Patch (Unix) - Usage Examples

Usage Examples

To create a patch, one could run the following command in a shell:

$ diff -u oldFile newFile > mods.diff # -u tells diff to output unified diff format

To apply a patch, one could run the following command in a shell:

$ patch < mods.diff

This tells patch to apply the changes to the specified files described in mods.diff. Patches to files in subdirectories require the additional -pnumber option, where number is 1 if the base directory of the source tree is included in the diff, and 0 otherwise.

Patches can be undone, or reversed, with the '-R' option:

$ patch -R < mods.diff

If the file is not identical to the version the diff was generated against, the patch will not be able to be applied cleanly. For example, if lines of text are inserted at the beginning, the line numbers referred to in the patch will be incorrect. patch is able to recover from this, by looking at nearby lines to relocate the text to be patched. It will also recover when lines of context (for context and unified diffs) are altered; this is described as fuzz.

Read more about this topic:  Patch (Unix)

Famous quotes containing the words usage and/or examples:

    Girls who put out are tramps. Girls who don’t are ladies. This is, however, a rather archaic usage of the word. Should one of you boys happen upon a girl who doesn’t put out, do not jump to the conclusion that you have found a lady. What you have probably found is a lesbian.
    Fran Lebowitz (b. 1951)

    Histories are more full of examples of the fidelity of dogs than of friends.
    Alexander Pope (1688–1744)