies that the second input file be listed with change bars applied to each line that does not have a corresponding line in the first input file. The default change bar is the exclamation point (!). The argument, n, is the octal value of the ASCII character you wish to use as the change bar. When a section of lines in the first input file has been deleted in the second input file, the first line not deleted is marked. 2 LINES DIFFERENCES/LINES:n filespec1 filespec2 The /LINES qualifier specifies that n lines must be identical before a match is recognized. The default value is /LINES:3. 2 NONUMBERS DIFFERENCES/NONUMBERS filespec1 filespec2 The /NONUMBERS qualifier specifies that lines in the output file not be preceded by line numbers. Lines are numbered beginning with the number one. Line numbers are incremented by one for each line read in, including blank lines. Normally, lines in the output file are preceded by line numbers. 2 OUTPUT:filespec DIFFERENCES/OUTPUT:filespec filespec1 filespec2 The /OUTPUT qualifier specifies that lines in the output file be written to the file named in the qualifier. Normally, this output appears on your terminal. 2 SLP DIFFERENCES/SLP[:au] The /SLP qualifier specifies that the output listing take the form of a SLP indirect command file. When you include this qualifier, the out- put listing is a SLP indirect command file which, when applied to the first input file, makes it identical to the second input file. The optional argument, au, is a 1-to-8-character alphanumeric audit trail symbol.