Compare Compressed Files Using the zdiff Command
In this step, you will learn how to use the zdiff
command to compare the contents of compressed files.
First, let's create two compressed files that we can use for the comparison:
## Create two sample compressed files
echo "This is the content of file1.gz." | gzip > file1.gz
echo "This is the content of file2.gz." | gzip > file2.gz
Now, let's use the zdiff
command to compare the two files:
zdiff file1.gz file2.gz
The output will show the differences between the two files:
1c1
< This is the content of file1.gz.
---
> This is the content of file2.gz.
This output indicates that the first line of the two files differs.
You can also use the zdiff
command with various options to customize the output:
## Output a unified diff
zdiff -u file1.gz file2.gz
## Output a context diff
zdiff -c file1.gz file2.gz
The -u
option outputs a unified diff, while the -c
option outputs a context diff. These different output formats can be useful for different scenarios, depending on your needs.
Example output for unified diff:
--- file1.gz
+++ file2.gz
@@ -1 +1 @@
-This is the content of file1.gz.
+This is the content of file2.gz.
Example output for context diff:
*** file1.gz
--- file2.gz
***************
*** 1 ****
! This is the content of file1.gz.
--- 1 ----
! This is the content of file2.gz.