ZDIFF(1) General Commands Manual ZDIFF(1)
NAME
zcmp, zdiffcompare compressed files
SYNOPSIS
zcmp
[options] file [file2]
zdiff
[options] file [file2]
DESCRIPTION
zcmp and zdiff are filters that invoke cmp(1) or diff(1) respectively to compare compressed files. Any options that are specified are passed to cmp(1) or diff(1).
 
If only file1 is specified, it is compared against a file with the same name, but with the extension removed. When both file1 or file2 are specified, either file may be compressed.
 
Extensions handled by gzip(1):
z, Z,
gz,
taz,
tgz.
 
Extensions handled by bzip2(1):
bz,
bz2,
tbz,
tbz2.
 
Extensions handled by xz(1):
lzma,
xz,
tlz,
txz.
ENVIRONMENT
TMPDIR
Directory in which to place temporary files. If unset, /tmp is used.
FILES
/tmp/zcmp.XXXXXXXXXX
Temporary file for zcmp.
/tmp/zdiff.XXXXXXXXXX
Temporary file for zdiff.
SEE ALSO
CAVEATS
zcmp and zdiff rely solely on the file extension to determine what is, or is not, a compressed file. Consequently, the following are not supported as arguments:
directories
device special files
filenames indicating the standard input (“-”)